“I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree. Indeed, unless the billboards fall, I’ll never see a tree at all.”

– Ogden Nash

Buenos Aires – The city of Buenos Aires has declared war on billboards, with the intent to remove some 60% of them, roughly 40,000, from the various barrios, calling it “visual pollution”. While I agree in principle that billboards on an in general basis are nothing more than an eyesore, I have to admit I would miss (should this ever actually come to pass) the amusement that some of them engender.

Indeed.

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…

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!

“One day in the year 1900 a man dashed into a small New Haven luncheonette and asked for a quick meal that he could eat on the run. Louis Lassen, the establishment’s owner, hurriedly sandwiched a broiled beef patty between two slices of bread and sent the customer on his way, so the story goes, with America’s first hamburger. The tiny eatery that made such a big impact on the eating habits of an entire nation was, of course, Louis’ Lunch. Today, Louis’ grandson, Ken, carries on the family tradition: hamburgers that have changed little from their historic prototype are still the specialty of the house. Each one is made from beef ground fresh each day, broiled vertically in the original cast iron grill and served between two slices of toast. Cheese, tomato and onion are the only acceptable garnish — no true connoisseur would consider corrupting the classic taste with mustard or ketchup.

– from the official Louis’ Lunch website

Buenos Aires – After last week’s post on my trip to the northern suburbs and hamburger samplings, a friend pointed out that I’ve never mentioned the place we go to regularly for burgers when we’re in the mood. I realized that originally, I’d slated it for Round Two of the Great Hamburguesa Roundup, something which I never got around to writing. So the photos, and the memory, lapsed into historical obscurity, while meanwhile, we continued to go and eat really good burgers…

 “…we now live in the second robber baron era. One of the things that happens in such times is that the wealthy and powerful get to construct huge building and homes. Yet, however we may feel about the 19th century power hoggers, we are still attracted to the architecture and structures they were rich enough to build. Now, take a stroll through the downtown of a gentrified city of today or drive into the carelessly wealthy suburbs.”

– Sam Smith, Progressive Review

Acassuso – I have been to this small suburb north of the city once before – it was evening, we were there for another purpose, and I didn’t get a chance to see much of it. At some point way back when I wrote my great hamburguesa round-up, a local friend had sent me a note saying “you must try the burger at Pepino’s” and giving me an address in this river community about half an hour north of the city. I had nothing planned for last Sunday other than just getting out of the house, and thought, hey, why not? So, off to the northern suburbs…

I don’t know much about Acassuso, its history, or… hmmm… really much of anything. I would say from wandering around for the day that it seems to be a pretty wealthy suburb, with the majority of homes being behind security fences of one sort or another, private guards on the streets (though, none of them gave me a second glance as I snapped photos), fancy boutique stores, and a whole lot of English and French being spoken by the various people I passed or who were eating in one of the two restaurants I checked out. Yes, two… I was hungry. Mostly, it got me a couple of pictures of fall foliage (interestingly, the town is planted with a lot of what I think of as North American trees – oak, maple, ash, birch, willows – that I don’t see here in other places), a visit to Peru Beach, so-named because it’s at the end of a street named Peru, and not much of a beach – more of a riverbank with some casual cafes setup in a strip mall along the water, and places to rent kayaking, windsurfing, parasailing, and sailing equipment, plus a roller hockey arena in active use. There’s a cute little antiques fair that lines one side of the Tren de la Costa train station (called Barrancas rather than Acassuso) on Sundays – one of two train lines that run through here, I took the regular suburban train out to the town’s main station. More on the restaurants after the photos…

My first stop, given the recommendation, was Pepino, Libertador 14475 – which is basically a big hamburger and hot dog stand. It’s setup to look like a bit nicer spot than that, but that’s really all they offer, other than a salad bar. The place was jammed with people, mostly families with small kids, indoor and outdoor seating, formica tables, vinyl booths and chairs, waiters rushing about taking orders – given that the choices are limited, it’s a quick and easy thing to decide. French fries arrived quickly – brought around by a guy who had plastic baskets of them stacked ten high as he ran around dropping them off on tables – clearly not made to order, and cold. The bacon cheeseburger arrived a good ten minutes later, so they’d have been cold anyway if I’d wanted to eat them together. The burger is tasty, well seasoned, and probably started off at 3-4 ounces before cooking weight. By the time it was cooked (well done, no options, and too thin to do anything else with anyway), it couldn’t have weighed in at more than about 2-3 ounces. It more or less disappeared under two strips of reasonably crispy bacon, lots of melted cheese (again, no options, just cheese) and pickles. The bun was a traditional soft style. All in all, points for the flavor, though not thrilled with the size or execution.