Time for some mo’ meat!
Jagüel, Gorriti 5870, Palermo [w3w: strides.improves.bats] – There are terms that mean something, and not something else. Like most of them. [Closed, didn’t even last a year]
When someone tells you that a restaurant is “self-service”, that generally means that the food is all laid out, somewhat banquet style, and you go up and serve yourself. It’s not the term we generally use in English to mean… “stand in line, place an order, get a beeper, and when the beeper goes off, go pick up your food, because we don’t have waiters”. That’s more or less called “McDonald’s”, just fancier. With a beeper. So when this place opened, to modest fanfare, as the first “self-serve steakhouse” in the city, we had very different ideas about what that meant from what the owners, and local newspapers, intended.
They also bill themselves as the first “patio steakhouse”, I’m not sure what they mean by that – there are plenty of steakhouses with patios and gardens to dine in – I think they’re referring to the model of the particular type of service – essentially food court style (though with only one option for ordering), which here is called a patio de comidas.
This is the makeover of the space that used to be Olsen, and used to look like you’d wandered into an IKEA store with a garden in front. There’s no vestige of that look anymore. The garden has been paved over with brick and gravel, and turned into the seating area, and what used to be the dining room is now a big “L” counter, that on one side is the bar, a display of salads and side dishes, and a cash register, and on the other is the parrilla.
The model is, as I described… you get in line, order your food from the menu, which is posted on chalkboards (or, there are also papers on each table with pencils, you can fill out an order sheet and just walk up and hand it in) – a choice of six different steaks, a couple of sandwiches, and either a small or large “salad plate”. You pay for it. You get a beeper…
…you present your ticket at the bar, where, after examining your receipt, someone will give you your drinks, and if you ordered a salad plate, the black-plastic-gloved attendant will dish up your choice of either two or four of the side dishes, depending if you got the small or large plate. We got a large to share. (200 and 300 pesos, respectively.) They’re all cold side dishes, even things like roasted squash….
We decided to share a provoleta. I’ve never seen one quite like this. It’s not, as best I can tell, grilled. It’s sort of puffed, and golden brown, almost like it was put into the wood fired oven. Albeit unseasoned with the usual local olive oil and herbs, it’s quite good. 190 pesos.
And, we ordered two steaks to share. My long time favorite, the entraña, or hanger steak, cooked to a decent medium rare (370 pesos). Maybe a touch chewier than the typical one, but acceptable. And, the house specialty, the arañita, also called the escondido, or hidden cut. I’ve never seen this cut at a parrilla here, and I’m not 100% sure what it’s called in English – it’s a muscle that’s inside the pelvis, in the iliac arch, kind of like a hanger steak, but in a different place. I think it’s what butchers call the “inside skirt”. It’s a bit on the chewy side too, and a bit more gristly than the hanger. Again, acceptable (300 pesos). All steaks come with a “smashed potato”, which seems to be a peeled and baked potato, smashed.
All in all… acceptable is about what I can muster for this one. It was all fine, nothing to really criticize, but all kind of meh. And the whole no waiter thing is not my favorite style of eating. Especially if your staff still think they should be tipped. And your prices are not any lower than a place that does have waiter service – if you’re saving the cost of several staff members, that ought to show up on the bottom line for your customers. For BA, the portions are a bit skimpy – the two above come in at 300 gm and 250 gm, which is a perfectly respectable individual portion, but far smaller than most steakhouses here serve.
No Tan Santos, Nuñez 1650, Nuñez [w3w: unstable.rejoin.start] – I don’t recall where I first heard about this spot, just that it came well recommended, as a casual, laid back, cool vibe steakhouse. I tossed it into the hopper for the Roving Ravenous Horde’s 56th outing. It wasn’t, apparently, a popular choice, and it ended up with just three of us trekking out to the northeast part of the city for lunch.
Most of the place is a covered patio (hmmm, a theme for this post), and although it was a scorcher of a day, with fans going, it wasn’t uncomfortable to grab a table in the garden and sit there. There is a small room at the far back that’s “semi-air conditioned” i.e., it’s got an air conditioner, but it’s also open to the patio, so there’s a bit of cool and warm air interchange going on. Most of the other 15 or so people eating there at lunch that day opted for that room.
The menu isn’t a huge affair, but it has a nice selection from the grill, plus a couple of sandwiches, some pastas, and some salads. We went with a few of the online recommendations for their “best”, and started off with plates of mollejas, sweetbreads (400 pesos) and riñones, kidneys (170 pesos), both cooked pretty much perfectly, and delicious, and a properly grilled provoleta that was really good (200 pesos).
And, their two most recommended main courses, to share – a matambrito, pork flank (410 pesos), and again, an entraña, or hanger steak (480 pesos – yes, I know that I made the comment about pricing on the above spot, where the entraña was only 370 pesos, but it was also less than half the size of the portion we got here). Plus a big salad to share. Delicious, tender, cooked right, all the good stuff. Very happy campers, and we even finished off almost every bite.
If this place was anywhere close to Recoleta, it’s be my neighborhood go-to steakhouse. But I’d also make the trek again, it was worth it. And in the evening, or in cooler weather, the garden would be a delight as a place to dine.
