A couple of slightly longer “Bites”.

 

It’s been five years since we ate at the restaurant at the Mio Hotel, Sivela, Quintana 465, Recoleta, when we popped in there for one of BA’s food week specials. We were not impressed. It closed. But I’d heard quite good things about their new restaurant, Rufino Argentino, in particular, their pork cutlet milanesa, which impressed more than one writer enough to wax poetic about it. Henry and I decided to give it a shot for date night recently.

It’s a pretty spot, with an open kitchen, and they still have the waterfall at one end of the room. Service was attentive and friendly. The menu – a bit of sticker shock. Yeah, t’s a hotel restaurant and all that, but….

…when one orders a chorizo for 130 pesos, one expects a little more than a single “chorizo bombon”, a mini version of the classic sausage, about 3 bites, and accompanied by nothing but a little dish of chimichurri. Yes, it was a delicious chorizo, don’t get me wrong, but that’s a little steep.

But, we’d known it was going to be a pricey night out, so no surprise for a 205 peso provoleta, likewise excellent, and topped with caramelized red onions and accompanied by a mildly spicy tomato sauce.

Henry ordered up the ribeye steak – which is available in three sizes, he went with the smallest, which was still a 550 gram steak (670 pesos!) , more than a pound, and accompanied by more chimichurri, some herbed croutons (not quite sure I get that – a little weird to put on a steak), and some roasted garlic cloves (yes please). Came out cooked a perfect medium rare, and properly seasoned, and was tender as could be. Since the steak didn’t come with any sort of real side dish…

…he also ordered a side of roasted potatoes. Excellent. Actually, maybe the best thing on the table, they were perfectly cooked and seasoned. 165 pesos.

And I went with the aforementioned pork cutlet milanesa. I have to say, I don’t quite get the poetry to be waxing about. It’s a decent pork cutlet, on the bone and pounded thin. It’s breaded in what tasted like it might be cornflakes, which gave it a weird flavor. The accompaniment of a charred lemon was a nice touch, but they need to give you a… hygienic way to squeeze it over the pork – it’s covered in oil which makes picking it up and squeezing it, even on the tines of a fork, a mess for one hand at a minimum. And a large spoonful of whole grain mustard is just sitting atop it – I don’t get the spoon. The salad – pretty “plain jane” – some mixed lettuce leaves in a very basic vinaigrette. There’s so much more they could have done, particularly in presenting something like this. 390 pesos.

Add in a couple of waters, a couple of glasses of wine (140 pesos each, and very good quality), a 90 peso per person cubierto charge (and they have paper napkins on the table… come on, for that price, and being in a high-end hotel, use some real napkins!) and a tip, and we topped out at barely shy of 2400 pesos – roughly $56. Not outrageous, just expensive.

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Casa de Galicia, San José 224, Monserrat. Restaurant (and milonga) on the 2nd floor of the Club Galicia, dedicated to all things northwest Spain (why that includes a tango bar and show at night, I’m not clear). I don’t recall how this one got on the radar, but I think what was supposed to be on my radar was the stunning marble building of the Club España, a couple of blocks away on Av. 9 de Julio. Since a trio of the Horde were already slated for lunch #58 this week we settled in here.

It looks pretty much like the Association or Club lunchrooms at any of a couple of dozen such organizations around the city. I think they all have the same designer. Now, we’ve liked some of them quite a bit over the years, and found others to be… less satisfactory. Which would this be?

With three of us, we went for a couple of appetizers and a single large main course – all shareable. A beautifully done platter of calamaretes, baby squid arrived in short order. Unlike many places, the squidlets were not coated in heavy batter, but delicately fried in just a golden coating of flour. Some of the better ones I’ve had here in town – albeit they needed both salt and lemon. 490 pesos.

Less successful, and far less generous, a small cazuela of maybe 20 small prawns… gambas al ajillo, unfortunately, not only a fairly small portion to share, but kind of bland, especially given how much garlic was sliced into it – they really cooked all the flavor out of it. Disappointing, especially for 570 pesos.

A half order of paella, certainly more than enough for the proffered 2-3 people… in reality enough for a whole lot more, because that might be the worst paella I’ve ever had. And I’ve had frozen boxed paella from a midwestern supermarket. Watery, bland rice – that yellow color certainly doesn’t come from saffron, nor was their any salt or other seasoning in it. The seafood, while generous in quantity, was all overcooked and mealy – I’d bet they buy precooked frozen shellfish and just sort of heat it up – it looked exactly like the selection of seafood you get in the freezer section of the supermarkets for making cazuela de mariscos at home. We didn’t even make it through half of the half portion before leaving it aside and… “check please”. 900 pesos.

Add in a couple of 80 peso waters, a 140 peso half bottle of wine, and a trio of 45 peso apiece cubierto charges, plus tip, and even with our 10% cash discount, we shelled out 2400 pesos for three.

Highly disappointing, unfortunately. But, them’s the breaks with these outings to places we’ve not been before. On to better things….