Delivery burger. Delivery sushi. And a Roving Ravenous Horde outing to a reincarnation of a French bistro into a full fledged restaurant. Variety is the spice of life, no?

 

I didn’t rush for this one. It’s a burger from a popular hot dog place that I wasn’t overly fond of when I tried it about four years ago – Dogg, at San Martín 657 in Microcentro. They were one of the first, if not the first, to put forth the claim of gourmet hot dogs, and for awhile, everyone was lining up. With economic times being what they are, “gourmet” fast food has become the compromise of the the last year or so, and so we’ve seen a proliferation of fancy hot dog and burger and arepa and baos and other sorts of more commonly “street food” places. But a couple of folk in the burger fanatic world have recently recommended the burgers from this place, making it clear they’re not really all that fancy, but they’re properly made and well seasoned and the buns hold up, and all that.

Delivery services are now the big thing here, with PedidosYa and Glovo seeming to lead the pack over individual restaurants needing to hire their own delivery folk. There are others, like iFood and Rappi, which are trailing behind, but still there. I have to say I like the Glovo interface, because you know exactly what’s going, with its cute little map and delivery person icons (you even know if your delivery person is on foot, bike, motorcycle, or car, and like Uber or similar services, their name). So when Dogg popped up as an option one afternoon, I ordered up a basic bacon and cheeseburger. The burgers, it turns out, come from their Tribunales location, at Lavalle 1134.

Now, off the bat, I was a little disappointed when it arrived. I expected… more for a 175 pesos ($7), but then I realized (it was my first Glovo order) that that included the 35 peso delivery charge, so it’s really only 140 pesos, slightly under $6. I think I didn’t realize it didn’t come with fries, my bad. They claim it’s a 200 gram burger, but I just don’t see it. Even though it’s two patties, I have trouble seeing 6 ounces in a burger that can fit on the palm of my hand. Maybe, but just barely, and probably pre-cooking weight. It is well seasoned, the bacon is crisp, the cheese, well, it’s the usual local american-cheddar sandwich slice, but I expected that. The pickles, pretty darned good, not overly sweet. And, the bun does indeed hold up. It’s not a wow burger, it’s more the sort of burger that I guess I’d be happy to have from a slightly upscale fast food joint, which is exactly what Dogg is.

 

Okay, there is cuteness here from this delivery sushi spot. Your sushi comes wrapped up the way a traditional Japanese grandmother might send you off to school with your bento box, wrapped in a cloth. And those cloths are useful to reuse, too. I also like that Matsu, Guise 1791 in Palermo, offers a rarely seen appetizer here in BA, onigiri, which are a personal favorite, coming in second after dumplings but way ahead of harumaki egg rolls. The one thing I have discovered is that they don’t always have them, at least not listed on their Glovo menu. But two nicely made ones, filled with flaked salmon, were a treat.

The sushi is really well made, and quite fresh, I have to say, some of the better delivery sushi I’ve had in the last year or two. Too many rolls, of course, still have cream cheese in them, but there are at least a few that don’t. And too much of the menu is just salmon. A six piece salmon nigiri with ginger and green onion was excellent. Same with the half a salmon skin roll and a half a fried salmon with avocado roll. All told, two onigiri and 16 pieces of sushi, plus delivery charge and tip, came to 635 pesos, or just shy of $25. About what I’d expect, but better quality than most. Well worth it.

 

On the other hand, I was not at all happy with a similar delivery from Sakura Sushi, Gorriti 4116 in Palermo. For 670 pesos, or almost $26 all inclusive, I received what looks like it might be a nice array of sushi. It did take a lot longer, interestingly, given that the above order from Matsu was delivered by bicycle, while this one came by motorcycle. It seemed like this guy stopped half a dozen times along the way. Watching his progress on the map was excruciating. He also “signed” for the order himself (the Glovo app has you scribble your signature with your finger on the delivery guy’s phone to acknowledge receipt – he did it himself, a big no-no as far as I’m concerned, and probably as far as Glovo’s concerned).

