On to the Mercado del Puerto. You know me, I could spend a whole day in a place like this, and were there really still a market rather than just restaurants, I likely would have…. If I were more of a carnivore, I’d have just gone from one spot to the next sampling things.

The Mercado has entrances, I think, on all four sides, maybe just three, along with some of the restaurants have outdoor seating surrounding it.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I arrived early, I wanted to see them setting up all the parrillas and getting everything organized.

It was pretty deserted at around 10 in the morning – each restaurant had one or two people getting the parrillas going and setting things up. The two bars in the place were open and had a couple of customers at each, starting out their day on a liquid diet.

Food-wise, the only thing open was Carolina’s empanada stand, with more varieties of empanadas than I think I’ve seen anywhere. I had to stop and have one, as much for the empanadas as the cute staff…. The mussel empanada was packed with probably two dozen mussels in a rich, dripping, brothy-stew mixture. Absolutely delicious, if a bit messy to eat! They were doing brisk business, mostly with take-out.

Wood was being delivered by the truck-load, and then carted in and distributed to the various parrillas. I can’t even imagine how much wood they must go through in a day. One interesting thought, all of the parrillas were wood fired, not one of them was using charcoal/carbón – in fact, I don’t think I saw anything other than wood-fired parrillas during my whole stay in Montevideo, nor have I in the past.

As the morning moves on, the meats get nicely charred and the quantities start to pile up.

There’s even seating on balconies above, though as smoky as it is down below, I can’t imagine wanting to sit up there.

Offerings range from a short list, to far more – the place I ended up settling on, Estancia del Puerto, which sort of dominates the center of the Mercado, must have three dozen different grill items (you can see their menu above, the fourth picture in this post).

It took a bit of deciding, but, decide I did, and sat myself at the counter at the Estancia – they also had a separate dining area, but despite the heat of being close to the grill, I wanted a front row seat.

Homemade chimichurri, which I actually ended up using spooned over my french fries. Yum!

Chotos… braided lengths of small intestine, generally from a smaller animal like a lamb, goat, or calf. Glistening with oil, grilled perfectly with just a touch of crispiness outside, tender inside, and, the first time I’ve had them served with farina, coarse mandioca flour that’s been toasted, often with a little garlic and oil, though here I think it was just toasted. Gives a great flavor to them. A salad of lettuce, tomatoes and catalanes, which are vinegared frying peppers.

And, I couldn’t not have a pamplona, the classic Uruguayan football of a dish with generally either pork or chicken (the grillman recommended the chicken, which turned out to be a great choice), filled with peppers and cheese, wrapped in bacon, and grilled. Add in those french fries, and yes, I did over-order, but wow was it all good, and I didn’t leave anything behind. And fairly priced, all that for right around 500 uruguayos, or $26.

And that, my friends, was the Mercado del Puerto….