El Mirasol

After three years of avoiding the Recova area, we finally gave in and went to dinner at El Mirasol.  The Recova is a little pocket of restaurants on Posadas between Cerrito and 9 de Julio.  We have heard good things about El Mirasol, but were always hesitant to try it since these restaurants tend to attract a largely tourist crowd.  We were missing out - the place was packed and the food was really great - we should have been more open minded.

We started out with the provoleta and the fried beef empanadas - our friends were specific - they had to be the fried empanadas even though they can be ordered alternative ways.  Cooked cheese is always delicious, it's hard to mess that up.  The empanada was great, crispy on the outside and shredded beef on the inside - a real winner.  You need to be careful at this stage though, there are some large cuts of meet on the menu - prepare yourself.

We shared a side of vegetables, we ordered them grilled and they were really simple and tasty. In the background you'll see the potatoes noisette that we ate very little of.  They were good, but the rest of the meal trumped the little potatoes.

The Lomo

The menu was typical of a parilla, lots of meat options including strange parts that we do not order, but the sizes were enormous.  There is a tenderloin to share that was listed as 1650 grams (~3 1/2 pounds), so you know they're not joking around.  The guys decided on more normal cuts, a 300g lomo and a normal sized ojo de bife both of which were perfectly cooked.  I think this lomo wins for the best flavor I've had in the city - it was really great.

I ordered the peruvian chicken, the 1/4 chicken option (which was the smallest one) and it was still enormous.  Moral of the story, you don't need to orde as much as you think - the portions are large and in charge!

Ojo de Bife

The chicken dish - you can't even see the chicken

El Mirasol is a great local option, it's too bad that we waited so long to try it out.  If you're looking for a nice parilla with large portions this is a great place.

El Burladero

Two of our favorite restaurants, Fervor and Sottovoce, are owned by the same company.  One of Jon's coworkers told him about a new concept to the same company, El Burladero, and we went to try it out 2 days later.

El Burladero (Uriburu 1488, between Peña & French, 4806-9247) is the newest theme for this restaurant group, and though it just opened in August of this year, it has received overwhelmingly great reviews in every outlet I have found.

We just barely got a reservation for the night we wanted to come in, the only time slot they had available was 10:30pm, and it was completely packed when we arrived AND when we left.

The restaurant is simply decorated, lots of framed pictures and Spanish artifacts lining the walls.  There are large chalkboards advertising signature dishes and a few seats at the bar for folks - like us - who need to wait until their table is ready.  As as perk of waiting, they offer you the choice between a glass of champagne or a small draft beer - the beer is nothing special but it is rare to find anything on draft in the city.

Once we were at a table, we were offered the same great selection of bread they have at Sottovoce and Fervor, and they have an appetizer list filled with tapas and seafood.

Each main course dish is large enough to share, though we decided to go against the waiter's suggestion and order three dishes for our group of 4 people.  As a result, we had enough food for 8 people, and the waiter gave us an "I told you so" look that was virtually caught on film.  This was him dishing out our paella, the smaller portion which was more than sufficient for 4 people.  There are a few different types of paella to choose from, we chose the seafood option, though there are at least 3 other varieties.

Many of the dishes can be ordered a la carte, you can choose the protein (fish, chicken, beef, seafood...) the side and the way you want it to be prepared.  We chose the fish of the day, served with grilled vegetables "Spanish style"and a chicken dish served with rice and a saffron sauce.

 All of the entrees were tasty, fresh and quite different from anywhere else we've eaten in the city.  The chicken dish was a little low on meat, but considering the amount of extra food we had, I'm not complaining.  This is a great addition to our eating out repertoire, we are happy campers!

Oviedo

We have been to Oviedo once before, but I never got around to writing about it and neither of us could remember it very well.  We have since read in both TimeOut magazine and seen it listed on the current Favorite 5 list on the SaltShaker blog, so we decided to give it another go.  

