Joy Ray

Best of Buenos Aires

Lately I've gotten some requests for recommendations on what to do in Buenos Aires. Here is the list. Go forth and enjoy.

THINGS TO DO

BA Free Tours
Both of these are really good, led by a brother and sister who work for tips. They’re both funny, and it’s a cool way to get a little bit of history and sightseeing in.

San Telmo Market
This is on Sundays. Best if you can go when it’s not too hot as it’s all outside.

La Boca / PROA Museum
This is a cute and touristy neighborhood (also reportedly a lot of pickpockets/crime). Good to go for a bit of sightseeing, plus check out the museum which is really cool.

Recoleta Cemetery is kind of cool as is the Hippodromo (racetrack). The MALBA museum is trendy and has a decent gift shop. I prefer the nearby Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes which has more well-known international artists (plus it’s free).

RESTAURANTS

Vineria de Gualterio
If you’re a foodie, this is the place to go. A prix-fixe molecular gastronomy tasting menu.

Cabana Las Lilas
This place gets slammed for being an overpriced tourist trap. But it has the best steak, bar none, in Buenos Aires. Before or after dinner, make sure to spend a little time walking around Puerto Madero.

Morelia
This place serves thin crust pizza cooked on a grill (alla parrilla), I recommend the Calabrese. Also fantastic gnocchi. Good for a casual dinner, cash only.

Primavera Trujillana
This family-run Peruvian restaurant is located in the Belgrano neighborhood, and is the real deal for ceviche. Order pisco sours and ceviche. Come early (8PM) so they don’t sell out of fish (this has happened to me). Cash only.

Don Julio
This is my favorite steakhouse in Palermo Soho. It’s casual, inexpensive and good.

Bar 6
This is a good place to grab lunch in Palermo Soho. I’m partial to the veggie woks.

GENERAL TIPS

• It’s really hard to get small bills (under 100 pesos) so be strategic with the ones you get. Coins are also in short supply.
• Tip 10% at restaurants, always in cash (even if you pay the check by credit card).
• Avoid restaurants with sushi or any kind of Asian food. They are really mediocre compared to Southern California.
• Eat steak any chance you get! My favorite is the lomo, a punto (basically: filet mignon, medium rare).
• For wine, I prefer a Torrontes (white) or Tannat (red). Generally wines called “Reservas” are better. I find Malbecs really hard to drink but the Cabernets are good (they pronounce it “caber-net”, like a fishing net).
• Spanish is pronounced a little differently in Argentina. Double-L and Y sounds are both pronounced kind of like the “zs” in “Zsa Zsa Gabor”. So instead of “poy-yo” (for pollo/chicken), it sounds like “po-jho”. And “Avenida de Mayo” sounds like “Avenida de Ma-jho”. This will be useful with cabs!

The best pasta ever, a recipe!

Today I am going to share a failproof pasta recipe that I have been perfecting over the last year.  It isn't fast to make (it takes about an hour), but it's easy and delicious, perfect for cooking with a glass of wine in one's hand.  It's very flexible in terms of ingredients, but there are a few secret tricks that I will share that are absolutely crucial (especially right at the end). 

Let's start, shall we?

For this example I used the following ingredients:

• Several fresh tomatoes, chopped into large-ish pieces
• Diced onion (about half of one large onion)
• Minced garlic
• Olive oil
• Diced hot pepper (optional)
• Sausage (optional - but oh so yummy - for best results, remove from any casing)
• You can also add things like diced bell peppers, squash, herbs, chickpeas, etc.  I've experimented with several items and the ones shown above are my faves.  
• The amounts shown here result in enough pasta for two people plus some leftovers; modify as needed.

You will also need at least one type of cheese.  I had a few types lying around so I included:

• Soft spreadable herb cheese (CRUCIAL)
• Buffalo mozzarella
• Parmesan

And of course the pasta.  To make this recipe correctly, you'll need something durable like spaghetti - not a stuffed pasta like ravioli.  I love home-made noodles but the sauce is so awesome you won't notice a difference with storebought, I swear.

Here's a tip: if you're using spaghetti, break the noodles in half before cooking.  I had to do this in Argentina because our pot was so tiny - but it makes them much more pleasant to eat.

