The No Man’s Land Everyman’s Burger at Tierra de Nadie

Caballito isn’t necessarily known for its hopping food scene, but one diamond in the rough is starting to change that… one juicy hamburger at a time. A totally contemporary fast food jam that does circles around the neighboring competition, you’d think it would belong in Palermo or San Telmo but instead it’s nestled comfortably in no man’s land. 

It’s a tiny local with just four tables and a few bar stools — Tierra de Nadie is whipping up quality American-inspired foods, serving to a packed house of quite random clientele that pass by during the day: neighborhood señoras, afterschool pibes, doctors, nurses, and other hospital workers. At night, the curtains come down and appears to be closed, but is really transformed into a secret hamburger hole in the wall for only those in the know.

David Sovilj and Guadalupe Peralta Herrera are both food lovers who worked in the restaurant industry for years. David is not a trained chef, but when he opened Tierra de Nadie, decided to take charge of the kitchen. Guadalupe manages the front of the house, taking endless orders, wrapping up delivery pedidos with care so it gets to its maker in a quality state, and making sure the clients are happy. This is their first endeavor as business owners — David worked as a waiter in famed Buenos Aires powerhouse restaurants such as Kansas, always keeping a close eye on quality products, how the food was made and consistently executed. Guadalupe lived for a few years in the United States, tasting and trying Yankie specialties. When the opportunity arose, the couple brought all their food likes, restaurant training, home cooking knowledge, and customer service experience to open up Tierra de Nadie.

It’s the type of menu that with one glance, you may brush it off as just another one of those Argentine fast food spots that are trying too hard to imitate the gringo food ways with hamburgers, some sort of Mexican wrap and a Caesar salad. But looks can be deceiving, and this certainly ain’t no TGIFriday’s menu.

This crispy chicken sandwich was kinda the hotness. Perfectly fried crispy buttery crust and juicy white meat in the middle, and served with BBQ sauce on a homemade baguette. I never thought it was possible to get so excited about a chicken sandwich, but holypollo, I’d like to extract the calories and make this my daily lunch. An overall simple but tasty sandwich where every component was something I’d like to eat on its own.

Meet the classic: she’s not like your everyday big, fat, juicy burger — she’s a different breed with a thin homemade paty, quickly seared and served medium, and dressed up with ham, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, special sauce and served on a slightly toasted soft bun. Since I’m not into Argentine fake cheddar, next time I’d probably lose the ham and cheese and go simply naked for just a regular hamburguesa.

Can’t you picture your dirty mouth inhaling that slutty burger? You know the special sauce oozing down the sides is kind of a turn on… or maybe not and I’m just a major food perv creeping everyone out. Nevermind. Just kidding … (?)

In addition to the smaller classic burgers, TDN also goes deluxe with house specialities including a burger that is STUFFED with cheddar cheese on the inside and packed with all sorts of toppings. Yes, it’s slightly crude, but a fabulous fatty idea for those who want to indulge and don’t give a shit what others may think #youdon’tknowme. Other interesting burger toppings: homemade bourbon sauce, caramelized onions, crispy fried onions.

The house fries are smothered with gooey cheddar and crispy bacon. Again, personally not my taste since I’m from a non fake cheddar cheese school of eating, but for those who like the processed stuff (no judgement — I freeze cool whip and eat it with a spoon), you will be in orange cheese bliss. BUT, I can say that the fries happen to be wonderful — thick, hand cut, mini steak fries, and will get you in the freshly frying mood.

Taco, burrito, what’s comin’ out of your speedo? Okay, maybe not the most appropriate rhyme to start singing before tucking into this burrito wrap. Tierra de Nadie does a different interpretation on the burrito — it’s as if a wrap and fajita mated, and had this food baby with strips of marinated beef, onions, peppers, lettuce and some saucy goodness. Not authentic Mexican, but a cool take on it with high quality products.

You can tell a great restaurant from a decent one when they make sauces in house, not serving any of the commercial bullshit. And we gotta give it up for Tierra de Nadie’s condiments — so often a good spot is just ruined with shit regular ketchup, ass-tasting mustard, and gloopygross mayonnaise, but here there’s a condiment party with a cast of homemade flavors: ketchup, honey mustard, sour cream, TDN spicy sauce (not that spicy FYI), BBQ, Bourbon sauce and Caesar.

The owner learned a lot from working for years at Kansas. Even though all of Kansas recipes are kept secret — in fear of being stolen — he watched, observed, and managed to replicate the Caesar dressing pretty well.

Thin crust BBQ chicken pizza?! California Pizza Kitchen, watch out. If only the “health” artificial sweetening nuts over at SER could see their plastic display thingy put to good use.

Tierra de Nadie
Avellaneda 588, Caballito
Tel. 2073-1566
Thurs – Sat: 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm; Mon – Sat: 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Delivery, Take away, casual fast food sit down
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Average price per person: AR$60

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