Oviedo (Beruti 2602 y Ecuador, 4821-3741) is in Recoleta right near the German Hospital.  TimeOut describes it as having a "clubbish atmosphere", but it seems more antique-train-station themed to me.  The atmosphere is comfortable, though the tables are incredibly close together, something that I remember now from our first visit.  Our service was the sore point for us, which we were reminded of on this visit.  Our waiter took three times to get our drink order right, and he was only asking if we wanted our water sparkling or still.

That being said, the food was outstanding - start-to-finish.  We began with a ceviche appetizer that was, possibly, the best I have ever had.  They had the large fried cord kernels and a crispy topping, but the real treat was the green sauce which was crisp, refreshing, and citric, but I have no idea what it contained.

For our main dishes I had the salmon ravioli, which the waiter said was served with a mushroom sauce - though I didn't find any mushrooms.  Regardless of the sauce, the ravioli was homemade and delicious.  It was just the right amount of food too, not the usual overindulgence of pasta that I'm used to - which was good because I would have eaten the entire dish, no matter how much was there.  Jon ordered one of the trout options, I think there were three available on the menu.  The option that he chose came with thin cut green beans, mashed potatoes and a grilled pepper and onion sauce. Again, a tasty and unique option.

We shared a dessert, the chocolate volcano dessert that is present on almost every dessert menu in the city.  Oviedo's version was good, not much different than most of the others we have tried, but it was a great way to top off a really good meal.

Again, the disappointment here was the service.  It was disjointed, in some ways rushed (they cleared our dishes immediately after we finished, asked us if we were ready to order numerous times, etc) and in other ways absent (they never asked if we needed drink refills, we had to flag someone down for the check, etc).  Jon said that it most closely reminded him of a restaurant in the US, which makes sense if you take out the waiter's attempt to turn the table or build up the check with additional drinks.  The food was fast, and the dishes really made up for the lack of service fluidity.

We may return, hopefully with a larger group so that we can sit at one of the larger, more spacious tables.

El Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales

That's right.  It's prohibited NOT to touch.  Clever indeed.

I was reading my new favorite Time Out magazine and noticed that there is a hands-on science museum right behind the Recoleta cemetery that I have never seen or heard of before. This reminds me that this city has so much more to offer than meets the eye - this fantastic museum is less that 3 blocks from me and I never knew it was there.  El Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (4807-3260, located behind the Recoleta Cultural Center, Junin 1930 y Quintana) is an interactive science museum ideal for children 4 years old and up.  Their motto "Prohibido no tocar" (it's forbidden not to touch) makes this museum great for any toddling little ones, though under the age of 4 they are probably not understanding a whole lot of the science part.  As of today, the entrance fee is AR$25 for anyone over the age of 4.

We went to the museum on a Saturday, which I will list as a judgement error on my part, and it was packed with people.  My stroller was the bain of everyone's existence as I tried in vain to follow Gretchen around the museum.  Next time, I will go on a weekday, and leave the stroller at the door.

The museum is divided into rooms with clever names like "no me mates matemetica" (don't kill me math) and "la mesa esta servido" (the table is set) which correspond with the theme of the room, like math or food science.  Each room is filled with interactive experiments along with a little blurb about why or how the experiment works, and what to observe.  Needless to say, all of this was a little lost on Gretchen, and honestly, me as well - my Spanish is not up to Science Museum par quite yet, but she had a blast playing with the things nonetheless.  Her favorite room was the Tech room, much to her father's pride and joy, where she was able to play with countless joysticks and push all the remote control buttons her heart desired.

Considering that this museum is within walking distance, and a fraction of the cost of some of the organized classes in town, I will for sure return with Gretchen during the winter months while searching for indoor activities for the kiddos.  Also, it offers the RARE perk of being open during morning hours. It is a really great museum for older kids, and as an adult, I was tempted to play with the exhibits too - win/win!

El Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales
Location: Junin 1930 y Quintana, behind the Recoleta Cultural Center
Phone: 4807-3260
Hours: 10am - 5pm, Tues -Fri; 3:30pm - 7:30pm, Sat & Sun, closed Mondays
Admission: Adults and children over 4 - AR$25. Children under 4 are free.

