Living in Palermo Hollywood, it seems like there are multiple restaurants popping up on a monthly basis. Although I find most of them a massive disappointment, there was one in particular that I happily and anxiously awaited the grand opening. The master chef couple Estefanía Di Benedetto and Matías Kyriazis, the culprits behind Paraje Arevalo (the restaurant that I wanted to bring me to a telo and make me pregnant), bring us their newest heavily anticipated spot: Local. 

Unlike the intricate, avant-gard multiple course Paraje Arevalo experience, Local offers a much simpler rustic offering, while still staying true to their contemporary and creative culinary roots. This time Estefanía wo-mans the kitchen, putting out a reduced menu, with just about five appetizers, six mains and four desserts, aiming to focus on some of the most important aspects of cooking: developing rich, tasty flavors in a modern and interesting way.

Temporarily just open during lunchtime, I went with one of my favorite groups of eaters to get a pretty good taste of what the restaurant has to offer. Usually when a restaurant first opens, I like to wait a few weeks/months until it works some of the kinks out. But with Local only a block away from my apartment, staring me in the face every time I passed by, I couldn’t contain myself and went opening week.

I love me a killer bread basket and this one did not disappoint. Whole grain, no grain, bread sticks, dinner rolls – I probably ate my daily calorie allotment right here. 

First appetizer up: countryside poached egg with vegetables and chorizo, a breakfast for champions. Perfectly cooked with a nice oozy yolk, a good way to start the meal.

Eggplant fanatics this one is for you: a roasted eggplant drizzled with olive oil and topped with almonds and arugula. This simplistic appetizer really profiles the beauty of the berenjena, but was perhaps a bit too undercooked and plain for my eggplant liking.  Maybe adding some goat cheese or something a bit more substantial for the 40 peso+ price tag would make it more of a winner.

Perfection in shrimpz! The flawlessly cooked shrimp, with just the right amount of seasoning, was served on top of pearl barley with tomatoes and a cream-based shmear. Crunchy, with a firm crispy texture and no traces of any chewiness in this bite. Absolute pleasure in the boca. 

My ex-vegetarian Jewish mouth is new to the world of porky goodness, so when I see it on the menu, I need to eat what I’ve been missing out on all these years. BONDIOLA-me baby. I especially love me some meats paired with fruit. That savorweet combination of salado/dulce totally turns me on, so pork shoulder with apples seemed like the best choice (despite it being served on top of swiss chard, one of my vegetable nemesisisissss). The bondiola was cooked perfectly, a generous portion with a grand crispy fattycrust bite. However I don’t think I will be expanding my culinary horizons any more with acelga, I’ll never be on Team Swiss Chard.

It’s difficult for a hearty plate of meat and potatoes to let you down. The carne asada was slowly cooked, tender, yet with that semi-burnt crust on the outside I love so much. It was served with rustic oven roasted potatoes with a side of a celery-vegetable relish, bringing a crunchy bright earthiness to the dish. Overall a big winner.

Other menu items include dishes like fresh fish, rosemary roasted chicken, pasta and daily specials – extremely warm, comforting and hearty food, yet with a great sense of sophistication. Exactly what you want to eat to make your insides smile.

And finally, for the sweet (but not too sweet) note, a rich chocolate cake with dense chocolate flavor. Light, fluffy and topped with fresh berries and a smudge of cream, another instance where I just can’t put that fork down.

Quite an inviting atmosphere, the minimal decor makes Local a cool, modern bistro with big windows, natural light, white walls, wooden furniture and a semi-open kitchen to creepily spy on the chef hard at work. As expected, the service is always top notch with a friendly and extremely knowledgeable staff – just like Paraje Arevalo.

The price of the meal certainly did not come cheap. Unlike Paraje Arévalo with a fixed price, Local’s prices run in the 40 peso range for appetizers, 60s-70s for mains and 30s for desserts. A bit on the high side, it was a price range I expected in a place created by such celebrated and talented chefs. It’s a definite splurge, but for two people, I’d recommend ordering one appetizer and one main to share, or for *hungry* eaters, two appetizers and a main (or the other way around).

Photo by Casa Arévalo

Local isn’t the only new project by two of my favorite Argentine chefs. In the back of this restaurant, Matías and Estefanía have created a new concept in BA restaurants: Casa Arévalo, a mega gastro-casona, consisting of another small restaurant-like space with tables, a sleek kitchen, lovely patio and clay oven. One of the more exciting culinary ideas of the year, Casa Arévalo will be hosting pop-up dinners on a monthly basis. Starting in April of 2012, Gonzalo Aramburu (of Aramburu restaurant) kicked off the tour, teaming up with Catena Zapata winery, to create a special limited four-day only menu.

