A quick recap: in our ongoing "Parilla deathmatch" series, the top parillas of Buenos Aires go head-to-head in a battle to see which is truly the best parilla in town.
In Parilla deathmatch I, Rio Alba conquered Don Julio.
In Parilla deathmatch II, La Cabrera knocked off Rio Alba.
Today, we report on Cabana Las Lilas, located in Puerto Madero. Forget everything you've heard about this being an overpriced tourist trap with mediocre food. Yes it's expensive. But honestly, in terms of a matchup with La Cabrera (or any of the other prior deathmatch contestants), it's not even close.
Cabana Las Lilas takes it by a landslide!
First atmosphere. You walk in and see the cooks working in a spotless kitchen. The meat is displayed for you to take a look at. Check out those lomos on the left! (Contrast to La Cabrera where I never saw the kitchen, or even knew where it was located.)
There is indoor and outdoor seating. The outdoor seating overlooks the port and seems quite romantic. We sat inside, and the air conditioning was definitely doing its job. The interior is comfortable and modern, with thoughtful lighting, high ceilings, and enough room to provide privacy between tables. (Contrast to La Cabrera which is cluttered and cramped.)
As soon as you sit down, the junior waiters surround your table with 3 different bread baskets and this plate of various snacks to enjoy while figuring out what to order. This is technically "free" but since the cover charge is 21 pesos per person here (and usually it's around 5 pesos), it's built in to your cost. Everything on the platter was excellent. (Contrast to La Cabrera's little side dishes which, while copious and fun, were not actually all that good.)
The waiters also tied my purse to my chair. I imagine that this is to discourage pickpockets or thieves, however we also joked that it might be to prevent dine-and-dash when people see the final bill.
We ordered a nice bottle of wine, Punto Final Malbec, based on a recommendation by the waitress, who spoke English quite well and was very happy to describe the cuts of meat plus give us (very good, as it turns out) suggestions. Notice the napkin wrapped around the wine bottle; an elegant touch that again gives Cabana Las Lilas the advantage over La Cabrera.
We ordered chorizo and provoleta (grilled provolone cheese) for starters. These did not arrive on separate plates. Instead the waiters served them on to our existing plates. Which makes for funny-looking photos that I'm not going to show here. The chorizo was excellent with none of the gristle that sometimes can be found in other places (ahem, Don Julio). And the provoleta was both crispy and melted, and much better than the provoleta we had at La Cabrera.
On to dinner. Frommer's recommends the "Baby Beef". But the waitress explained that this is just an extremely fatty cut of the already-fatty bife de chorizo. So we split the lomo, or filet mignon. We also ordered papas provencal, which turns out to mean they have garlic and parsley on them. The fries were good, but the lomo was BY FAR the best we've had so far. It was, really, like butter. (Steak-flavored butter?) And again, superior to La Cabrera.
When the meal was over, they brought complimentary limoncello and grappa for us to sip while contemplating dessert and coffee. These are never my favorite but Jay enjoyed. And while La Cabrera's post-dinner lollipop tree was cute, this is perhaps a little nicer for those of us of "a certain age."
We tried the dulce de leche panqueque (crepe) which was excellent. (Note: this is half of the dessert; they pre-split everything.)
We also ordered coffee, which came with this side dish of cookies. This was the only disappointment of the night - the cookies were stale and hard. I couldn't help suspecting that they re-use them between tables, since everyone is served this with coffee. But by this point the last thing we needed was cookies.
Besides the cookies, our only complaint was that while there is an abundance of bellboys or junior waiters that do a great job of keeping the service fast and your table clean, the restaurant is a little short on actual waiters that can take orders and bring the bill. Sometimes we would go 30 minutes or more without actually seeing our waiter.
And then, of course, there is the bill. Here, you can easily spend double (or more) what you would in the aforementioned parillas. Still, our dinner last night (which included not inexpensive wine, aperitivos, dessert and coffee) was around 450 pesos, or $150 US. So it's best to keep the bigger perspective in mind. Also, make sure you call to make a reservation in advance.
UPDATE: One final note. Please do not listen to Frommer's when they say you can dine here in shorts. You can, but it's really not that kind of place.
(Cabana Las Lilas is located at Alicia Moreau de Justo 516, Dique 3, Puerto Madero.)
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