El Ateneo Grand Splendid

Not Your Average Barnes & Nobels...

If you are visiting Buenos Aires for more than a few days, one of the mini-sites to see is El Ateneo Grand Splendid (Recoleta, Av Santa Fe 1860, cross-street Callao, 4811-6104).  It's in some of the tour books more specific to Buenos Aires you might find more information on this it, but it is a really neat little spot.  Not so little, actually.  El Ateneo Grand Splendid is the biggest book store in South America, that stocks books in many languages (even English!) and really, is a site to see in it's own right.  Built in 1919, this building was originally a movie theater that included a small recording studio in the back.  This studio boasts famous visitors such as Ignacio Corsini and Carlos Gardel (don't worry, I didn't know who they were until we moved here either - both best known for their tango singing).

It is unclear to me as to when it was converted into a book store, but it still has the full feeling of a "Majestic" style move theater, which is really what make it so cool.  Behind the red velvet curtain is a little cafe where you will find people sipping coffee, chatting quietly or just starting their recent purchase.  From a distance, the cafe gives the impression of being a pit orchestra, I had to actually get up close to see that it was a cafe.

My motivation for visiting El Ateneo after all this time living in the city is that I have heard they have a great area for kids on the lower level.  It's true, Ateneo Junior is a sectioned off part of the bookstore where kids can pull books off of the shelves and play without any issue from the staff.  The issue is that there are only two ways to access the downstairs area, and they are either an escalator or stairs, making my stroller dilemma quite complicated.  I was able to leave my stroller at the information booth - but it is dependent on your trust that the information booth guy is actually going to keep his eyes on your stroller, a risky venture to say the least.  We crossed our fingers and left the stroller to spend some time in the kiddo area.

I will admit, this is probably an activity better suited for the slightly older child.  Gretchen LOVED the fact that she could pull the books off of the shelves, just like at home, but wasn't so into actually looking at the books.  She spent most of the afternoon sitting among a pile of books, then getting up and creating a new pile somewhere else.  She was also intrigued by the shelf labeled "Please do not remove cellophane from the book sets", because there is nothing more fun to a one year old than removing cellophane from a book set or two.  Joking aside, I think she had a really run time, and we found a couple new books to add to our home library.  The staff is really nice, completely understanding, and helpful in engaging the kids with books.  What I had hoped for was a "reading corner" where little ones could sit on a bean bag chair and peruse through a book, but this wasn't that kind of book shop.  There are a few little table and chair combinations, and a large, carpeted, island-style bench that Gretchen liked to crawl around on, and we actually sat together and stumbled through a Spanish children's book together.  I will say, the books we purchased are as much for me and Jon as for her, because that is about where my reading level has reached in Spanish.  "En el Parque con Miguel" (one of our purchases) is a great vocabulary book for items that we use at the park every day - though I think it's meant for ages 1+, I'm not ashamed to say that I read it on my own.

As Gretchen grows, I see this as a kind of "treat" excursion where she can pick out a book or two for a rainy day.  As a tourist attraction, it is really worth a look-see, the multi-leveled building of books is unlike anything I've ever seen.

Easter at the Alvear

We waited until the 11th hour to figure out our Easter plans this year, and it worked out pretty fantastically!  Our friends asked us to join their reservation for brunch at the Alvear Palace Hotel, and we happily accepted.

Beautiful chocolate egg centerpiece

I have been to the Alvear before for their famous high-tea but Jon had never been, and since it has been almost a year since we enjoyed the Four Seasons brunch spread, we were really excited to see how this one measured up.  To start with, we knew that it was going to be amazing, these upscale hotels really go out of their way to make things incredibly nice, and with the addition of the Easter holiday, they had lots of little extras that made it even more special.

