Puratierra

3 de Febrero 1167, Belgrano, +54 (11) 4899 2007  - During our delightful evening at Casa SaltShaker, we asked our chef, Dan, to name his favorite restaurant in the city and the answer was Puratierra.  We waited for a chance to go with some restaurant savvy friends and that chance came last weekend.  We called on a Friday night for Saturday reservations and they had plenty of availability, especially for our requested 8pm dinner time.  We were the first ones to arrive, obviously, and the restaurant stayed empty until 9:30 or so when a stampede of people filled the place to capacity.

The restaurant looks to be a converted brownstone, with exposed brick accents and incredible lighting.  I loved every lighting piece in this place.  The tables were a little tightly spaced together, but the atmosphere was comfortable to converse over dinner.  The dining room has large windows to the kitchen, so you can enjoy watching the chefs work, while not having to battle with all of the kitchen noise.  Over the kitchen window is a large chalkboard that displays the night's specials. 

I wish I had taken photos of our food, each dish was a work of art.  We started with an amuse-bouche (my Top Chef phrase of the day) that was sent to our table by the chef, of diced vegetables and lengua (yeah, that's tongue) that was good, although I had trouble getting over the lengua part.  We ordered a small pizza and a roasted vegetable appetizer for our starters and they were the perfect size for four to share.  As a main entree, our friends ordered the squid ink linguine while Jon ordered the lomo (tenderloin, obviously, he has a new found obsession) and I had a chicken breast with potatoes.  All dishes were delicious, and as stated before, they could have been works of art.  We ordered specific entrees from the menu, but there is also an option to order a certain number of courses and have the chef decide what's best.  From what I remember, you can order anywhere from 3 to 9 courses, similar to the menu option we chose at Tegui.  This is a great option if your in the mood for an adventure, but as Jon and I still squirm when someone mentions sweetbreads, we are not quite ready for this type of experience.

We splurged and ordered dessert, although I don't think anyone really needed it.  We had an upside down apple tart that was delicious.  If you go to Puratierra, be sure to order a dessert, it was worth every bite.

This is definitely a special occasion place, the prices are higher than we spend on a weekend dinner.  if you have someone to impress, or are on a first date, this is a perfect place to go - it's impressive start to finish.