Day 12 - Buenos Aires

Now that we have an apartment we also have some limited facilities so we can dine at home for breakfast and not have to go hunting around town for food. This works out well and lets be just a tad more lazy. This ended up being a blessing since it's Sunday and, seriously, nothing is open on Sunday!

We headed north today to Recolata's famous Cemetery. We're not really for graves and gravestones but this one was apparently not to be missed. We arrived in the morning amid a bustle of vendors setting up a little Sunday market. We headed into the Recolata Cemetery and immediately noticed why it was such a "site to behold".

This was no ordinary graveyard. It was more like a collection of very nice Mausoleums. Every "gravesite" contained a building ranging from 1 to 3 stories high. The wealthy families of B.A. reside here along with several famous military figures.

The "highlight", if you wan to call it that, of the cemetery was Duarte family site where "Evita" rests in peace. Regardless the place is creepy and we left pretty quickly.

We headed south from there looking for some famous old school cafes (which were all closed of course). Our main goal was to take the subway down to San Telmo where every sunday there's an antique fair. On the way we decided to check out Plaza de Mayo and the gorgeous European style buildings there. This city really is like a European city plucked and dropped into Latin America, it's rather uncanny.

After more muddling through the subway system (1.10 pesos per ride = about 25 cents) we ended up on the 9th of July Avenue (they have several streets named after dates). This is one ridiculous street. There are 8 lanes going each direction and some kind of collector lane on each side. Total number of lanes? 18! This is NOT a highway, it's a main city street.

We bought some pastries on our way to the main street and followed the crowds. There was live music everywhere from didgeridoos (yah weird) to guitars, to bongos to live tango dancing. Quite a show and a great spot to be at for the day. Lot's of vendors selling junk (antiques I think they call it).

We ended up at La Vieja Rotisseria which was recommended by our book and ordered some parrilla. Yep, more meat! Sandy had the "little steak" and I ordered "Vacio" which roughly translates to somewhere in the spectrum of porterhouse and sirloin with fat on both ends. The meat was tender, medium rare and oh my god SO flavourful. These Argentinians know how to farm cows. The fat on both sides was almost rendered off from slow heat on burning charcoal embers. The smokey flavour was through and through and the meat's own flavour stood out amongst all else. Vacio how I love thee.

We continued onwards after shedding off some meat sweats and moved down the street with the crowds. We picked up some souvenirs and I picked up a matte cup. Matte is an institution here with all the vendors drinking through metal straws into these hallowed out gourds made of wood or ceramic or metal. The cups are always full of matte tea which is like green tea but more earthy and they always have a thermos of hot water with them. I tested mine out when I got home and to top off the flavour of the tea, the gourd imparts an almost leathery flavour. Most interesting and strangely tasty. Oh yeah we stopped off at a McCafe to see what it was like. Man talk about FANCY. I ordered an Espresso and got nice dishes, a cup of mineral water and a chocolate biscotti all served very European style. This is McDonalds?

Tonight we went to the famous Cabanas Los Lilas and enjoyed their steaks. This place is highly overpriced for Argentinian standards but quite reasonable for North American standards. A slab of meat costs around $30 which is comparable to Gothams or Morton's at home. We took a brief stroll around the Puerto Madero which reminds me of false creek. Essentially reclaimed port land used for chic restaurants and a fancy promenade. This area just screams gentrification.

We went back to the restaurant and dropped our names to put ourselves on the 40 minute wait. We were given a pager and spent the time watching the chefs at work on the grills. Things we noticed:

1. The grills are fed by coal heat and constantly running at burning red ember temperatures.

2. The chefs were efficient and kept their stations clean and orderly. Well oiled machine for sure.

3. The raw steaks came in on trays and came in volumes. This is a T-Bone. It was hard not to feel excited.

4. They have pictures of prize winning cows on their walls. These guys love their beef.

We finally sat down and were presented with a ridiculous array of appy's which we didn't order. There was this platter of chicken, fish, oven roasted tomatoes, Boconcini, Roasted red pepper. In addition to this we were presented with 10 different types of bread and various sauces to accompany them. Nice way to start the meal.

The moment of truth. I ordered the Ribeye steak RARE and Sandy ordered some ribs MEDIUM. We also added some mushrooms as a side dish as well as Papas Souffle. This being a serious steak house, when you order a piece of meat you get just that - the meat. Nothing comes with the dish. When our meals arrived the meat looked wonderful. There was a very nice even crust to both dishes and the ribeye was - indeed - rare. Nicely seared on the outside, still red on the inside.

The ribs were flavourful and rich with just a little crunch on the surface. The ribeye had a very rich strong flavour which was marvellous. Neither hunks of meat were squirting juices onto the plate - this meant they were properly turned and rested before service. The other really interesting touch were the papas souffle. This translates to potato souffle. So how do you do this? Well I was impressed. The potatoes were served puffed out with nothing inside. Further research indicated that the potatoes were thinly sliced and then placed in very hot oil. The moisture in the potato slice boiled in the heat and caused the slice of potato to puff - souffle. This was culinary magic and I was impressed.

written by

yungwesl on January 18, 2009 from Buenos Aires, Argentina

from the travel blog: Sandy and Wes in South America

Send a Compliment

I want a video of Wes trying to run across the 18 lanes in ONE cycle of the traffic lights (You're NOT allowed to stop in the median). San, you're excused cause you're pregnant, and someone has to take the video.

written by Justin on January 19, 2009

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