TC Gourmet (un tour de cocineros) offers a chance for famed guest chefs to takeover the space and cook up special tasting menus, paired with fine wines, offering something really culinarly unique to the local food scene.

Local
Arévalo 2063
Tel.: 4773-6119
Tuesday – Sunday: midday (call for dinner hours)
Average price per person: 120 pesos

Casa Arévalo / TC Gourmet
Arévalo 2061
Tel.: 4773-6119
Pop-up with sporadic dates every month

Coffee lovers look no further, your days of disappointed watered-down, milk bathed, sugar roasted cortados are over. Full City Coffee House in Chacarita is the absolute real deal, serving their own brand of high quality Colombian coffee and becoming one of the best spots in Buenos Aires for a cup of the good stuff.

The owners of this independent coffee house know their shit when it comes to coffee. Upon ordering your coffee, you’ll be asked “How do you like it?” Not quite sure how to answer, since I didn’t know there are many variations of a cortado, I let the barista decide.  The Colombian-UK couple, Victoria Angarita and Alan Jordan, take the utmost pride in offering this much needed addition to the Buenos Aires café scene, a country that prides itself on their café culture.

Victoria has coffee running through her veins. The daughter of Colombian coffee God, her father Parmenio Angarita is kinda a big deal in the coffee world: coffee educator, an expert roaster with his own brand of coffee, and founding director of EduCafés, a school created for baristas and those who want to specialize in the art of all things coffee.

Named after the type of medium roast that produces a higher level of quality coffee, Full City serves a full menu of breakfast, lunch and merienda items. You’ll see treats such as Alan’s famous homemade burger, a wide selection of paninis, various salads, and of course, Colombian specialities.  The prices are very affordable, with most items costing under 35 pesos, something that is quite rare in the BA café world.

In addition to coffee, Alan is also a burger freak and worked very hard to perfect his recipe: fresh ground beef with mixed spices inside cumin and paprika, lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese and an egg on top, served with perfectly cooked roasted potato fries. What really kicked the burger up a notch: ask for some extra spice to smother on the bun. Want to pair it with coffee? No problem! Apparently the burger goes really well with the café de Guayata, a coffee named after a town close to Bogotá, where all the coffee is harvested by the local women.

Next, the “Arepa Full City,” an arepa with chicken, tomato, cheese and pesto. I’m not versed in arepa knowledge, but the ones I’ve tried were from Venezuela and quite different, looking similar to a semi-open stuffed pita bread. This one was made with a corn masa, and tasted similar to a corn tortilla. This arepa wasn’t my favorite, bad ordering on my behalf as I was looking for an out of character light lunch. The pesto on top of cheese on top of grilled chicken on top of corny-arepa was too much for my stomach to handle.  Probably next time I’d go with a daily special, stick with the burger or try one of the paninis.

Other than the coffee, super friendly staff, quick service, tasty and reasonably priced food, Full City has an inviting atmosphere making it the ideal spot to sit for hours. It’s become my new favorite café to bring my laptop and do work; the WiFi is pretty strong and they have ample outlets for computer charging.

Their outdoor patio might be one of the best havens in the city,  despite the loud HipHop music from the dance studio upstairs. There is a covered outdoor “living” area and an open-aired garden section with a couple of tables. I did spot some heat lamps – crucial for winter outdoor seating.

Ditch Cabrales or Bonafide, since they roast and grind the coffee fresh in house, you can pick some up para llevar and shoot up every morning with the good shit.

Full City Coffee House’s passion for coffee is evident in every cup. I admit that for my coffee fix I’d frequent Starbucks (Soy Bullshit Latte) or Establicimiento de Café, but this great coffee haven is quite the BA find, quickly converting into my new go-to coffee shop to gorge on paninis and crack out on endless cups of strong, beautifully aroma-ed coffee.

Full City Coffee House
Jorge Newberry 3663 (between Charlone y Roseti), Chacarita
Tel. 4556-1789
Monday – Friday: 9am – 7pm, Saturdays: 10am-3pm, closed Sundays

More photos of Full City here!

It was a sad day in the life of many spice fiend Palermo-ers when POKE delivery retired their bicycle and ended their delivery-only service. A single tear dropped on that perfectly cupped iceberg lettuce wrap as I said a sad goodbye to POKE, one of (if not THE) best delivery foods in Buenos Aires. But praise be the heavens, POKE Restaurant came back with a vengeance, popping up every Wednesday night to take over the kitchen at Magdalena’s Party in Palermo. Serving mouthjizzing, flavor packed spicy food, POKE is now becoming a Wednesday night staple in the Buenos Aires eating scene.