The brunch itself is a flat cost meal that includes all you can eat food items (though it's much less cheesy than that phrase makes it seem) and beverages including wine and champagne.  It may include beer too, but I have never once seen a beer at the restaurant.  Reservations are mandatory, and ours was for the first time slot of the day, 12:30pm.

Now for the main event: The Food:

A cheese and meat display that makes any mouth water:

A seafood display of shrimp, oysters, clams, salmon and caviar - prepared in just about every way you could imagine:

There was an entire buffet dedicated to hot food as well, beef, quail, chicken, pasta, vegetables wrapped in phyllo dough, couscous, bean salad, I could go on and on.  This buffet was not nearly as photogenic due to the lids being on all of the serving dishes, so I omitted those pics.

 A sushi chef that takes requests, standing next to a crepe chef that also creates things made-to-order.  

The amazing topping assortment for your crepes/ice cream sundaes:

The completely separate room filled with incredible desserts.  Truffles, creme brûlée, baklava, fruit and chocolate fondue... not the way to start a diet... 

 And here is our beautifully set table with some good looking folks enjoying their meals.  There are a couple of chicos missing though....you may ask where our adorable daughter was through this feast....

 She was having the time of her life at their FREE (well, included in the cost of your meal) babysitting service!  I was so nervous about this, especially since Gretchen has been a little more mommy-attached as of late.  Little did I know she was going to RUN, not walk, to the room once she saw the incredible spread of toy stations that they had.  Not only that, there were no less than 6 employees there to watch the kids and I never saw more than 5 children in the room - including Gretchen and our friend's son Trey.  I came to check on her a few times and even when she saw me, she just kept on playing, not running to me while crying like I feared.  Here she is playing one-on-one with some sort of ball game and one of the sitters.

Near the end of our meal, we picked up the kiddos to join us at the table for the last little bit.  This is Trey, eating one of the decorative eggs on our table and realizing that inside the egg there is more candy!  I am not sure I have ever seen this much joy.

Stunned realization that there is candy inside the candy...

The happiest guy on Earth

 And here is our one family shot from the day with our dazed and exhausted baby girl.  

 Felices Pascuas everyone!  We hope you had a fun, and memorable Easter!

Gretchen, wearing one of my childhood dresses that my mom saved for me.
Isn't she super cute in yellow?!

Marcelo Cocina Italiana

We have heard of this Italian restaurant, Marcelo's, in Puerto Madero from a few of our friends.  As nice as that area is, we tend to go out to eat in other areas of town, if nothing else because Puerto Madero is able to hike up their prices due to it's popularity among tourists.  It was our lucky day when Marcelo's opened a second location right down the street from us, and ironically, now that I'm researching it a little for this blog post, it is reviewed as being more expensive than the Puerto Madero location.  Oh well, c'est la vie.

We visited Marcelo's Recoleta location (Av. Callao 1764: 5533-4050, Recoleta) which is in the bottom level of the Hotel Intersur Recoleta. It worked out perfectly for us, since the Village Recoleta Mall and movie theater has now reopened, we saw a movie and then had an Argentine-style-dinner that started at 10:30pm.  The only hiccup in our plan was that we saw the movie Contagion, which if you've seen it, you know that it makes you never want to have contact with any other person again, and you definitely do not want to ever eat at a restaurant again.  So, though I recommend both the restaurant and the movie, try not to do them in the same night.

Moving on, Marcelo's is a relatively small restaurant, maybe 40 tables, so you really want to make a reservation before going.  The service is prompt, friendly, and hilariously, we recognized a number of the staff from our visits to Sottovoce, another great Italian restaurant in the area.  The menu is extensive, albeit mildly confusing as their "House Specialties" are listed on the inner cover of the menu, and then the rest of their offerings are grouped by topic throughout the other 5 or 6 pages.  They have a great wine list, including more than one option of each type of wine by the glass (generally here you will have only one red and one white by-the-glass option).

