“The area’s trendy status has brought many restaurants that, perhaps not surprisingly, are more about the soaring interiors and designer cocktails than the food. It’s not that a meal at this type of restaurant is bad, just generic”

I think that’s the key.

My impression, from him labeling the cuisine as generic, is that he isn’t saying that modern restaurants don’t belong, just that many should perhaps offer something unique instead of duplicating the norm. A little extra flair that sets this trendy area apart from those in other large cities. That there are more trendy restaurants offering generic cuisine instead of taking Argentinean cuisine and fusing it with modern cuisine from other locales. Foreign restaurants are fine in Buenos Aires but take advantage of this particular trendy neighborhood to show off trendy Argentinean-inspired cuisine. I think that’s the point he’s trying to make.

I do know what you mean though, and it’s interesting how many people really do think like this when they visit “out of the way” places. I remember visits with various groups to parts of Mexico, to Alsace, and smaller towns in Italy, and having people obsess about discovering that there were non-Mexican, Alsatian, or Italian restaurants in various towns, as if it was somehow ruining the experience for them.

There was an article years ago in National Geographic where the writer lamented at length the fact that some valley in China was getting things like electricity, gas, running water, etc. – that it was destroying this unique culture where the people lived in harmony with the land… the following month there was a response from a local citizen there who had studied in the U.S., lambasting the writer for daring to presume that some group of people should be denied access to modern amenities, health care, and knowledge, just so that he, the writer, could admire from afar this pastoral, antiquated community.

Similar things happen in the food world!

And for the record? I adore your site!