By the time he arrived, the gyoza were ice cold (admittedly it was also a far colder day). But they’re also chewy, flavorless, and tiny. And truthfully, other than the chewy part, the same could be said for the combo of nigiri and sashimi, which came with a mix of salmon, shrimp, octopus, and egg. No lenguado (sole) nor salmon skin, both promised as part of the combo. Instead, a couple of pieces of somewhat shredded smoked salmon are nestled into the lettuce. The nigiri must be some of the smallest anywhere, no bigger than my thumb – about half the size of typical sushi nigiri.

And here’s where I discovered the one thing I don’t like about Glovo, they have no way to rate the restaurant offerings (you do rate the delivery person). I guess I don’t need to rate them, but there’s no way to comment or complain about something that’s delivered that isn’t what was promised. [They later added in a thumb up or thumb down rating option, but still no way to comment.] I guess I could call the restaurant and let them know that I didn’t get what the menu promised, but experience tells me I’d just get an excuse about non-availability of one fish or another, and so they decided to substitute without letting me know. Happens all the time here. And one of the things I like about PedidosYa is that I can see comments from other users to see if a place is up to snuff. Either way, I wouldn’t order from Sakura again, the value’s not there.

 

I have/had been going to La Olla de Felix for over a decade, at least a few times a year. It was one of my favorite bistros here in town, and in convenient walking distance from home. Years ago, Felix was even thinking about retiring, and we negotiated with him to take the place over, but at last minute he decided not to retire, and he’s still going strong. A few months back, I ran into him in front of the place and he told me they were moving down the block to Juncal 1693. He gave me a tour of the new spot, which was under complete renovation at the time, and I’ve been eagerly awaiting its reopening. It did so a couple of months ago, but I just hadn’t made time to get there, so it seemed a good choice for the Roving Ravenous Horde to make a lunch of it.

The new space is huge by comparison to the old, jumping from a single small room with seating for maybe 30 people, to a four room stretch with seating for well over a hundred, including a private room with a table for ten. Also, no longer a daily handwritten menu of two appetizers and four main courses, and the two signature desserts of chocolate marquise and tarte tatin. It’s not got a full-blown menu with a small section of French bistro classics, and an array of international dishes that range from Peruvian ceviche to Italian risotto, to Argentine specialties.

There is a menú ejecutivo at lunchtime with a 320 peso price for a main course, glass of wine or other beverage, and coffee or dessert. The day that the trio of us showed up, the options were hake in dill sauce or a poached chicken salad, and neither sounded all that appealing. There’s also a sandwich special, with a sandwich and beverage at 220 pesos, but our waiter warned us off of that, letting us know that the sandwiches were very small…. So, we went from the a la carte menu.

An appetizer for the table (well, for me, though I offered it around) of fried prawns over humita, the classic Argentine sweet corn filling that’s similar to tamales, but with fresh corn rather than dried, plus cheese, of course. Decently made humita, three lovely fried prawns. It was tasty, it just seemed a bit wan for 245 pesos, nearly $10.

Two different risottos. A quite good mushroom one (390 pesos/$16) and an okay beet and morcilla one (295 pesos/$12). The latter lacking in much of any morcilla sausage, and with nearly raw grated beets in it, plus three little hand rolled balls of goat cheese. It was just a little odd. One of the bistro classics, a lomo, or sirloin, with crushed potatoes and salsa criolla. Requested medium-well by Henry, it arrived barely past rare, and the mere scattering of potatoes seemed to short shrift the plate, especially for a whopping 480 pesos, a shade over $19.

Honestly, we were disappointed. Nothing was bad, it just wasn’t all that well executed. Felix is no longer in the kitchen, at least during lunch service, he was busy with some friends of his at a table for most of it, then sitting by himself after greeting us. The classic flavors and attention to detail that he offered in the bistro just weren’t there. And, pricey to boot, especially for portions that were rather scant. Add to that a 45 peso/person cubierto, and unfortunately, I just don’t find the value there that I used to. Maybe if you order the menú  at lunchtime. I wish we liked it as much as we liked the bistro. But for three of us – 1 appetizer, 3 main courses, 3 waters, 3 coffees, and tip, we racked up a 2100 peso bill, or 700 a person ($28 each), making it one of the more expensive meals the Horde has gone out for, though the other places we’ve run up a bill at that level, we’ve eaten full on 2-3 course meals with wine or drinks, and often dessert.