Californian Chef Mychael Henry was one of the Buenos Aires firsts to go fully pop-up, cooking fine flavorful food with killer combinations that are rare to find in the city. Using his diverse culinary background, Mychael cooks up Pan-Latin-Asian street food-esque inspired dishes, fusing flavors and cooking techniques from Peruvian, Hawaiian, Californian, Central American, Japanese and Korean cuisines.

POKE’s menu changes weekly, with generally a selection of four main dishes served on small tapas-like plates.  Inventive, bursting with tongue-gasming layers of flavors and textures,  you can expect to get down and dirty with more modern takes on classic dishes like chicken wings, ribs, ceviches, salads, Asian noodles, soups rice, beans and more.

Most everything I’ve tried at POKE has lived up to the bomb ass promise: sweet, spicy, savory, tangy, fruity, herby, meaty; food that masters the skill of mix n’ matching flavor profiles. Three of my favorite POKE dishes include the ceviche, salmon poke and ahi tuna poke. The salmon poke (shown above to the left) has fresh salmon, cucumber, mango, red onion in a ginger soy sesame dressing – all components that balance each other so nicely, especially the sweetness of the mango in the fingerscrapingthebowl dressing. The other ceviches I’ve tried have been spot on as well, spicy, citricy, packed with fresh, high quality goodness.

Another huge winner are the braised short ribs, glazed to perfection in a tamarind sauce. Meat falling off the bone, these ribs give Kansas a major run for her money. UMAMI-NATE me all night long.

Another one of my favorites, and generally my go-to order, is the Costa Rican Casado. A take on the traditional Costa Rican dish (that I ate almost daily when I was in Costa Rica) that’s made with a variation of a protein (beef, chicken or pork) and served with rice, black beans, fried plantains, small salad and tortilla.

This version kicks it up about 100 notches, with Korean kalbi marinated steak on top of a cilantro sushi rice patty and served with fresh black beans, salsa fresca and a spicy Peruvian ají de huacatay sauce – the ultimate fusion dish packed with the ultimate level awesomeness.

Lettuce wraps filled with chicken-peanuty sensualness, bright and crisp, I could eat these all day long.

The chicken karaage (Japanese style deep fried chicken wings) is coated in such a grease crunching fried goodness and drenched in a heavenly savorysweet sauce. While the sauce is so good I wish I could buy it by the bottle, the first time I ordered the alitas it came out a bit too soggily oiled and did’t have that crispy exterior I wanted. The second time they were much better, freshly fried and with a crunchy shell, but the chicken had very little meat on her bones.

Plain and simple, cold peanut sesame noodles. Another sauce that should be sold by the bottle, it’s a simple dish that is incredibly addictive and something I really need to start making at home more often.

Teaming up yet again with Buenos Aires Delivery, POKE now is delivering their delectables every Wednesday to the Palermo area. I ordered the first night they offered it and my order was messed up, ending up paying more for not getting what I ordered. Ultimately the food was so good that I really didn’t care.  These days staying in, watching a prime MonsterDivx line up and eating POKE is like my wet dream version of rolling. Pathetic? Maybe. I don’t get out much.

Some other cons beyond the delivery mess up? If I had to complain a la fat girl who is also a cheap ass, I’d say that the prices are high in relation to the smaller, tapas-sized portions. And it’s only available Wednesday nights, which isn’t the most convenient. It’s rare that I over zealously rave about food, but POKE just makes me so incredibly happy, giving me reality slaps to the groin in remembrance of what real, good food actually tastes like.

*Read on about Pop-up restaurants in Buenos Aires in the Argentina Independent.

**Stay tuned to watch me completely embarrass myself as I make my Argentine television debut, filmed at POKE in Magdalena’s Party, for the Telenoche (Canal 13) program for Taggeados.

POKE Restaurant
Magdalena’s Party
Thames 1795, Palermo Soho
Wednesdays: 20.30-24.00
More POKE photos

Hearty, cheap, healthy and filling, that’s why Minestrone is always my go-to soup when the weather gets cold. Super easy to make, it’s like the soup that keeps on giving: if you are running out of soupy liquid, just add more chicken stock and tomato puré, if you need more hearty goodness, chop up more vegetables, add more beans and boil up some more pasta. Alternate adding these additions and your soup quantity will stay at a stagnant half full for the good portion of the cold winter months. While this recipe might not be the traditional way to make Minestrone, it’s an easy one pot vegetable-packed wonder that doesn’t entail using any type of food processor or immersion blender.