We started with the mozzarella milenesa, which seems to be a fancy way of preparing mozzarella sticks. These poor little guys were so lonely on the plate, even though we ordered the roasted red pepper version, you can see that added little to the visual enticement.  This dish was good, better than this picture suggests, but it got a whole lot better when we requested marinara sauce.  I would highly recommend taking this American-inspired step, the marinara made the appetizer.  Next time, I will request marinara right when we order the dish, so that there's no lag time between cheesy goodness and it's perfect partner, the dipping sauce.


The "secret", if you will, to ordering at Marcelo's is that you can order half-portions, and split dishes.  Our waiter graciously informed us of this fact as we were debating between items to order.  Our plan of attack was to order two items and share them, and the waiter's suggestion was to order one dish, have it divided into half portions (ie, my choice in one half and Jon's in the other half) and then split the order. Essentially, this means that our dish was divided into quarters.  Even better, the waiter brought each half of the dish separately, as a first and second course, and then split them onto our plates before serving.  This eliminated our inevitably messy attempt at dividing the dishes ourselves. It's easier to explain with photos.

The first part of our meal was rigatoni with a filetto sauce, fresh tomatoes, basil and herb butter.  This picture shows my portion of the dish.  To recap, this photo is 25% of one item on their menu.  Can you imagine if we had each ordered our own entree?  The rigatoni was "pasta seco" meaning that it was a dried pasta, not fresh, but it was still outstanding.  Everything was balanced, and the ingredients were fresh and flavorful.  It's so nice when a dish is so simply done, and so well executed.

The other half of our order, which we also split, was somewhere between the thickness of angel hair and spaghetti and served with pomodoro sauce.  This time around the pasta was fresh, and for this style of pasta, it really made the dish.  The two sauces were remarkably similar, but they were so good that we were glad to have them.

Our one menu item, divided four ways, left us with enough leftovers to each have a full lunch the next day.  Holy portion sizes.

The only disappointment, for me, was the dessert.  Again, we were debating between two different items, white and dark chocolate mousse, and the waiter suggested that we order one dessert and have one scoop of each type of mousse served in the same dish.  Sold.  The problem was that they just weren't all that fantastic.  The white chocolate mousse tasted like a very bland vanilla ice cream, it was strangely icy, and the chocolate was so dark and potent that I had used the white chocolate just to cut it.  Neither one was particularly good, which was peculiar, since the rest of the meal had been so tasty.  We must have ordered the wrong dessert item, because I'm convinced that Marcelo knows how to make some good food.

All in all, Marcelo's was a big hit.  We will certainly go back, and will keep this restaurant as an option for a larger group where we could go family style next time around.

tø Be, or not tø Be

The fabulous door of "to" restaurant

This new place with an incredibly interesting door opened a few months ago and after walking by 50 or 60 times, I finally decided to see what was behind the cool door.  The answer is twofold, there is a small restaurant and bar, and a boutique hotel with somewhere around 20 rooms.  The restaurant is called tø, (the "o" actually has one of those little carrot top accents over it, but I don't know how to make that work on the keyboard) it's pronounced "toe" and we decided to take our date night there last weekend. 

Tø's full name is "tø frapanese cuisine" and the location in Recoleta (Quintana 465; 5295-8585) that I am referring to is actually their second, the other one being in Palermo (Costa Rice 6000; 4772-8569).  As the full name suggests, they have a mix of French and Japanese dishes along with an interesting cocktail menu and, of course, full wine list.  Our plan was to have a drink at their bar and then continue to a different restaurant for dinner, so I can only speak to one of their dishes, but we plan to go back for a full meal sometime in the future.