I like to get all my ingredients chopped and ready to go before I start cooking.  Maybe so I can pretend I'm the host of a cooking show.  Or maybe because I'm a Virgo.  At any rate, we're ready to start cooking now. So let's do it!

First, put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over a low heat with some minced garlic.  As every occasional chef knows, this is primarily to impress your guests and make the house start to smell good.

When the garlic is starting to brown just a bit, add onions and any other "hard" vegetables such as peppers or chickpeas.  (We'll add "soft" veggies such as tomatoes in a moment.) Again, keep your heat low.  No rush here.  Have more wine.

Once these have started to soften and brown, you can add your sausage (unless you are vegetarian, in which case you have my sympathies).  Cook that until it's nice and brown, and make sure you're kind of chopping the sausage up into small pieces as it cooks (no big lumps).  I took a picture of this but it looked kind of gross so I will spare you and cut to the next step.

Once your sausage has browned, now is the time to add tomatoes and any other soft veggies (e.g. squash) that you might be adding.  Mix this together thoroughly.  You may need to add more olive oil, you really want those tomatoes to simmer away nicely. 

Make sure the heat is low, cover your pan, and set it aside for 20-30 minutes (this is the part that takes the longest).  Have a little more wine while you wait.

Here are the tomatoes, cooking away.  You want this to get nice and juicy.  When the tomatoes have gotten really soft, smash them up with a fork.  Keep mixing up your sauce, but keep the lid on at all other times so that the moisture doesn't escape.  You don't want to end up with a dried-out sauce.

Now you can finally get your water boiling and cook your pasta. 

One thing I like to do right before the pasta is done cooking, is get a cup full of pasta water and save this aside.  (This is a Mario Batali trick.)

If your sauce isn't liquid enough, you can add this at the end (not usually necessary, but good to have just in case).

NOW COMES THE CRUCIAL PART.  THE PART THAT MUST NOT BE SKIPPED.

Once you have cooked and drained your pasta, put it in the pan with the tomato sauce, and put your cheese(s) on top.  The most important cheese to add is a couple tablespoons of a nice, flavorful soft cheese, e.g. Rondele cheese spread.  You can also use gorgonzola crumbles or any soft herbed cheese.  I also threw in some buffalo mozzarella but this won't add much flavor, just a little extra creaminess.

Now get a sturdy spoon and stir the s*** out of it!  The glutens from the pasta, the cheese, and the sauce will combine into a miracle of pure deliciousness, like so:

Please, whatever you do, do NOT serve the pasta and sauce separately. 

Do NOT neglect to add some kind of gooey soft flavorful cheese  (parmesan alone will not do the trick). 

While everything else is pretty negotiable, these two steps are the key to "the best pasta ever." 

Now serve, eat, and enjoy!  And let me know how it went, or if you have any other tips.

Calories on menus: an idea whose time has come

We went to an AMC Movie Theater tonight and saw something that I have never before seen - when we went up to purchase treats, the calories of each item were shown on the menu.

Here's what it looked like:

 

I have to say: THIS IS AN AWESOME IDEA.  It totally works, in terms of behavior modification.  When we first walked up, Jay said, “Hey, that mini pizza looks pretty good.”  Well, not when you see that it has almost 800 calories.    I was thinking: I don’t want to eat that fatty movie theater popcorn.  I’ll get something healthier, like a pretzel.  But as you can see, 1 “gourmet pretzel” has more calories than a medium popcorn!!  So, like usual, we split a diet coke and a medium popcorn, which according to the menu was a mere 220 calories each. 

Health just feels different, right?

Anyway, kudos to AMC.  And all chain/fast food restaurants should start doing this.  It’s very hard to order ‘naughty’ stuff when you can see the cold hard facts right in front of you. 

Like – who would ever order ‘movie nachos’ again, knowing it has almost 1400 calories??  Ick...

KaGaYa: shabu-shabu-licious

One of the great thrills of being back in the good ol' USA is the awesome ethnic food.  Last night we tried KaGaYa, a high-end shabu-shabu restaurant in downtown LA.

Here is how it works.

