I had the extreme pleasure of living in Buenos Aires for almost a year when I was younger. I think of all the places I’ve traveled to, it’s my favorite. Who would think that way down on the southern tip of South America you could find Parisian cafe culture, pastas and pizzas to rival Rome and a distinctly Old World attitude toward food, family and community? But that’s not really doing the city justice. Buenos Aires isn’t just some second-rate European capital, it’s its own creature entirely – with an energy and ego that’s unique to the city. I had the chance to revisit the capital for Ensemble Vacations Magazine:
Buenos Aires by Fork: A culinary journey in three courses
Remy Scalza; Special to Ensemble Vacations
It’s nearly midnight and Rodi Bar, a venerable old restaurant in Buenos Aires’ Recoleta neighborhood, is full, with a line stretching out the door and down the tree-lined street. Inside, bow-tied waiters, gray hair slicked back in fine Old World-style, shuffle from table to table balancing plates piled with sizzling steaks, homemade tortellini and bottles of wine. The crowd in the room and the din – an unremitting clamor of clanging cutlery and loud conversations in castellano, the regional Spanish dialect – is nothing unusual. For all their tango renown, what locals here really do well, and at all hours, is eat.
The cuisine is hardly revolutionary: an abundance of beef, pizzas and pastas – brought over by Italian forbearers – and little more. But it is uniformly good. Ingredients are fresh; recipes are time-proven; and – failing all else – the wine is cheap and eminently drinkable. For the traveler, the city can be a veritable moveable feast, provided you know where to look.
Part I: La Carne
Just as high-end hotels have their signature scents – that trademark olfactory blend that perfumes the lobby – so does Buenos Aires: And it is the heavy aroma of seared beef. There are literally thousands of steakhouses, known as parrillas, in the capital, often packed two or three to a block. With few exceptions, they do a brisk business.
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