Wow, up to 60 of these mini-review posts!!!
It’s been awhile, so let’s start with a round of pizzerias….
San Antonio, Av. Juan de Garay 3602, Boedo – often touted as the best pizzeria in Boedo, it’s been on my list for awhile, and I finally decided to give it a shot in passing.
No question it’s Argentine style pizza – with a thick crust and a mound of gooey, dripping cheese.
The crust itself is decent, there’s a quite good, even excellent tomato sauce with a good zip to it. My problem here is the cheese. Not that there’s too much of it, which there kind of is, but hey, if you like cheese, as Argentines tend to, it’s the proper amount. No, it’s that this cheese is oozing oil from every pore that a cheese could have. By the time I finished off a single slice of plain mozzarella pizza, there was a lake soaked through the wrapping paper and cardboard plate, rendering them near transparent. I liked the flavors of this pizza, but wow, that’s a lot of oil. 35 pesos a slice ain’t bad if you can handle that – a mere $1.25.
Hmmm… I think I may have been misled or misled myself, I’m not sure which at this point. Earlier this year I had some quite good pizza at Los Muchachos de Punto y Banca, the reincarnation of the much beloved over four decades Punto y Banca at Honduras and Medrano, which closed in early 2016. But internet searching and the like led me to another Punto y Banca at Jorge Newbery 3315 in Colegiales, and photos seemed to indicate a full-on pizzeria with tables and all. The reality, however, was quite different on arrival – it’s a dingy hole in the wall with only a single plastic table, which when we got there was piled with personal stuff of the staff. They agreed to clear it off and set it up with chairs for us to sit at.
This, however, was not looking like a modern re-opening of the original, and given that the waitress nor pizzero knew anything about the history or name, I’d tend to guess that this is either someone capitalizing on a well-known name, or simply another pizzeria with the same name that may have overlapped (these things tend to be more common down here, protections for trademark infringement, name copyright, or whatever it may be, seems to be pretty non-existent).
But, we were there, and not close to anything else that was of interest, and this was only pieced together over the 45 minutes or so we were there, so we stayed. The pizzero asserted that their thinner crust, pizza a la piedra, was their claim to fame, rather than the more typical thicker pizza al molde. We took his suggestion and then ordered up a half and half pizza of calabresa (mildly spicy sausage) and panceta y roquefort (bacon and blue cheese). The pluses? A quite good crust, and a reasonable amount of mozzarella, though not particularly high quality. The toppings weren’t bad, but nothing to get excited about. The tomato sauce, what little there was of it (it seemed to only be in a thin ring around the outer edge) was kind of tasteless, little more than some crushed canned tomato, and not a good can either.
Being that the place is primarily just takeout and delivery, there was no plate or silverware, only a few bottles of different sodas in the refrigerator – probably actually there for the staff to drink – and no glasses, they gave us a few rinsed out olive jars. It may have only been 380 pesos ($14) with beverage and tip, but still not really worth it.
Another one touted as the “best”, this time in Microcentro, and numerous commentators seem to award that accolade to El Palacio de la Pizza, Av. Corrientes 751. Serving up pizza in this neighborhood since 1956, this is classic, old-school Argentine pizza.
The menu is short and sweet, some basic variations on mozzarella slices or pies with typical toppings – ham or peppers or a combo, the same with versions of fugazzeta, and a few others. Highly recommended were their plain mozzarella (32 pesos) and their fugazzeta (42 pesos), so a slice of each, the latter coming with a slice of ham laid over it, and a slice of fainá (26 pesos), chickpea flatbread. The crust on the plain slice was very soft and doughy – a touch under-cooked, and the cheese was just a melting goo, though at least not particularly oily. The fugazzeta showed better – browned nicely, with a crisp edge and base to the crust, and lightly charred onions atop. The fainá was quite good as well – served hot, and has a good amount of grated cheese on the surface, giving it a really nice flavor. Overall, not bad, though I can’t say that I think it’s the best pizza in that neighborhood.