You sit down and they place a single pot of water on an inset burner on your table.  You order cold sake that comes in mug-sized cups.  Within minutes your mood has miraculously improved.

You order the type of meat you want (beef, fish, or a beef/fish combo).  But you don't get it right away.  You must wait for the water to heat up.  First there are appetizers, the flavors of which become progressively less subtle and more delicious.

First up, giant clam.

Then, shitake mushroom miso. I don't care for mushrooms but the broth alone was good.

Finally, the piece de resistance, a deep-fried crab...um...square thingey.  This was totally great.

Full?  Too bad, now it's time for dinner.  The pot is a-boilin', and the waiter brings all the traditional shabu-shabu type of stuff. Sliced meat, king crab legs, heaps of sliced-up Chinese cabbage and sprouts.  Drop in the water, boil, remove, dunk in various sauces and enjoy.  Lather, rinse, repeat. 

I love shabu-shabu, but I must say that this portion of the meal was merely typical and not anything to scream home about.  Nevertheless: I love shabu-shabu, so yum.

Now for one of the things (in addition to the myriad of appetizers and dessert to come) that makes KaGaYa really super-awesome.  After your meal is complete, the waiter asks if you prefer rice or noodles.  The table collectively must agree on one answer (we picked rice).  The waiter removes the pot and brings your left-over water back a few minutes later, transformed into a delicious soup.

By this point you will be semi-delirious from sake and overeating.  But there is still more to come, included in your prix fixe dinner.  And that is dessert.

Of the three we tried, the most unusual was this green tea mousse, which was intriguingly non-sweet.

The second most unusual was this apple pie with ice cream, which had a uniquely Japanese sort of seasoning to it.

The least unusual, quite frankly pedestrian, was the creme brulee.  And I am a real creme brulee lover.  Do not bother with this one.

KaGaYa is not cheap but it's quite delicious.  And -- in a real advantage over other, less expensive Shabu joints -- they take reservations.  Please go and indulge thyself.

(KaGaYa is located at 418 E. 2nd Street in Honda Plaza, in downtown Los Angeles. 213-617-1016)

How to dress a salad

Until we went to Argentina, I never understood oil and vinegar on salads. It was one of those things that seemed like a good idea, but never tasted all that great.   Then a very nice waiter showed us how to properly dress a salad, and I realized I had been missing 2 important steps in the process.

1) You need to add quite a bit of salt and pepper, along with the oil and vinegar.
2) You need to mix everything together really well.  The dressing can't just sit there on top of the salad.

So -- for those of you who, like me, have been confused about this -- here is how to dress a salad with oil and vinegar.

1. Assemble your salad in a big bowl.  On top, add several shakes of salt and pepper, plus generous swigs of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Don't be shy with any of these 4 things!

2. Toss everything together thoroughly.  Thoroughly, people!

Now you may serve.

(I just served this at a dinner party and the salad was gone by the end.  I have never seen that happen before in my life!)

As a bonus, here is an easy recipe for candied nuts which are always a nice addition:

Candied Nuts

• Take pieces of nuts (I like pecans best, but walnuts work too).  Try to get pieces that are not too small or big - approximately quarters. 
• Put the nuts in a small saucepan over low heat, and pour in enough sugar to coat them pretty well (about equal parts nuts and sugar). 
• Cook until the sugar melts, stirring all the while.  If you like you can add a shake or two of spices such as cinnamon, allspice, and/or nutmeg.  Don't let it burn!
• When the sugar is melted, dump the nuts on to a dinner plate that you have previously sprayed with non-fat cooking spray, and do your best to separate the pieces before they harden. 
• Cool and serve, or refrigerate for later. 

These are very nice in the salad when served with some crumbled cheese.  If you make extra, these are good to serve as a little snack too.  Enjoy!

Vineria de Gualterio: 9 is the magic number

Vineria de Gualterio isn't just a restaurant, it's an experience.  There are only a handful of tables in this tiny restaurant in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, and only one thing you can order (a 9-course tasting menu for 130 pesos).  Dinner starts between 9 and 10pm and lasts 3 hours; your service is more personalized if you show up earlier before it gets crowded.  The small size makes it feel like your really awesome chef friend is cooking dinner just for you and a few other friends.