Just as the attached hotel is boutique-style, tø only has 5 or 6 bar stools and a maximum of 20 tables.  They have a small indoor/outdoor patio that offers 2 tables next to a beautiful water feature that would be a great place for a glass of wine on a sunny day.  We had to laugh a little as we sat down on our barstools because although the bar itself is visually interesting (it almost looks like a carved tree was laid down to make the bar top), the stools are a few inches too short so we looked like we were sitting at the kiddie table for Thanksgiving dinner.  The bartender, Guillermo, was friendly and attentive, though he suckered both of us into an upsale - me with a glass of wine that wasn't on the menu and Jon with some sort of liquor in his mojito, but we thoroughly enjoyed our drinks and at the end of the day our bar tab was still less than we would pay in any big city in the US.  Our buddy Guillermo explained that the restaurant and hotel were both owned by a relative of the Catena Zapata family (flashback to our Mendoza trip) and that the wood to make the super-cool entrance door and the bar were both imported from Mendoza.  We hold out hope that Guillermo can help us get a wine barrel from Mendoza brought to Buenos Aires for a reasonable price, we've been keeping those in mind since our trip last year as well.

As for the food, we shared a tempura roll appetizer, and we really weren't that impressed.  Obviously, the roll was salmon, as most of the sushi rolls here are, but it seemed to be a flaky, cooked salmon that wasn't very flavorful.  Also, the "tempura" seemed to be rolled in breadcrumbs and fried, unlike actual tempura battering that we're used to.  All in all, if you want a tempura roll, I suggest you go to  Gran Bar Danzon, where the roll is far superior.  That being said, we have heard really good things about the rest of their menu, and the ambiance is enough to keep us coming back for at least a pre-dinner drink.  The prices are a little steep, considering the area of town and the "boutique-ness" to the restaurant it kind of comes with the territory, but overall tø is a nice place to stop in.

If nothing else, walk by and check out the front door. 


UPDATE: November 6, 2011 - We went back to Tø this past weekend for a drink before going out to dinner and the bartender informed us that the restaurant was no longer serving food.  No explanation, just that they pulled the menus and were keeping the bar open sans food.  Apparently we weren't the only ones that weren't overwhelmed by the appetizers.  Also, we have yet to see Guillermo again, so I'm guessing that my search for a wine barrel from Mendoza continues...

El Salto de las Ranas

Buenos Aires has a great restaurant culture and there are a zillion great restaurants to try, but one of the constant complaints you hear (at least among the expats) is that there is a severe lack of Mexican cuisine.  It's true, we have only found a handful of Mexican restaurants and, of those, only a select few that we would return to.  We have eaten at El Salto de las Ranas (Rodriguez Peña 1169, Recoleta: 4811-2635) once, over a year ago and had a good meal, but Guia Oleo panned the place so we were hesitant to recommend it to others.  Not only that, during my pregnancy I was super-craving Mexican, so we walked to Las Ranas late on a Tuesday night, only to be told that they had no electricity.  It must have been during some sort of hormonal swing for me, because this information sent me to tears, and we haven't been back. 

We returned this past weekend and had a similarly good experience, I'm feeling confident enough to give it my recommendation.  Las Ranas is in a row of 3 restaurants on Rodriquez Peña, that if you didn't know better, you would think that they were all the same place.  The inside is mildly decorated with Mexican-themed items and the small tables are lined against the walls in a long, narrow, corridor.  We completely threw them for a loop by bringing our stroller, which barely fit down the aisle between the two rows of tables.  All in all, the ambiance is decent, excluding the music selection - which consisted of only Black Eyed Peas songs. 

Our service was friendly and prompt, it helped that Gretchen was flirting and giggling at our waiter the whole time, and only a complete Scrooge could resist her charms.  They started us off with a small basket of chips and a tiny dish of salsa, laughably small portions compared to American standards.  The salsa had spice, but it was the consistency of hot sauce, no chunks of any kind.  We ordered guacamole to start, they have two kinds to choose from, guacamole with shrimp or with chips.  I'm guessing that the shrimp are the dipping instruments in the latter option - but we stuck with what we know and ordered the chips variety. The guac was fine, more of an avocado puree, but the chips were good and salty and my standards for Mexican food are generally lower in Argentina. 

