IN BOCCA AL LUPO HAS UNFORTUNATELY CLOSED AS OF SEPTEMBER 2016
If in Bocca al Lupo was single, it would be quite the catch. Good looking? Check. Great personality? Check. Appealing to the taste buds? Check.Check. Stronglikebull coffee? Triplo check. A wonderful welcome to Palermo Hollywood, this Italian café has what it takes for coffeehouse marriage material.
In Bocca al Lupo quickly became my go-to spot for breakfast, lunch, coffee, meetings, coffee meetings, and day-long work squatting sessions. From the moment I first set eyes on the lovely spot in early 2012, I knew it had that something special. Right when you walk into the spacious café, eyes are glued to a display case of breads and pastries, with the shiny red snazzy coffee machine glistening in the background.
Opened in 2012 by Italian Enrico Aguggiaro, in Bocca al Lupo offers a winning combination of awesome coffee, freshly made (all in their large kitchen lab) pastries, breakfasts/meriendas/weekend brunches, sandwiches, salads, homemade Italian food, a comfortable lounge area, a outdoor patio, a large upstairs salon, lots of plugs/wifi, and beautiful decor to match.
It’s not easy to find a café that gets all the tick marks, but look at those light fixtures. They are tea cups and tea pots! And check out the other ones, chandeliers of spoons, SPOONS!
You may need a food dictionary when reading the menu, it’s all in Italian and only part of it is translated into Spanish. The breakfast and merienda specials, offered all day long, have an Italian twist while they also offer many of the items a la carte at an extremely affordable price for a café of such quality.
My favorite breakfast special, Il Rustico, includes a caffé/capuccino, prosciutto and cheese sandwich on a homemade baguette (two huge halves) and a large glass of wonderful fresh squeezed orange juice.
For those on a budget (or with little appetite), the pizza (15 pesos) is a great option, more similar to a focaccia with various choices of toppings. The uovo strapazzato con panceta or scrambled eggs with big chunks of panceta is especially fab, as is the healthier yogurt and granola and fruit salad — each of these are smaller portions, and don’t top 20 pesos.
The cornetti (medialunas), is made fresh daily, quite large and stickysweet on the outside, with a buttery flaky inside.
They also come stuffed with ham and cheese orrrr with gooey NUTELLA. Fattyfatfat.
The baguettes to go, each one of these long rods are only AR$4 each. That’s what I call a bargain, it’s how much flour, water and yeast should cost.
Other than breakfast and merienda specials, the rest of the menu is filled with a combo of salads, sandwiches, pastas and a daily lunch special that includes main+drink+coffee. These dishes are a bit more costly than I’d usually spend for lunch (in the 50s range). The Zia Patrizia salad is one of my faves (and only one I’ve ever ordered) with greens, confit tomatoes and avocado with mini veggie burgers, while the Tempo sandwich with marinated chicken, artichokes, confit tomatoes and arugula is a winner.
The menu includes about 5 different pastas, all homemade, with dishes like tagliatelle alla bolognesa (above), penne con verdure grigliate (penne with grilled vegetables), eggplant parmigiana, and on weekends, in addition to their special brunch menu, they serve lasagne.
I’m a big proponent of outdoor spaces, especially when they are covered and heated for winter.
I’m also a huge fan of cacti tree sweaters made by Knitting Baires.
The coffee is some of the best I’ve had in Buenos Aires, definitely ranking in the top 5 of the city. They use Illy (one of my faves), but make it in such a perfect way, I don’t know how it tastes so damn good. Really, I can’t just go for one cup of coffee — I set up shop next to a plug and get all cracked out to work and procrastinate. And with the service so nice and friendly, you only feel somewhat bad hogging a table all day long.
Maybe I’m gushing too much, but it’s not easy to find that all-in-one café — in Bocca al Lupo definitely has what it takes to start a long meaningful relationship.
In Bocca al Lupo Caffé
Bonpland 1965, Palermo Hollywood
Tel. 4774-3692
Hours: Sun, Tues – Thurs: 9am – 8pm, Fri – Sat: 9am – 9pm
Average price for breakfast / lunch: AR$40 – AR$65
CLOSED
Alan Jelly Seabright says
Nice review, and great photos! Did you ask to take them first? They were super mala onda with me for taking photos there, ruined an otherwise lovely experience :-/
It really gets to me when people try to make you feel bad for taking photos… if it’s that important to the establishment, there should at least be a sign advising that photos are not allowed. They just lost a probably return customer, not that they care I’m sure.
Reyna V. Wooten says
Unfortunately not the same can be said about the service. Usually the service is very good at Bocca di Lupo , but there have been some instances in the past when the service has taken away from the overall experience and this was one of those times. We waited 40 minutes for our coffees to arrive, which is just unacceptable for a restaurant of Bocca di Lupo ‘s standing. Hopefully they can improve the level of service to always match the level of cooking, because if they can achieve that I don’t see why it’s not worthy of a Michelin star.
Berni says
Que buenas Fotos Allie! me copo este lugar besoss
Anna says
I’ll be in Buenos Aires in two months, and this place will certainly be on my list of potential coffee places! I love Illy coffee, unfortunately not many places serve it here in Lima…
The spoon lamp caught my eye, too. I saw something similar here in a French restaurant called Hervé. Nice idea!
Nati says
I went today for breakfast and I loved loved loved it!!
Thanks for another terrific recomendation!!
Kailey says
This place looks amazing and give me ganas to go back to BsAs!
the5thfloorba says
By the way, it is beginning to annoy me that both your and Lisa’s photos are so much better than mine. I will either have to give up or go on a course!!
the5thfloorba says
My feelings exactly and Enrico is a star. If you ask him nicely he will also provide you with half-cooked frozen loafs that you can stick in the oven at home, so never be without freshly baked bread! I think you have to buy quite a lot though to make it worth his while. I’m thinking of using this for my little hotel. Have yet to try it extensively, but his baguettes (that he gave me to try) are excellent.
NOLAchef says
OMG that tagliatelle looks messy good!!!