Here are the 9 courses we had:

Course 1: Various appetizers 
These came with strict instructions to eat them from left to right, with one bite each.  The first was a cracker sort of thing filled with a hot gravy.  The second was a crunchy ball filled with melted hot cheese.  The third was an apple slice with caramel slabs poked into it.  The fourth was a tomato "ravioli".  The fifth was foie gras.  They were really fun to eat.

Course 2: Salad with 30 items
This salad was delicious if somewhat bitter (due to the dressing), with 30-odd different cooked and raw things in it including flowers.  Quite large and nutritious.

Course 3: 50-minute egg
This was a perfectly soft-boiled egg but it was cooked for nearly an hour at a very low temperature.  Served with a cheese foam and lamb broth.  Heaven, heaven, heaven.

Course 4: Surf and turf.
Okay, they called it the more elegant "mar y montana".  Whatever you call it, it was delicious.  Tiny scallops that packed as much flavor as larger ones typically do, plus perfectly-cooked lamb.  This, along with the egg, was the highlight for me.

Course 5: Octopus
This was the only one that I didn't love.  Chewy octopus with tomato foam on top.  At least I tried it.  Jay finished it.

Course 6: Salmon in broth
The salmon was cooked so as to be raw in the middle (like sushi) and seared on the outside; it was delicious.  The broth was also good if a little mild. I was very excited that I guessed its ingredients correctly based on the waiter's hint of "A fruit, a root and a vegetable" (melon, celery and ginger).

Course 7: Suckling pig with warm peaches
This, I believe, is an example of the chef customizing a dish for us based on the fact that I don't like mushrooms, as other tables had a big pile of mushrooms on this plate.  Not us.  (He asked us at the beginning of the meal if there were things we were allergic to, or wouldn't eat for various reasons.)  The pig was perfectly cooked and the peaches delish.

Course 8: Beef with french fries
This was a really fun dish, especially given that "bife con papas fritas" is a staple of most Argentine restaurants.  The beef did not seem like the best cut of meat, but was cooked nicely.  It had a chimichurri foam on top, which is the most delicious way I've ever had that flavor (also typical here, but usually a little salsa you put on your meat).  The "french fries" were a potato foam in a potato chip cup, also very fun.  Unfortunately by this time I was too full to really enjoy the dish!

Course 9: Dessert
This had another foam, this time of goat cheese.  Plus a chocolate mousse and a sort of biscotti-tasting soft cake.  Plus various things like nuts and caramel to mix in.

We also had the "wine flight," where the waiter brought us a glass of wine paired to each course.  That ended up more than doubling our bill (eek).  Our final tally was 600 pesos, or $200 US.  Not cheap but definitely worth it for the experience.  If you go, be sure to make reservations in advance because of the size, and don't dress up too much (e.g. jeans and nice shirt is fine).

(Vineria de Gualterio Bolivar is located at Bolivar 865, between Independencia and Estados Unidos.)

The strange, strange vegetables of barrio chino

Plus one token octopus:

Sometimes words are beside the point.

Parilla deathmatch III: Cabana Las Lilas vs La Cabrera

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.)

Morelia: Pizza and gnocchi paradise

Jay came across this blog which has some good restaurant reviews.  We decided to try one of the recommendations last night, Morelia Restaurant & Lounge in Palermo Hollywood. 

Even though it's basically a pizza joint, the interior is stylin' like just about every other place in Palermo Hollywood:

First we tried gnocchi, which the other blog said were "probably the best I have tasted in Buenos Aires."  And he's right - they're small and perfect and delicious.  They split our single order into two dishes so what you're seeing is a half-portion.  The sauce is cream, tomato and basil - and ROCKS.

At Morelia (and lots of other places in Buenos Aires), you order the PASTA and SAUCE separately, so you can get exactly the combination you want - which is a pretty cool idea. 

They also have pizza and it's served "a la parilla" - or grilled on the barbecue.  The crust is cracker-thin, the ingredients are higher-quality than normal, and it's really delicious. This is the chica, or small, calabresa pizza. It isn't small at all, actually.

