The double entendre in the title is intentional… and hey, could be the start of a new series of posts like Bite Marks and Chop Suey. Maybe this is Meat Matters 1. Oh hell, I’m going to go and stick the 1 up there on the title now.

Recently, the city of Buenos Aires held one of its ongoing “Best of” voting competitions, where ordinary folk vote on their favorite spot for one or another foodstuffs. We’ve had pizza, we’ve had milanesas, we’ve had burgers, and… parrillas, or steakhouses, came under scrutiny in mid last year, with the results coming out in September. Now, it’s not a free for all. A list of candidates is published, but it’s not vetted – any restaurant that fits the category can participate, it’s totally an opt-in process, and many that are worthy of being considered for a category vote don’t participate, and many that choose to probably aren’t worthy of even being suggested.

But, it’s the way it’s done. And then, anyone who registers on the site (another opt-in) can vote for their personal favorite from the list. It’s a popularity contest, not necessarily a culinary judgment. And it’s a small, self-selected group – out of the 15 million folk who live in the Greater Buenos Aires area, for example, only 17, 526 people registered and voted. But what it did do, for us, and I’m now pivoting to the Roving Ravenous Horde, is give us a list of a couple of dozen steakhouses that included quite a few none of us had been to.

And for our opening outing of 2019, and our 51st outing overall, I picked one of those spots, out in the northwest of the city. As of the day of the outing, only two of us were confirmed – it’s vacation time for many here. Jamie, my companion for the day, had a yen for visiting San Telmo’s modern art museum, so we decided to pick somewhere closer in, and one of the other parrillas now on our list shone out glowing on the map.

We dutifully arrived at 1880, Defensa 1665, Barracas (the place is almost right on the point where San Telmo, La Boca, and Barracas come together, though given the side of the street, it’s officially in Barracas). Why 1880? Though there were several important events in local history then, I’d venture to guess it’s that on September 21, 1880, Buenos Aires officially became the capital of Argentina – prior to that the capital was the city of Rosario, four hours northwest of here.

We’re talking seriously old school here. That boded… either very good or very mediocre.

The menu is moderately extensive, and we decided to rely on crowd-sourced info for our meal – four items pop up regularly as people’s favorites….

The provoleta, perfectly cooked, with a golden crust on both surfaces, just melted inside, unadorned except for a sprinkling of salt and oregano. Yeah, that’s really good. Nice start.

Numerous folk pimped for the lamb chinchulines, grilled small intestines. Jamie wasn’t so sure… his one experience with the lamb version of this grill favorite hadn’t gone well. These, however, are glorious. Perfectly cooked, completely lamb-y, seasoned right, yum. This is a half order, and we both agreed that going back and just having a whole order of those, a side salad, and a glass of wine, would be nigh on perfect.

And we had that side salad – a mix of bitter greens – arugula, radichetta, and watercress, with shaved parmesan.

A half order of the matambrito, pork flank, grilled to a golden brown and juicy inside, and all around delicious.

And also a half order of the bife de lomo, the sirloin, arriving a solid medium rare without having to ask for it that way. Butter soft, and completely enthralling.

Seriously, for a casual neighborhood parrilla, this place is one of the best I’ve been to in the city, and I will happily be returning. Somewhere in the midst of checking out all the rest of those on the list.

Old school vibe, great service, amazingly good food. All of the above, plus a bottle of water and a half bottle of wine, and tip, and we bowed out for 640 pesos apiece… that’s $17. That’s beyond a bargain.