For dinner, I had the mixed fajitas (chicken and steak, there are several other options - shrimp, pork, vegetables and any combination of the options) and they were pretty darn good.  The meat was cooked well, of good quality and served with peppers and onions.  The condiments were pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, black beans, rice and tortillas - the highlight being the good tortillas.  This is an item that I can not find in stores here, the closest thing is a brand called Rapiditos, and they are a pretty poor substitute (and like 5 inches in diameter).  Jon had tacos, which were also quite good - to the point that by the time I remembered to take a picture, he was finishing the 3rd (and last) taco.  We were pleased. 

The other test of a good Mexican restaurant is the quality of their margaritas.  We did not give them a try this go-around, but the last time we ate there (granted, it was over a year ago), the margarita was so tart and strong it was almost undrinkable.  Almost.  I think this is due to a lack of margarita mix here (though it's easy enough to make that yourself) so the margaritas generally consist of tequila, triple sec, lime juice and ice.  Maybe that's good for the diehards, but I'm going to need some sugar in that baby to make it good.  Ironic, considering that you can't even buy infant rice cereal that doesn't contain sugar - Argentine's love sweets.

Regardless, Las Ranas is as decent Mexican food option in the city as we've seen.  They offer delivery, which may be the next step for us, our delivery options are getting sparse.  Considering that it is withing walking distance to our apartment, we'll add this one back to the list of casual dining options - and hope they keep the electricity flowing. 

Grand Cru

We have passed by the Grand Cru wine shop almost every day since we've moved to Buenos Aires, and though we've talked about going in to see if they offer tastings, we've never actually gone inside.  I am pretty sure the doorman actually recognizes Jon and I due to the number of times that we've walked by, so when we finally went to a tasting this past weekend we both felt that it was past due.  The tasting was the most well rounded we've attended in Buenos Aires, more professional that the Anuva tasting and less expensive than the Park Hyatt.

Grand Cru (Rodriguez Peña 1886: 4816-3975)We booked the tasting for Saturday afternoon from 4:00 - 6:00pm and were told to be prompt.  The tasting room was quite nice and deceivingly large considering the storefront view from the street. The atmosphere was nice, the chairs were comfortable, the table was made of wine delivery crates, it was a really cool spot.  We chose the Malbec tasting where they served four bottles of wine, each from a different Argentine winery and from different price points.  Here are the varieties we tried:

• Pulenta - 2009 Gran Malbec
• Doña Paula - 2007 Selection de Bodega
• Catena Zapata - 2005 Malbec Argentino
• Don Miguel Gascon - 2006 Don

We started by tasting each wine and discussing it with the sommelier, Ezekial.  After we tasted the four, we each discussed our favorites and Ezekial divulged the cost of each bottle.  We were then able to sit and leisurely finish the bottles of wine while they brought out a plate of cheeses and raisins.  You may notice the Nespresso machine in the background of the photo to the left, none of us requested coffee, but I'm assuming they would have been happy to serve us coffee after the tasting.

It wasn't an inexpensive evening, the tasting was $1800 pesos total, regardless of the number of people in the tasting.  In addition to the tasting room, Grand Cru has a fantastic selection of wines in their store.  There were a few very specific requests that our group had for certain bottles of wine (not necessarily all Argentine wines) and the shop had all of them.

It was a really fun, nice evening and we had a great time.  I would recommend the Grand Cru tasting as a nice thing to do with guests or a great evening with friends. 

My First Mother's Day

One of the strangest things about living in the Southern Hemisphere is the opposite season effect.  In September it is just starting to get nice outside, over Christmas it is usually in the 90s and May marks the beginning of fall.  This has me constantly trying to remember what month it is, and this time of year seems to be the most confusing because the leaves are falling off the trees over springtime holidays such as Mother's Day.  Any other year this may have me scrambling last minute to figure out what to do for my own mom, but this year I had this particular holiday etched in my memory because it is the first year that I, too, get to consider myself in the ranks of those we call "Mom".  And what a Mother's Day it was.