MINESTRONE SOUP RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 large leeks, thinly sliced– make sure to clean well because they can get grimy. Use only the white and pale green parts.
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 potato, diced
• 1 onion, semi frozen
• 1 celery, chopped
• 8-10 cups water (or more depending on taste)
• 3 bouillon cubes (more or less depending on taste)
• 1 can tomatoes (can be crushed or wholes)
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 container tomato puré
• 2-3 Bay leaves
• Freshly chopped parsley
• Salt n Pepper (dash of white pepper is optional)
• Frozen peas, green beans, corn (optional – I used fresh corn)
• Cooked pasta noodles (very al dente)
• White beans

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut the onion in half and stick it in the freezer. Keeping it cold will eliminate some of the crazybitch tears that happen when you cut into those nasty devils. Or, you can embrace the onion tears at an exaggerated level and use it as an excuse to pretend-freak the fuck out, which can be fun too.

2. It’s time to cut up all your shit. This can be quite time consuming since I am a major SOUP nazi when it comes to the vegetable sizes, as I like to eat similar sized, uniform bites. Invest in a decent knife, I used a butter knife to cut my vegetables for the past 3 years and getting a good knife changed my knifelife.

3. Cut up all the vegetables: garlic, carrots, potatoes, onions, celery, leeks, fresh corn.

4. Sauté the vegetables in about 1 tablespoon of good (or bad) olive oil. Stir around for about 5 minutes. Add fresh corn and parsley. Stir some more. Add salt and cracked pepper. Stir again. You want the vegetables to get shweaty, but you don’t want them to brown. Transfer the vegetables to a big pot and add water + bouillon cubes (or stock) and bring to a boil.

5. Return to a low simmer once it starts boiling and add the tomato-y goodness: puré, canned tomatoes and tomato paste. Mix it up good (especially the paste). Throw in a few bay leaves. Add more pepper, salt to taste.  Put the lid on top and let simmer for as long as you like. The longer it sits, the tastier it will be.

6. About 20 minutes before it’s ready to be served, chuck in the frozen vegetables (or canned), white beans and pre-cooked al dente pasta.  You don’t want to add this too early in the process otherwise it will cook too much and get mooooshy and naush.

7. Top with parm cheese, serve with crusty bread or a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches.

Sometimes I like to Sandra Lee my way around a recipe, semi-shamefully taking unMarthalike shortcuts when it comes to baking. While self-righteous cooks may get a major stinkfacecaradeculo at the blasphemous thought of using boxed brownie mix, here’s a way to pimp out pre-packaged brownies and play it off like it’s 100% homemade. The secret? Salt, dulce de leche, underbaking and getting baked.

No, unfortunately this isn’t a recipe for extra *special* funny brownies. That wouldn’t be appropriate to post on this food blog (but if you do want to make it, it’s all about the butter). These are a different kind of special brownies, with dulce de leche mixed into the batter and generously sprinkled with salt.

Easy to make and ready in under 20 minutes, if you can read, follow directions at a 2nd grade level, and stick your paws into an oven without burning them, you can make brownies. It’s simple: Read the directions on the package, melt the butter, beat in the eggs, add the brownie mix, 2 tablespoons of water, mix it good, transfer to a baking dish, dollop on dulce de leche and marble it into the batter with a knife, top with salt and put it in the oven on low heat for 15-18 minutes. Let it cool to harden up.

And that’s it. When you cook it too long, it will be too cake-like, so underbaking it is the key to get that chewy yet soft, moist consistency. Sprinkle some more salt on top and finish the whole tray in one sitting, eating it like it’s one big piece of cake.

Cuba, come here.

The First Date

First dates in Buenos Aires should be held at a fun restaurant, with hefty quantities of alcoholic-enhanced concoctions. Nothing too romantic since you don’t want to look like you are trying too hard, but nothing too casual as eating at the pancho stand isn’t quite the right place to make all your sexy-time moves. Modern, casual yet upscale pizza joints could be a good place to start. Filo, Siamo nel forno, Pizza Piola and Amici Miei all prove to be solid options. Il Ballo Mattone makes for a fun, lively spot while restaurants like 878 and Gran Bar Danzon are for more serious romance seeking first daters that want to get their quality drinking on. For a casual atmosphere with both great food and mixologist-mastered tragos, Dadá is your answer.

***Note: The cardboard-tasting pizzas at Almacen de Pizzas are not recommended, I just couldn’t resist sharing the ridiculously designed pizza box.

**Another important note: Most girls probably won’t eat a lot so it’s ideal to choose a restaurant where sharing is encouraged and salads are not available. Girl, if you are an eater, don’t order a salad on a first date. Boy, if you are an eater, a girl who orders a salad on the first date probably isn’t the one for you.