One note about olives.  I can't stand them, and Jay only likes black olives, which are not very common here.  Yet olives seem to make a surprise appearance on nearly EVERYTHING, and especially pizza.  So we have started making a habit of ordering everything "sin aceitunas" (without olives).  However, we have yet to actually be served food without olives.  It's as if no one here can imagine that people would not really like olives.  This pizza, in fact, looks like they added MORE olives!  Luckily the style is to use whole olives which are easy to pick off.

Bottom line: Morelia is not only delish, it's also very affordable. Our dinner last night, which included a bottle of Finca La Linda cabernet, was 122 pesos (about $40).  This definitely isn't the bargain basement cost of Romario, where four people can dine on pizza and beer for less than 100 pesos.  But the food is far superior.  The only real complaint I had was that the A/C was nonexistent, so I'd recommend sitting outside if the weather permits.

(Morelia is located in Palermo Hollywood at Humboldt 2005, at the corner of Nicaragua.)

The five-hour happy hour, and other concerns

Well, we have discovered some really fun stuff just a couple of blocks from our apartment. This obviously spells trouble.  Let's find out why.

First, there is a microbrewery called Antares which has a 2-for-1 happy hour from 7PM-8PM.  They make 8 different types of beer; we tried the Kolsh, the Scotch, and the Porter.  All were good.  They also serve a very cute degustacion of the 8 beers, which come served in tiny pint-shaped glasses on a long wooden tray.  We skipped that but I have a feeling Jay will end up trying all 8 at some point.  Here is Jay with the Scotch. 

Each pint costs 13.50 pesos, which is a good deal considering a bottle of Bass Ale at Casa Bar costs 18 pesos.  Also: the two-for-one happy hour deal doesn't apply to rounds.  For instance if Jay has a pint, I don't get a free pint.  No, if Jay has a pint, then Jay's next pint is free.  But by the time you've had two of these pints before 8PM...well....your only options for the evening are going to be a) more pints or b) zzzzzzz.  So we had two pints each....plus an extra post-happy hour pint for the heck of it.

They also have great bar food.  We tried the rabas, or calamari, which come with a tasty aioli.  These are the best we've had so far in Argentina, so if you want to try rabas while you're here, this is the place to do it.  But rabas in general, and these rabas in particular, are unfortunately not as good as most calamari in the US simply by virtue of the fact that they only use the big rings and not all the little crunchy squid parts and tiny rings.  Jay wonders why he keeps trying rabas here, hoping for a different outcome.  That said, I'm sure these won't be the last rabas he orders in Buenos Aires.

We also ordered the papas fritas Antares, with no knowledge of what it might be.  It turned out to be handcut french fries covered in creamy sauce and bacon bits.  These were awesome, and definitely appear to be the most popular food item at Antares.

By the time we left (around 9PM), Antares was packed. Here's a shot from overhead; as you can see it's a really cool space.  Also notice that it's still broad daylight outside at 9PM (as you can see through the skylight).  This is incredibly disconcerting.

But what to do next, after having downed 3 pints of microbrew and stuffing ourselves on greasy bar food?  The answer can only be SUGAR, an expat bar that runs a nightly happy hour from 9PM to midnight, where pints of Quilmes and well drinks can be had for the unbelieveably low price of FIVE PESOS.

Here is the bar, starting to fill up around 11PM.  It is run by two British guys who also own a hostel in Antigua Guatemala and formerly ran a bar in Barcelona.  It is very popular with expats.

Here is Matthew, one of the owners.  We first met him on Inauguration Day, when he smoothly distracted a drunken football hooligan from Liverpool who was trying to grope our friend Sofi and pick a fight with her boyfriend Dave.  He also tends bar and DJs (the music is heavy on the Clash et al).

When your photos start looking like this (and you're really proud of yourself for your awesome photographic talent), that's a sign that it's time to go home.

But as Matthew says every time we see him, "See you tomorrow."  And yes, you cheeky bastard, you probably will.

(Antares Pub is located on Armenia 1447 between Gorriti and Cabrera.  Sugar is located on Costa Rica between Gurruchaga and Armenia.