The Little Pearl

I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls off a string.”

– from Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Buenos Aires – Some days you just want simple comfort food. Now, given my Midwestern U.S. roots, for me, that really means finding a good hamburger and/or a plate of mac ‘n cheese, which here, unfortunately, usually means I have to tolerate the noise and ridiculous prices at Hard Rock Cafe. So that doesn’t happen too often. For Argentines, it’s probably something like a milanesa, more or less what we called a weiner schnitzel when I was growing up. And then, there’s the Uruguayans… and that sandwich I’ve grown to love, the chivito uruguayo, of which I’d despaired of finding a decent version in Buenos Aires. Until now…

La Perlita - chivito uruguayo

This version, one of the options for a chivito uruguayo from La Perlita, Av. Jujuy 74, right near to the Once train station – and I believe owned by the same guy who owns Damblee and Sánchez y Sánchez. Most of the menu is the usual minutas, or simple plates, as they’re referred to – but recently I gave a shot at one of the chivito uruguayos – delicious, dead on the way it should be – this is the “canadiense” version, steak topped with lettuce, tomato, canadian bacon, ham, cheese, onions, and mayo. It’d still be great to have a real c.u. stand around that made them to order topped with whatever you wanted, but for now, I’ll settle for a couple of different combinations that are worth the twenty minute walk from home!

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11 thoughts on “The Little Pearl

  1. Great news… I have the “pleasure” of living within a few blocks of La Perlita, so I’ll have to give their Chivito Uruguayo a shot sometime soon 🙂

    I say pleasure in inverted commas, because the area I live in was recently dubbed “las cuadras de muerte” by La Nacion magazine, for having one of the highest homicide and violent crime rates in the city, especially between the hours of 11pm and 5am. So I’ll be getting the Chivito Uruguayo for lunch, I guess…

  2. Great tip!! I was in Uruguay recently and had one of these for my first time. I was wondering where I could get one in BA. Greasy comfort food and hangover cure in one!

    Cheers!

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