The Secret Date

Looking for a more discreet dining experience? Let’s call ‘intimacy’ for what it is, either you are shallow and your date has a serious case of the uglies or you are trying to keep a low profile, whatever your reasons may be, just stay off the Palermo-San Telmo track.  Venture off to Villa Urquiza and check out Billinghurst Restó.  Sure, the crowd may be on the older side, but you can eat well and most likely won’t run into anyone you know.  If you are willing to spend some pesos, Nihonbashi in Congreso one of the top sushi spots in the city (and they have a private room!) It’s the ideal spot for slurping up fresh sashimi and sucking up face (simultaneously if you’re into that kinda thing).  Tipo Casa (shown left) in Almagro is another puerta cerrada hybrid, serving up great Argentine food in a comfortable, homey environment.  Since reservations are essential, you can be assured unwanted pop-ins won’t happen.  Other off-the-grid restaurants include Bar Urondo in Parque Chacabuco and Brotes del Alma in Belgrano.

The Foodie Date

Serious eaters who are just as into the food as the company, you need to pick a place where the bomb ass food comes first.  Embark on a culinary journey to Paraje Arevalo, a 6 or 8 course extraordinary meal, all in a nice atmosphere with spot-on service.  The dinner will last a few hours, so make sure you have enough to talk about. For something a bit more affordable, Brotes del Alma is located in a beautiful old converted house in Belgrano with an inventive menu of Argentine-inspired dishes. Call ahead for a reservation as the small space only seats about 10 tables.  Other charming restaurants banging out great foodie-food are Caseros in San Telmo, a casual yet romantic ambiance where each table centerpiece highlights a fresh fruit or vegetable.  And of course one of my all-time favorites, Las Pizarras in Palermo Soho, a solid recommendation for a go-to casual date spot.  Get one appetizer and two mains to share, because sharing food is sexy.  For authentic Japanese lovers, Niji  in Belgrano has all the elements for a perfect date: fresh selection of high quality fish, oddly tacky decor and a quiet restaurant that rarely gets full.  OK, maybe it’s not the perfect date spot, but the Japanese food is great.

The Romantic Date

If you are a more traditionalist when it comes to hitting up the dating scene, looking to wine and dine with some good food in a romantic setting, snuggle up on one of the couches at La Maison and get in ze zexy French mood.  You know you are in good hands at Paladar Buenos Aires, one of my favorite closed door restaurants in the city that offers a luxurious five-course menu with wine pairings, brought to you by the chef-sommelier power couple. Other PDA favorites include the low, pillow seating tables and dimly lit Lotus Neo Thai, candle-lit French bistro A Nos Amours, pasta-rific perfection at Doppio Zero, and earthy-ness love at Puratierra.

The Cheap Date

Dating on a shoestring in Buenos Aires can be quite the challenge, with restaurant prices soaring making even the shitty places an expensive splurge. Luckily there are still some bargains in the city, where atmosphere and food quality isn’t compromised by lack of pesos. The lovely daytime café, Cusic, opens up every Thursday night with a special menu a la gorra.  Each week there’s something different on the menu, except the 10 peso beers that are always in abundance, and with no set price for the main course diners, pay what you think the meal is worth. I’m a good example of a cheap date: give me a platter of good meats and cheese, with some wine and/or beer and I’m a happy girl.  El NoNo Amigo, a favorite neighborhood spot, and get one of the promos, a tray filled with queso y fiambres and a liter of quilmes – called the picada para dos (and can easily feed three if you’re into a menage) that will run under 100 pesos. For something a bit more casual, grab drinks and some plates to picar from La Esperanza de los Ascurra,  a bohemianster (bohemian + hipster, or hipstemian?) Villa Crespo vermouth bar that has prices reminiscent of Buenos Aires circa 2009.  For a taste of Venezuelan, Arepera should be your go-to spot (and only spot since there is only like two Venezuelan restaurants in the city).  The Oldest for burgers and Cumaná for inappropriate porno crayon table drawings also prove to be cheap and good. For the Peruvian persuasion, Chan Chan can get loud, lighting is oddly bright and the tables are close together, making it essential for close-talking, and ceviche breath sniffing.  Or take a romantic stroll by the Costanera or park and hit up some of the best choripan stands in the city.

