I like to see friends succeed, even those who are not close friends. And, Aldo Graziani (who rose to local prominence as the head sommelier for the Faena Hotel + Universe) and I have known each other for going on 13 years now, mostly through wine and food events, and shared the occasional meal with other colleagues. It was, amazingly it seems, a solid seven years ago now that he opened his first Aldo’s Vinoteca & Restorán not far from the Casa Rosada, in the Moreno Hotel.

I liked it then, I’ve liked it on subsequent visits, and these days, we have the opportunity to check out his style at a trio of newer spots – two wine bars, one downtown in the Torre Bellini and one in Palermo on Arabé Siria (to be checked out sometime soon), and the newest one, a second “restorán” in the same, someday to be opened Live Hotel where La Mar and Uptown bar are, at Arévalo 2032 in Palermo (the 60 year old building is the former children’s home run by the Society of the Israelite Ladies. Aldo and partners are also behind Casa Cruz and the BeBop Club. The hotel itself has seen several opening dates come and go, the most recent one in June of this year. Maybe they’ll just keep filling it up with restaurants and bars and forget renting out rooms….

 

The new dining room is quite beautiful, and, like its predecessor, festooned with bottles of wine available retail, or at the table. One thing I did note, and I’m assuming has changed at the original space as well, is that the prices between buying them in those two ways are now pretty significantly different. Or maybe it was always that much of a difference, and it’s just that with the devaluation of the peso, the prices seem further apart. We were there for Sunday “brunch” (no different menu from other days), and while next door La Mar was rapidly filling, as it is wont to do, Aldo’s stayed pretty empty – we were three, there were three tables of four and two of two that came in while we were there. Service is friendly, but like the original Aldo’s was, and still is, there’s a certain element of aloofness – just a shade too “correct” for the Buenos Aires dining scene.

 

Being brunch time, I couldn’t not give a shot at their house Bloody Mary, which turns out to be excellent, spiked with a touch of mustard, an interesting twist. My two lunch companions, Steven and Jamie, opted for a bottle of a lighter red wine. Now, we had a small disappointment. Steven and I had walked by the place recently and been excited by the posted menu featuring both roasted bone marrow and a steak tartare among its various appetizers. And the restaurant’s website had the same menu posted as of Sunday morning (and still does as of today). It turned out they changed the menu two weeks ago at the beginning of July, and neither dish was available. Update your website folks! (Our waitress didn’t seem to even know they had one, or at least not that the menu was on it.)

 

Sharing everything, or course, though we each had picked a dish and oriented our own picks closest to our individual plates. A lovely fresh burrata with a tamarillo “water” and fresh persimmon; a tangy sweet pea puree with goat cheese feta and grilled smoked sausage; and a crispy sauteed sweetbread with portobello puree, delicious on its own, though oddly accompanied by a vinegar laden leaf of iceberg lettuce. Given that all the appetizers run from just south of 300 pesos to around 400 (and one octopus one that tops 600), we did find these to be rather small portions… especially when compared to:

 

The main courses, which all run at about the same price and are significantly larger. Here, though we tasted each others dishes, we were a bit more isolationist. I dug into an excellent white polenta with fresh corn sauce, crisp corn kernels, a fresh cheese, and some kale – it did contain one disappointment, I’d ordered it because it sounded brunchy, with a poached egg hidden in the center – the egg, however, was solidly cooked through – I’d venture to say most people expect a poached egg to be runny. Jamie went for the slow cooked (12 hours according to the menu) osso buco filled canneloni, excellent, though I think it could have used a little more sauce to accompany it. Steven went for the mushroom risotto, which was offered with a supplement of shaved black truffles (now farmed in Argentina and offered at exorbitant prices to restaurants – I got an email the other day offering them to us at US$2000/kilo) for 140 pesos (and then, I note now looking at the receipt, charged at 170 pesos).

 

Most everything was very good to excellent, but I would have to say that my favorite thing on the table was a side order of “smoked beets”, which were just simply amazing.

 

We decided to share one dessert, and between us, mixed reviews. A goat cheese ice cream, fresh tangerine segments, and honeycomb (the pastry chef kind, not the beehive kind). While I liked the individual components, though the ice cream had already nearly melted to a puddle in the short walk from the kitchen, I didn’t think they worked together. The goat cheese ice cream was just too pungent and overwhelmed the other things on the plate.

So, the wrap-up…. Love the space. Service is fine, though just needs a touch more warmth to it. The food was very good to excellent all around (except for me, the dessert and the overcooked egg). It’s expensive. Three of us shelled out 1400 pesos apiece (that includes tip, and a 70 peso apiece cubierto charge; and coffees and waters at 75 pesos each). It’s not outrageous for a really nice restaurant like this, it was well worth it, and it’s certainly not as much as you’d pay these days next door at La Mar. Maybe more that we were just a little disappointed in the size of the appetizer plates for their price. Still, I’d happily eat there again, just knowing that it’s a splurge. (I’d go back and just have a double portion of those beets and the Bloody Mary, and be very happy.)