Moving on, another new sushi spot on the delivery circuit. I knew there was a Cherry Sushi in Barrio Chino, it’s been on my list to check out for a bit, I didn’t know, however, that they also opened up a spot here in Recoleta, at Rodriguez Peña 1305. Now, my first reaction when I looked at their listings was, “wow, this is really expensive, even for Recoleta”. But then, thinking about how much the pesos has lost in value over the last few weeks (diving from around 21 pesos to the dollar to over 28), and given that salmon, the mainstay of local sushi, is all imported, I can only imagine that everyone’s sushi prices are soaring.
And, Cherry’s menu has some nice choices, including a reasonable number of rolls that don’t have cream cheese on them, and some at least mildly creative nigiri options as well. I was also quite happy to see that instead of the near ubiquitous insistence on ordering nigiri sushi in blocks of anywhere from 5-10 of the same fish as the only option, Cherry offers all their nigiri in either 6 or 3 piece batches, and the latter are barely over 50% of the price. Likewise with harumaki, or spring rolls, they offer the option of 6 of either meat or vegetable, but also to get the order half and half, at a midpoint price.
The sushi itself was fresh and flavorful. The rice, maybe a touch sweet for my personal tastes. The only nigiri I wasn’t overly fond of was their eponymous nigiri cherry, which was billed as salmon with a prawn tartare. I had assumed that the two items would be mounted atop a rice ball, but instead, the salmon is laid over a spoonful of the tartare, making it impossible to pick up with anything but a spoon. The meat springrolls were delicious, with a thin, crispy exterior and a decent amount of lightly spiced filling, though strangely, the vegetable ones were thick, soft, doughy rolls, lightly golden, and with no more than a thin strip of cabbage and carrot inside each. All told, with 18 pieces of nigiri and an order of the harumaki, plus delivery charge, this rang in at a touch over 1100 pesos, or about $40. Pricey, but not outrageous. Worth a visit down the line, especially given how close to home it is.
And, a new spot for Peruvian delivery, though the restaurant itself has been around awhile. We just hadn’t gotten to Huanchaco, La Rioja 222 in Once yet. A first order of caldo de gallina, Henry was fighting off a cold and wanted something light and curative, was a delicious chicken soup – he felt it was a touch salty, but I tried it and didn’t find that, I think it was more his cold altering his taste perception. My tallarines verdes con pollo were an overly generous portion of pasta in a decent basil and spinach pesto, and a pretty good pan fried chicken, plus nice spicy papas a la huancaina. At 200 and 240 pesos, respectively, given that both dishes were enough for dinner one night and lunch the next day, a bargain.
Good enough that we ordered again a week later. An excellent seco de cordero, slow cooked lamb, though a bit light on the beans – they’re just a thin layer over the rice, rather than the more typical half and half. And tasty, if perhaps slightly over-fried chicharrón de pollo, just a little darker than it should have been, though not to the point of being burned. And even reasonably good fries. Likewise, enough for two meals out of each portion, at 220 pesos apiece. We’re talking about $8 for main courses big enough to cover two meals, each. That’s not bad at all. We’ll definitely stop in at the place sometime soon to check it out in person.
A couple of more delivery orders from Cherry Sushi and finally a visit to the spot itself. It’s teeny – mostly just a takeout counter in what used to be some sort of small shop I imagine. There are just four tables – two for two and two for four, so twelve seats total. But most of them are occupied by people waiting for takeout orders, and despite having a reservation (we didn’t know), and getting the one counter person there to organize a table for us, we had people standing around our table and sitting at all the others, but not dining, throughout most of the meal. Delivery guys come and go, it’s not what I would call a relaxed setting to dine in.
The sushi just as good as the delivery orders – we split a round of all five of their nigiri – salmon, sole, salmon skin, octopus, and prawn (six pieces each type), and a couple of half orders (three pieces each type) of their specials, tuna, and black pepper salmon with lumpfish caviar, and a few pieces of salmon sashimi. All fresh, delicious, and well made. But, I’ll stick with delivery here in Recoleta. I do plan to checkout their “flagship” main restaurant on the far side of Barrio Chino – it has a more extensive menu, and is a full sized restaurant… I think.