The I’m-Gunna-Get-You-Drunk Date

Let’s face it, not everyone is a food-obsessed weirdo. Some people live to eat, other people eat to live, and others live to get shit-faced.  If you are the latter, looking to drown your dating nervousness and insecurities in some sweet drunk-filled nectar, check out these finds that are known more for their alcoholic wonders than food. Fábrica del Taco is a good choice if you can snag a table outside, order some guacamole to share, and down lots of maracuyá margaritas.  But beware: the tacos have been known to cause unpleasant gastronomical problems, eat it at your own risk. Other spots worth visiting are the sexy once secret bars that are no longer a secret: 878 and Puerta Uno. Both with low lighting and strong drinks, the ideal recipe for PDA induced suckface-a-thon.  If you find yourself in the centro, sink into the low tables at Le Bar and listen to the eclectic mix of jazz, funk, soul, and electronic. The rooftop terrace wall art of a “cock rocket” is especially romantic.

The I’m-Looking-To-Impress-You Date

Serious daters who are really looking to impress (or flaunt your fatty wallet),  take that special (or unspecial) someone on a luxuriously expensive eating experience.  One of the only restaurants in Buenos Aires to dabble in molecular gastronomical-esque cooking, Aramburu is a romantic yet fun spot to eat a creatively presented multi-course meal.  Tegui is another tasting menu fan favorite, the portions are small so no need to do a two-finger diet afterwards. For wine lovers, Casa Coupage is a good bet, but make sure to bring a cheat sheet of conversation topics because the meal is lengthy.  Other suggestions for treatsy dinners on that oh-so special night would be Chez Nous (order the tasting menu), Chila, Sipan and Paraje Arevalo.  Word on the street is the food at Tarquino also makes for a hot date night.

The Healthy Granola Eating, Tree Hugging Date

Looking to pretend that you are into the health craze? Put on your yoga pants and hit up Artemisia for a (mostly) vegetarian menu filled with lovely organic wines.  For super health freaks, Kensho is the place to get your raw food eating on.  While my experience at Kensho wasn’t the greatest (the food tasted like earth), other reputable sources rave about it.  Hierba Buena in San
Telmo gives that health-inspired kick, while also appealing to the manliest of juice drinkers.  For experienced daters, head out to Casa Felix and get your puerta cerrada action on.  At this closed door restaurant, diners have their own tables.  REMEMBER: Communal table closed door restaurants for early daters could be a massive disaster.

The He/She’s Just Not That Into You Date

It’s happened to the best of us, sometimes you get stuck on a date with one of those people who just shouldn’t be no dinner thang. If this happens to you, and you are the type to accept an invitation even if you don’t want to go, make the message clear by choosing an awful restaurant.  AcaBar is a prime spot, always packed, with terribly unfun games that are missing pieces, and horribly tasting food that are missing deliciousness.  Nothing says I totally-don’t-like-your-face like a big plate of MSG-packed Chinese food.  Da Dong Fan Dian serves quality and cheap Chinese food (great dumps, shrimp fried noodles, and sweet and sour chicken) in an incredibly unromantic setting.

The Next Morning Date

Hurrah! Triumph! You made it to the next morning, congratulations!  If you still like the person enough to keep the date going, eat some sandwiches at A`Manger.
Or, grab some of their treats para llevar, and head out to the Bosques de Palermo, find a grassy knoll that doesn’t have tranny condoms in the near radius, and picnic-it up. The café- brunch-sandwich-tarta-salad type place is always good, La Crespo for pastrami and bagels, Baraka for a lamb burger, Loreto for regular burger or Lord Hector, or Cusic for lots of lovely things. It’s always great to start a relationship pretending to be someone you are not, so how about heading out to the Ecological Reserve to pretend to be “active” and stuff face with choripanbondiolavacionpan.

A comer y coger!

They have the breakfast burrito and the breakfast sandwich, what about the breakfast empanada? Fill it with whatever tickles your breakfast fancy, here is just another way to reinvent the Argentine favorite. Argie-fying my Yanqui ways, that’s what I call a cultural exchange.

The Scrambled Breakfast Empanada

Ingredients

• 1 package empanada wrappers, I used hojaldre because it’s the bomb.
• Fresh eggs, get them from your verdulería, they are probably much better (brown + bright yellow yolk)
• Butter for the eggs
• Queso crema (CasanCrem, Finlandia, or Philadelphia if you’re fancy)
• Hot sauce, like YaYa Bean’s La Boca Roja
• Green onion or chives
• Salt and Pepper

Step 1: Put the empanada wrapper in the oven. Bake it until golden brown (about 8 minutes). While it’s baking (and you are too?), make some perfect scrambled eggs. Set the eggs aside.

Step 2: Take the empanada out of the oven, let it cool because that shit be hot. Then, get a knife and slice into the middle, this should semi-easily break apart. Don’t burn your hand on the steam that will come out.

