What have we to share today…?

 

Mito Mercato, Soler 6036, Palermo – this one ended up on my radar when someone I know in the cocktail world posted that he was having the best Bloody Mary he’d had in the city over brunch in this place. Steven and I forwent our usual trips to barrios asiaticos for the chance at a couple of those plus what we hoped would be a good brunch. On arrival, we found that this place, in keeping with its name, is actually a market, a wine shop and deli, with one long shared table where you can eat. For brunch, it turns out, they only offer one plate of the weekend – a trio of different things – the day we were there they had a bruschetta with tomatoes and eggplant, some sort of salad with cheese, and something else that escapes me – none of them were the three things listed on their Facebook page as the weekend’s selection.

The Blood Mary was… interesting. I’m not going to put it anywhere near the top of those that I’ve had. It’s got a nice kick, and fresh tomato juice, but it seems to be loaded with lemon juice and, well, what we think was pickle brine, from the pickles garnishing it. It was… interesting. No, weird. They also cost 230 pesos apiece.

Other than the brunch plate, the remainder of the menu is a choice of different cheeses and cold cuts from the deli, you can either order them individually, or let them put together a combo plate. There are several different variations on the combos, we went with the maximum, the degustación para 2, tasting for 2. I will say that it’s one of the more interesting selections I’ve had for a picada here in BA, including a Sicilian cheese I’d not only never tried, but never heard of (all their selections are Italian origin). It did fall down a little bit with the garnishes – puckering salty olives, mushy canned artichoke hearts, and kind of tasteless roasted peppers and eggplants. But the cheeses and meats were a delight. Still, the 750 peso price tag seemed a bit steep for a platter of this size. We left hungry.

Good coffee. I’d go back and buy some cheeses and meats to go.

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A childhood friend arrived in Argentina last weekend, someone I haven’t seen (though have corresponded with) in 20 years. He’s actually the person I’ve known, and remained friends with, longer than anyone else I know in my life (unless you count that I’m friends as well as family with my parents and my sister) – since I was 6 years old and he was 5. I’ve spent a bit of time showing him around town, and he’s also doing a bit of touring on his own. One of the things he wanted to see was the Bolivian market stretch out in Liniers, so we headed out one day, did a bit of shopping, and stopped in for lunch at Rico Pollo, Ibarrola 7183. A chance for him to try some Bolivian food, and me to try another fried chicken spot.

Classic sopa de maní, peanut soup – a bit watery, but decent flavor. I’ve had better, I’ve had worse. For 90 pesos, a bargain, you could almost make it a meal by itself. And inspired me to get going on the next round for the Bread & Soup Project – Bolivia. Coming up in the next post.

A sajta de pollo, chicken stewed in a mildly spicy sauce and served with cheesy tunta, the dark colored freeze dried potatoes common to the altiplano. Pretty good, and a generous portion for 130 pesos.

Unfortunately, the pollo broaster fared less well. Two pieces of greasy, way over-cooked and dried out chicken, soggy, limp french fries, a tangle of overcooked spaghetti tossed with a little oil, and some dry rice with a scattering of vegetables. Given that it’s kind of the house signature dish, it was pretty appalling, even at 140 pesos (120 if you want only one piece of that chicken). I’m not sure I’ve had much worse.

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The following Sunday also had us eschewing barrios coreano or chino and thinking something “eggy” for brunch. Waffle’s House (yes, it has a gratuitous apostrophe in the name), Gorriti 4918, Palermo, had caught the eye, and we decided to give it a try. Sounds like the sort of place one might find a good brunch.

Unfortunately, that’s not remotely true. Setting aside whether or not using waffles as buns for burgers and the like is a good idea, it is pretty much what most of the menu is, other than classic waffles topped with fruits and sweets… the waffles are awfuls. They’re dense and eggy (well, we did say we wanted something eggy), and not even a hint of crispness to the surface, and tasteless. The crispy chicken was juicy on the inside but borderline burnt on the outside, and topped with a sickly sweet honey mustard, while the okay burger patty was smaller than either of the waffles it was sandwiched between, and topped with an uninteresting array of salad. Greasy, overcooked fries (options for potato or sweet potato fries only – since I didn’t want either on my chicken sandwich, and those are the only options, mine was simply delivered without – even a request for a little extra salad on the side was simply refused). A choice of dipping sauce for the fries included a salsa brava, which we were warned was “super picante“, it wasn’t, it tasted like plain crushed tomatoes. 235 and 245 pesos, respectively. Pass.

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Xiao Chu Ge, Moreno 2902, Once – just happened on this one walking through the neighborhood, don’t recall seeing it before (and it looks like until recently they were nearby, on Saavedra). Pretty typical menu for a neighborhood Chinese takeout place, nothing out of the ordinary. At lunchtime they were doing a pretty brisk delivery business, with three guys on motorcycles taking turns and pretty much constantly on the go. When I ordered, I specified that I wanted my main course picante, but not Argentine picante, Chinese picante. The woman looked at me like I was nuts, but her teenage son, studying at a nearby table, thought it was hysterical. I’m not sure if because I made the comment about the Argentine version of spicy, or because he thought I was in for a shock.

A plate of potsticker dumplings, juicy pork and green onion filling. Perfectly cooked. Delicious. A shame they took 40 minutes to get to the table, albeit with apologies, apparently the kitchen just wasn’t keeping up with the delivery orders and mine got lost in the shuffle. 160 pesos.

And an order of kung pao pork. It was nice to see she was paying attention and took me at my word, with the the dish containing four different kinds of chilies – two fresh, two dried. Yum! She asked me if it was spicy enough, or should she have gone spicier. I said it was fine, though spicier would have been fine too. Between that and the fact that I was using chopsticks rather than a fork… she pronounced me medio chino – half Chinese. 280 pesos.

All around, other than being a little slow when they’re slammed with deliveries, delicious, excellent, I’d happily eat there again… and will!