My fantastic husband arranged to take me, and his parents who were also in town visiting, to a lovely brunch at the Four Seasons Hotel (Recoleta, Posadas 1086: 4321-1200) here in Buenos Aires, something that we had been talking about doing for over a year.  If you are considering attending this brunch let me make two recommendations; 1) Don't eat for at least 24 hours before going to maximize on the amazing food. 2) Wait for a special occasion to go, it truly is remarkable. 

The hotel itself is a stately looking tower that is very nice, but doesn't stand out compared to the other beautiful architecture of the city.  Brunch is held in an extension of the hotel, a renovated home that for obvious reasons is called La Mansion. 
La Mansion is a part of the hotel, and available to be reserved either as individual rooms or as a whole house reservation (which we've heard unofficially that it costs $35,000 per night in its entirety.  We also heard that Coldplay rented it and stayed there last year when we went to their concert).  The brunch dining room is located off of the lobby entrance-way, where you are greeted by a claw footed bathtub holding bottles of champagne and a smiling hostess that hands you a glass.  

Towering Glasses of Delicious Salads

The dining room is comprised of four rooms, each room is decorated as one of the four seasons, three of them are used for seating and the fourth is filled with brunch stations. 

Each station is prettier than the last, from the salad tower to the iced ceviche tub to the paella stand, the food and the presentation is artful. 

Tub Full of Cevice

Bubbling Pan of Paella Surrounded by the Ingredients

We were seated in the "autumn" room, which, lucky for us, doubles as the dessert room.  The hardest thing about brunch is making sure you save room for dessert. 

Incredible Dessert Spread

Baby Gretchen Slept Through the Whole Afternoon

 It was also a special day for our own moms, who were both celebrating their first Mother's Day as Grandmothers!

It was an amazing day, made better by the fact that Mother's Day in Argentina isn't until October so we didn't have to deal with the restaurant craziness that is American Mother's Day - huge bonus!  What an incredible way to celebrate being a mom - Happy Mother's Day!

I'll Be Frika

With a new baby our ability to be adventurous in finding new restaurants has been limited. Distance to home, stroller accessibility and speed of service have become the new necessities of restaurants I support. Luckily, it helps that I have great friends, with small children of their own, to recommend new places that fit all of my new criteria.

Enter be Frika (Recoleta, Junin esq. French; 4821-0010) a recommendation that came from a recent weekday lunch with friends. I had never been to be Frika, so I didn't know what to expect, but I can honestly say: I had a fever - and the recipe is more mini-burgers.

Jon and I are a bit snobby when it comes to mini burgers, considering that our go-to restaurant in DC was Matchbox, one of the best mini-burger spots around. Not only that, but finding good "American" food in Argentina is a bit of a challenge. All things considered, be Frika is a pretty great spot with fresh food and a comfortable atmosphere.

There are two locations, in Recoleta (corner of Junin and French) and Palermo Hollywood (Humboldt 1726), we visited the Recoleta location, an easy to find lime-green building, and I went back for lunch again a few days later. Their full menu is served on a clipboard and is available in English and (of course) Spanish. There are a few appetizers, mostly the kinds of things you would find on a bar menu, mozzarella sticks and other fried treats, salads and desserts - but their claim to fame is the selection of mini-burgers. They offer two categories of burgers, classic and premium, and three different types of french fries (rustic, waffle and regular). In each burger category there are all sorts of options, between the protein; beef, chicken or veggie, the cheese and the toppings, there is something for everyone. The burgers are available individually, or you can order "the pair" with a side of fries for $30 - $35 pesos (US$7.50 - $8.30). If you are interested in a full lunch, you can order two or three mix and match burgers with fries of your choice and a drink (including beer) for $35 - $39 pesos.

If you're jonesing for some mini-burgers, this is the place to go. The patties are seasoned well and the waffle fries are tasty (although more reminiscent of potato-chips than fries). This is the closest we've found to a US style-burger, even if it takes two to fill you up. For those new moms out there, the dining room is a tight space, but stroller accessible. There are two stories with no elevator, so first floor dining is a must. The service is a bit lax, especially if they have a full dining room, but no worse than any other casual restaurant we've attended.