Step 3: Put the eggs on one side of the empanada.

Step 4: Smear queso crema on the other side, top with chives and YaYa Bean’s hot sauce. You can make your own flavored cream cheese if you are an overachiever.

Step 5: Put it together.

Step 6: Take a peek, then eat it.

This empanada-tarta-HOT POCKET hybrid is a great-tasting, cheap and easy way to start your day.

How would you fill your breakfast empanada?

Horrah! At last! A cheap way to stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables without romper-ing my orto.  With soaring food costs in Buenos Aires, it’s extremely rare to find a verdulería that uses high quality ingredients while charging affordable prices. La Barata del Central is my new obsession, delivering a massive box filled with happy (and cheap) produce galore, coming directly from BA’s market mecca, Mercado Central.

In many cases, verdulerías in the city may charge up to 60% of the wholesale price, and with this in mind, the founders wanted to create an alternative for us poor city dwellers to have affordable produce options.  After much news in the press over the years about the massive gap between grocery and vegetable shop prices versus Mercado Central, the La Barata del Central project was born.

The online service is easy to use: each week there is a “Canasta de la semana” that comes
 with about 15-20 different fruits and vegetables.  The website shows exactly what’s in the box for the week, so there’s no need to pick and choose what you want, and generally includes a great selection of in-season products. (Except acelga, blech I hate acelga, and it always seems to be in the canasta). The ordering process is simple, click “order”, fill in your details, choose if you want topick it up from their Palermo Hollywood location or have it delivered if you live in the zona de entrega (for an extra 10 pesos), and choose the date and time of the delivery.  Then, once you successfully order, they will send you a confirmation e-mail.  Super easy to navigate, I only wish they had a space to write notes before submitting your order and they would respond when you write them an email.

Sometimes the box doesn’t come exactly as advertised, with last minute ingredient swapping depending on what they have in stock.  So far all the boxes I’ve ordered have been incredibly generous, including additional quantities or even extra products that aren’t on the list. I’m not about to whip out a protractor and start doing calculations, but at only AR$50 for the box (plus AR$10 for delivery) each items comes out to be ridiculously cheap and great quality. Awesome service that I highly recommend.

Read more about La Barata del Central on the Wasabi Blog.

And a special thanks to Toby, who shares the same discontent for the raping-my-culo prices at the verdulería in the chino on Soler y Dorrego, for emailing me about this great service.

Update: Ordered another box and they didn’t show up…

Crazies & Pervs + Google = PURE GOOGLE KEYWORD GOLD.  I’ve already shared some of the hilarious fails for those who search for some variation of “Pick Up The Fork” but now comes the real amusement: Google Search Keywords.  *In no way are these made up, nor exaggerated, just copied and pasted off of my website stats page during the past few months. I really couldn’t come up with this shit if I tried.

• sushi delivery to your face
• chicken strip club sandwich
• where to find cheap girls in rosario, argnetina
• shrek nails
• tranny forking a girl
• vegetarian wet dream
• spiccy tranny
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• why does pumpkin soup splatter up
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• irrational hatred of the word moist
• forking was slut
• know when to pick up and put down the fork
• i’m hungry tattoo with fork
• what is the bread with a hole in the middle?
• do the brits hate argie?
• to share is pure and fair
• pickupthericardofort.com
• how many calories in a parrillada argentina
• uncle leo seinfeld eyebrows (this brings in at least 25 hits per month)
• massive weight gain pick up the fork
• what the fuck should i make eggplant fuck
• pigeons in villa crespo
• chacaritas argentinas sexi
• sexy colegiales
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• porteno for a day, no way
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• picking up a tranny bosques de palermo
• picking up a tgirl bosques de palerm
• picking up a ladyboy bosques de palermo
• bacon birthday delivery, please

*old man drinking green juice*

Now it’s time for some porn…

• dark forks porno
• eat shit food porn
• whole cow porn eating
• where food porn feces
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• noodle porn
• food fork porn
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Special shout out goes to…

*Israel Porn* (or some variation), for bringing me over 500 hits this past year.

There’s a reason puerta cerrada Cocina Sunae has been written up in international and local publications, Chef Christina Sunae has been featured on El Gourmet channel, and it’s become one of the most well known closed door restaurants in Buenos Aires: flavor-packed, well executed Southeast Asian food.  It’s not difficult to do a search and finds tons of positive reviews, but I thought I’d jump on the wagon (or off the wagon?) and give my own take on the Cocina Sunae closed door experience.

