What most people know about Argentina is that it produced two of the greatest futbol players in the world, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi. Fortunately, there is so much more to the country than its passion for soccer or futbol as it is known there.
Buenos Aires, the capital, has a thriving cultural scene, much like New York but with a more Latin and European flair to it. The city never stops so if you like to eat, visit museums, shop, dance, or just sit at a café to sip cafecitos and people watch, this is the place. It’s this passion for life that’s making Buenos Aires one of Latin America’s hottest destinations. The country (specifically Buenos Aires & Mendoza) is experiencing a tourism boom unlike any in its history. The influx of foreigners, Brazilians and Spaniards mainly, is very apparent. Walking the famous Florida Street in Buenos Aires, I heard more people speak Portuguese than Spanish at times. One obvious reason is that Buenos Aires is one of the most affordable big cities in the world. Add to that the great dollar and euro exchange rates and it is easy to see why visitors are arriving in record numbers.
As a chef it’s easy to spend all your time looking for new restaurants, food, and markets. However, for those interested in touring the beautiful city of Buenos Aires, listed below are some other great places to visit:
Recoleta cemetery: Home to Evita Peron, ex-president Raul Alfonsin and many other distinguished Argentines, this cemetery is located in the exclusive neighborhood of La Recoleta. The grave sites are incredibly ornate mausoleums containing statues made of marble. All the 6,400 sites reflect the passage of time depicting everything from Neoclassical, Neogothic, Art Nuevo, Art Deco and even modern styles. If you like architecture and history, you could spend half your day here.
Buenos Aires – Design: If you like to shop for home accents, this is the place to go. Also located in La Recoleta it is a prime place to spend an afternoon window shopping or shipping home a new beautiful Argentine leather couch or rug. At this indoor mall, you can find products ranging anywhere from fabrics and fixtures to furniture and appliances.
MALBA: Museo de Arte Latino-Americano de Buenos Aires. Located in Palermo, this very cool and hip museum showcases modern artists throughout Latin America. With a $6 entrance, it is a great and inexpensive way to spend the afternoon. Afterwards, you can enjoy a nice lunch or café outdoors at the Museum restaurant.
In terms of food, one can still find the historic parillas where you can get great Malbec wine and some of the best beef in the world. The bodegons (local cantina style restaurants) are still alive and well serving incredible sandwiches de miga (English tea-like sandwiches), milanesa (breaded beef cutlet), as well as other traditional recipes. However, Buenos Aires is also opening up to more foreign foods like Chinese. There is an actual Chinatown in the neighborhood of Belgrano with thousands of Chinese immigrants speaking Spanish! The internationally famous Sushi club chain has also made a splash with the well-heeled Portenos (people from Buenos Aires). Thanks to the internationally famous chef couple (Astrid y Gaston), Peruvian food has also made its way into the city’s food scene.
However, one of the newest food trends is based more on quality than the quantity of food. This runs counter to the country’s famous parilla restaurants where dinners include beef, breads, salads, more beef, potatoes, wine, more beef, and then desserts to top it all off. One place that is part of this change is the restaurant Doppio Zero, located in the new Las Canitas area of Buenos Aires. All you need to know is that this is THE place for new modern Argentine food with a heavy Italian influence. The owner, Mariano Akman, is enthusiastic about his establishment and rightly so. He takes care of his guests as if they are family eating at his home. My 7 course degustation (tasting menu) was just phenomenal. Explained below (in detail) is what I enjoyed on a cold rainy night in a small restaurant in the Paris of South America, Buenos Aires:
Course 1: Tasting spoon of a warm eggplant mousse, bocconcini (mozzarella), sun dried tomatoes, and pea tendrils. Smooth, creamy and sweet – all packed in one bite!
Course 2: Carpaccio of shrimp cooked in a lime vinaigrette, cilantro, and little purple elder flowers. This fresh and clean dish was a creative take on the well-known beef carpaccio.
Course 3: Braised endive filled with a gorgonzola dulce (blue cheese) and mozzarella cream that was then broiled so the cheeses melted to perfection. This dish was one of my favorites!
Course 4: A spinach flavored pasta roll filled with a seafood, tomato and herb mixture. Imagine 2 inch slices laid flat in a wide bowl filled with a seafood and tomato broth. This dish was not only delicious but aesthetically beautiful too.
Course 5: What else can I say but Ossobucco – Braised veal shank! The sauce was so dark that it almost took on a caramel like consistency tremendously rich in flavor.
Course 6: Ridiculous! My favorite dish of the night! Imagine a very cold and small champagne flute filled with an orange, strawberry and passion fruit flavored cream. Then, imagine a couple of chocolate truffle cake cubes dotting the drink. The combination between the fruit flavored creamsicle like liquid and the chocolate was dessert heaven!
Course 7: A small cortadito (espresso topped with a small amount of steamed milk) served with a gelato of sabayon loaded with chunks of dried fig. Only a few ingredients and yet the dish exploded in flavor thus representing the mantra of Italian cuisine: Use minimal yet high quality ingredients.
As you can see the food was at a whole new level of culinary prowess. It is owners like Mariano and small restaurants like Doppio Zero that are changing the food scene in Buenos Aires and the country as a whole. If you would like more information regarding Argentine cuisine or my chef services please contact me directly or visit my website at www.chefcrusco.com.
