Let’s start off the new year with a bang…!

Many moons ago, we’re talking November 2006, there was an article in the New York Times that provoked a bit of ire amongst the foodie populace here. I was still new to the scene, but I weighed in, for the most part siding with the local response. Within days, I’d received an email from the writer of the article, who clarified his intent, and all was smoothed over, forgiven, and, based on one of his suggestions, a relatively unknown restaurant, Jangada, jumped onto my radar. The place was the only spot in town, in fact, as best I can tell, pretty much the only spot anywhere within probably a couple of hundred kilometers, that specialized in river fish dishes.

The menu was limited – other than a few appetizers, the main courses basically consisted of a choice of four different river fish, four different ocean fish, grilled, and served with a choice of one of two guarniciones, either with roasted potatoes, onion rings, salad, and pesto, or with a mix of roasted peppers, onions, and vegetables. It quickly became a favorite spot, and after getting some exposure (I’m guessing the New York Times piece did more for it than I did), it moved into far bigger quarters a few blocks away, raised their prices to the stratosphere, and it swiftly failed and closed up shop within a year.

Since then, being able to find freshwater fish here on a menu has become less and less common. There are a few steakhouses around that offer grilled pacú, one of our favorites, and I have written it up before. Here and there you can find fried pejerrey, or some sort of trout preparation (though the trout are aquacultured, not native to here), and that’s about it in general. So when one afternoon, after one of our Sunday outings, we passed by this new spot, Surubí, Soler 4611, Palermo (former location of Nonino restaurant, which I never tried)…

…they were offering sample mini-empanadas filled with the eponymous surubí, the Brazilian Tigerfish, and they were delicious. We put it on our rotation for an upcoming Sunday, and chose it as our last Sunday lunch of the year.

Very pretty place, with two dining rooms on the ground and first floor, the latter having a small terrace off of it, and then another level up, a full rooftop terrace, where the four of us decided to lunch.

Here, the menu is much more focused on just freshwater fish. Among ten appetizers and nine main courses, all are freshwater fish, with the exception of one vegetarian and one meat dish in each category. As of our visit, the freshwater fish on offer were pacú, dorado, boga, and surubí.

Three of us went for more of those delicious surubí empanadas, even better when big sized and deep-fried! And served with hot sauce on the side on request. 45 pesos apiece.

You get little complimentary ramekins of pickled white butter beans, and they were so good, we ordered up a full appetizer order of them. A bit steep at 180 pesos for the small sized bowl that we got – for that price, this bowl ought to be full! Stick with the free ones.

A good ceviche – the flavors were all there, though surprisingly, given the fish choices, the one they use for the ceviche is the boga, which has a kind of chewy texture to it naturally. I think we all would have liked it more if made with surubí, a classic of littoral cuisine up along the Paraná river. It did need a little more heat, even with the requested “make it picante” – so we added some of the hot sauce from the empanadas. 350 pesos.

Two of our number ordered up the grilled pacú, our waiter swiftly returned to let us know that the only pacú in house were huge, and the kitchen recommended just one order of a big fillet to share. Good choice, and they gave us a price discounted to somewhere between one and two orders. Perfectly cooked, rich, and served with a choice of sides – french fries, mashed potato, grilled vegetables; plus rice. 370 pesos regularly, we got the double version for 600.

Our waiter highly recommended his personal favorite, the grilled dorado with leek cream sauce. Excellent! Even with the grilled head staring at us. But that turned out to be a plus, because of course, there’s that delicate cheek meat that’s so good… 450 pesos

One of the group, of course, had to be contrary, and ordered the ribeye steak. Cooked just the way he ordered it. The accompaniments a little odd – a sort of fruity wine sauce, and a very bizarre mix of mashed potatoes and smoked eggplant that didn’t work texturally or flavorwise. 370 pesos

The one other disappointment, the “grilled vegetables” which turned out to be just a few strips of grilled vegetables laid atop a bowl of undressed arugula. If that’s what you’re offering, let us know that, because that’s not a “side of grilled vegetables”, at least not in our book. They were tasty, just too few of them, and the salad was like an afterthought.

All in all, love the space, great service, it’s a delight to have a place for freshwater fish in town again. And, for the most part, great food. For all the above food, plus three rounds of fresh brewed iced tea, and tip, we spent 2400 pesos, 600 apiece.

Definitely recommended!