New Yorker Christina Sunae and Argie husband Franco opened up their Colegiales home in mid 2009 to bring the Buenos Aires food scene a taste of Christina’s Asian heritage and culture.  Appealing to a whole community that dearly craved spice and rich flavors, Cocina Sunae became (and continues to be) one of the only restaurants in Buenos Aires to offer Southeast Asian food that has a whole lot of soul.  Every week the four course menu changes, highlighting dishes from different Southeast Asian countries.  You can expect to see treats from Filipino, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Indonesian cuisines.

Cocina Sunae has changed a bit since my first visit a few years ago.  Before, it was more like a traditional restaurant with separate tables for each party.  Now you get the mix of a traditional supper-club vibe with communal tables, but there is also the choice to opt out  if you aren’t into sitting next to strangers – sometimes the luck of the puerta cerrada just isn’t on your side and you could get stuck next to a total creepo.

Unlike other closed door restaurants, this menu doesn’t come with wine pairings for each course.  Instead, wines are sold by the bottle and in-house cocktails are also available.  I tried both cocktails, one made with lychee, the other lemon grass – a good trago is a nice way to start a meal.

This particular night, the menu featured dishes from the Philippines and Thailand.  To start, Lumpia, a Filipino appetizer that is similar to a spring roll, is filled with vegetables and shrimp.  I’m all about dipping sauces, and these little fried, crunchy bites were served with garlic-shallot and sweet chili dipping sauces. I completely doused the perfectly fried morsels in the sauce for ultimate dipping sauce action. It came out hot, not too greasy with a great crunch – I only had wished the insides packed a bit more filling.

Move on to Thailand and the second course.  When eating Thai back at home, Laab makes the B team order: for the hot minute when I decide to order something healthy-ish (the A team is: pad thai, satay chicken with extra peanut sauce, red curry with chicken, pad see ew, mee krob, tofu and broccoli delight).

Perfect timing for a hot summer day, Sunae’s Laab had really bright, fresh flavors – highlighting the specific ingredients in the dish: diced, almost ground, chicken, fresh mint, cilantro, crushed roasted rice in a light citrus-lime dressing. Even though I normally strongly dislike cilantro, and most dishes are ruined when they contain the deathly herb, I didn’t hate this dish.  I actually liked it, especially when rolled up and messily eaten as a lettuce wrap.  On the menu it was advertised as spicy chicken salad, and although I didn’t get much spice in mine, luckily Sunae dropped off homemade sriracha – a few spoonfuls of that did the trick.

Sunae usually cooks up two main courses, and prior to arrival, guests need to pre-order which main they’d like.  Naturally, I chose one of each to share with my eating partner, making it clear that I get dibs to keep the plate that I like the best. First up, Pancit Guisado, reigning from the Philippines, thin vermicelli rice noodle that is stir fried with chicken, mushrooms and vegetables in a light soy lemon sauce and topped with perfectly cooked shrimp.  Recently I’ve stopped ordering prawns, as it’s mind boggling how many restaurants can really F it up – but I had a feeling Sunae would know how to cook it right. The rest of the dish was nice, light, good for a humid Buenos Aires night.  I wanted a bit more sauce in the bowl for some extra flavor, but once I added the table sriracha, it was mighty fine.

The second main course, a Thai specialty from Northern Thailand, Gaeng Hang Lay became the easy winner for me. This pork curry was BOMB.  Braised and cooked with cumin, tumeric, peanuts and ginger, it was pork perfection with the meat falling off the bone.  Absolutely an awesome plate of food that would convert any Kosher crazed Jew over to the dark side.

I learned from a wise friend that by rule of thumb it’s not a good decision to order desserts when dining Asian.  But since it was part of the meal, I wasn’t going to turn down a plate of postre.  In the case of Sunae, my friend was wrong, and these cute miniature homemade Key Lime pies were absolutely adorable and positively delectable.  Made with a ginger crust, I wanted to give this little guy kisses before I evilly devoured the whole thing.  It was served with Sunae’s signature green tea ice cream and a dollop of meringue.

Since I’m also an aspiring urban gardener, I can appreciate a good herb garden.  Sunae has an impressive rooftop filled with thai basil, chiles and more fresh herby goodness.

After gasm-ing over the food photos from Christina’s recent trip to Southeast Asia, I’m looking forward to my next Cocina Sunae experience to see what other Asian culinary delights will be whipped up.

Cocina Sunae
AR$130 per person, excluding drinks
Reservation Only
Colegiales, exact address given upon reservation
Tel. 15-48705506, reservas@cocinasunae.com
Thurs – Sat: 9pm – 11.30pm

*The good photos (aka brightly lit) were stolen from Cocina Sunae’s Facebook page where she has almost 20,000 fan page likes. Hot damn.