A fun lineup this time… and for a change, almost everything was good. We have an alliteration of pizza, Peruvian, pasta, and pastrami! We’ll kick off with the one that wasn’t up to par.
“I love a good mushroom pizza, if it’s made with fresh mushrooms, not canned. I hate canned mushrooms” “Sir, we only use fresh mushrooms, never canned.” “Great!”
“You lie like a canned mushroom.” And nothing else about the pizza was very good either.
Los Inmortales, Paraná 1209, Recoleta. Nothing more need be said.
New Peruvian spot Henry found out about, and we were off to Tradiciones del Perú, Godoy Crúz 2485, corner of Charcas, Palermo.
It is indeed very new, and gleaming, and some of the equipment is still wrapped in plastic, like the air conditioner – not that it was needed. What was, given that the outside temperature was 7°C was the heater, which, although not turned on, was at least unwrapped and installed. The waitress and chef had to contact the owner for permission to turn it on when we requested it, and she came in and did it herself. I know it’s expensive to start up a restaurant, but you’re not going to build up business if you freeze your customers out.
Thankfully, the food was good. We both went for the menú ejecutivo, and just decided to get one of each option – a beef and noodle soup, and an avocado causa to start.
And, beef with rice and beans, and a lomo saltado, stir-fried beef. A little heavy on the beef choices – three out of four of the menú dishes. Hopefully it was just a that day occurrence. All tasty, all generous portions. A little pricier than the typical Peruvian spot menú coming in at 250 pesos each, though everyone’s getting close to that these days. Another plus, instead of the usual Koolaid-esque refresco drink to accompany, they had lemonade with ginger and mint.
We’ve had better, we’ve had worse. Put this one somewhere in the middle. Perhaps the nicest thing, for those who live in that neighborhood, is that there was only one decent home cooking Peruvian spot around until now.
About a year-old spot here in Recoleta, that combines café with a small wine shop (maybe 100 selections available for purchase, along one wall). Cowi, Agüero 2100, corner of Peña is a cute little coffee shop and casual eatery.
The menú at lunch runs 330 pesos, and on two visits, there were four choices available – I tried their Malbec braised roast beef two ways, between the visits. One was as a ravioli filling in a butter and herb sauce. Really good – the pasta well made, the filling and sauce both delicious. The other, just as good, as a sandwich, topped with blue cheese and caramelized onions. Less successful, the included flan for dessert (or fruit salad or coffee), which was a bit under-flavored and overcooked, so it was eggy in both texture and flavor, and the somewhat tiny and dried out portion of a chocotorta, a classic local dessert of layered chocolate biscuits and dulce de leche. Probably better to opt for coffee rather than either of those desserts.
I had to have a special x-ray done, and across the street from the lab where I went was yet another fairly new spot, at least I don’t recall seeing it before, called Cast, Viamonte 2599, Once. Offering itself up as a classic Jewish deli with a specialty in pastrami, it went right on my list to try. The overarching question, for those who live here, was whether it would be actual pastrami, or the local pastrón, which is little more than a slightly smoky and usually very salty lunch meat slice. [Closed in early to mid 2020, victim of Covid-19 shutdown]
Thankfully, it turns out to be the latter, and quite good pastrami at that. It’s served up on your choice of fresh baked pletzlach or brioche, and various combinations of toppings are offered. At 280 pesos with either a drink or fries, or 300 pesos with both, it’s a bargain for the quality. The first photo is just plain pastrami on a pletzlach. The combination one in the lower photo is their Tel Aviv sandwich, which layers pastrami with hummus, fried eggplant, fried egg, and a tomato, cucumber, and parsley salad dosed with tahini and zhug. The last ought to be a lot more picante than their version, but hey, this is Buenos Aires, it probably was sufficiently spicy for many local palates.
The also offer corned beef, the only place I think I’ve seen that in BA, lox, and smoked salmon, but pastrami is clearly their forte.
