“The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question ‘How can we eat?’ the second by the question ‘Why do we eat?’ and the third by the question ‘Where shall we have lunch?”

– Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

I’m not sure if I’m finally declaring Bite Marks as dead as a doornail, or what, but I’d much rather point out places that I recommend you enjoy than wax on about mediocre spots that you shouldn’t. Maybe I’ll do the occasional Bite (Me) Marks as I did recently, with an all “don’t go here” cast of players. We shall see. Either way, the “not so recommended” spots will continue to show up on the various maps I have linked in the column to the right on the blog.

 

The Stand, Av. Córdoba 3528, Almagro – This spot is more or less at the ley lines where barrios Recoleta, Palermo, and Almagro come together, but just tips over on to the Almagro side. Billed as “The Revolution of the Empanada”, these are not your grandmother’s empanadas. The menu puts me in mind of one of my old favorites in New York for a quick lunch, Ruben’s Empanadas, down on Pearl Street, right near the South Street Seaport – though it predated that tourist attraction by more than a decade. They were famous for packing flaky turnover dough with various foodstuffs of the world, pretty much, if it will fit inside the dough, let’s give it a try.

The Stand takes much the same approach, and the menu features fillings that might otherwise be found on street food carts in the U.S., Mexico, India, Greece, France… Fair warning, these are big empanadas – 2 or 3 of them are probably sufficient for most people for lunch. And, as a friend who’d tried the place before me said, the fillings can be hit or miss, though out of four sampled, three were hits.

There are a trio of “cheeseburger” options – the plain, with ground beef, spices, and melted cheddar, the bacon, and the bacon-jalapeño, adding those respective additions to the base. The last, is delicious, with the jalapeños adding just a slight kick, but enough to sit up and notice. There are two options for Indian chicken curry – mild and spicy – the latter coming with a Muy picante! warning. And that’s not a warning just for the Argentine palate. This was so spicy I was crying, with sweat dripping down from every pore. Great flavors, but oh my, it was burning a hole in my stomach lining an hour later. The open empanada was the Greek one, packing in beautifully caramelized lamb, tomatoes, onions, and a tasty tzatziki sauce. The miss for the day, the eggplant parmesan – the eggplant near inedibly bitter (salt that veg and let the bitterness drain out), the “tomato sauce” more onion than tomato, and oddly spiced, and the mozzarella drowning out any hint of the parmesan. There are a dozen other fillings to be tried. Running 65-75 pesos (just over $1) apiece, for the size, quality, and creativity, these are a steal.

 

Caranchería, in the Mercado San Telmo – Sandwich of the year. I’m declaring it. It’s only the end of August, but there you have it. For the next four months, sandwich makers of Buenos Aires, you’re going to have to really up your game if you want to beat this one. Grilled and spiced sweetbreads, perfectly cooked, topped with a smoked salsa criolla, on a housemade potato bread. Add a little of their hot sauce to the mix and dig in. Yeah, you can get their also beautifully made entraña sandwich with smoky eggplant, but nah… get this. I don’t care if you don’t like innards. Get this. 260 pesos (just over $4).

 

Cervecería Chapultepec, Honduras 5750, Palermo – Many, many moons ago, I undertook to find a decent taco in this city – it was early days for non-Argentine food still. I held a Taco Crawl which one amigo attended, and we had a fun night, despite finding little in the way of decent Mexican fare. And good comida mexicana has generally proved elusive in this city, even since. Here and there a decent blip has shown up – the tacos at Che Taco, and the improvement of those at La Fabrica del Taco. And there were the unfortunately short lived spots Real Revolution and Rinconcito Mexicano. So I wasn’t holding out a whole lot of hope for this recently opened spot offering up Guadalajaran street fare. It wasn’t until after the fact that I found out it’s a branch of an international chain of bar-street food taquerias that started in Guadalajara itself.

First off, the gimmick – everything’s the same price. Everything. From the food, be it a taco, a burrito, a torito, a soup, or a burger, to the drinks, be it water, soda, beer, or cocktail. As of right now, that’s 69 pesos. Barely over a dollar. Again, everything on the menu. Same price.

The Roving Ravenous Horde, not very horde-like this time with only three of us showing up, met up for outing #66 this week. And you know what? We had a really good lunch. The flavors are authentic. We’re not talking any wows of creativity here – this is street food. But it’s mostly really quite good. The taco gober (short for gobernador) is a classic of Guadalajaran fare, packed with prawns, peppers, and cheese, and is dead on. the lonche bañado, a pulled pork sandwich smothered in smoky hot sauce, delicious. And all the other stuff, the aguachile tacos, the requesón (more or less ricotta cheese) tacos, were also great. I would say that my only disappointment were the toritos. One of which appears on the right in the second photo. It’s fine as is – it’s a stuffed chili pepper, battered and fried, on a superfluous tortilla. Not that it’s not tasty, but at least based on what I know as a torito, that ain’t it – a torito should be sort of like a mini-chimichanga – a fried enchilada, smothered in sauce and a cap of melted cheese. This sort of contains a vague spirit of the concept – it’s fried, it’s got a chili instead of sauce, it’s got cheese, but inside, along with the meat.

Would we go back? Absolutely!

 

French Cookie, Honduras 5760, Palermo – Not since the paramour of our friend Ally of Pick Up the Fork introduced this city to what a real doughnut should be at Donut Therapy have I been as happy with the introduction of something sweet. I’m just not a dessert kind of guy. But I do love a good cookie. And the French folk behind this new spot are whipping out some of the best I’ve had in a long time. Soft, buttery… hell, they must be half butter… not overly sweet, chewy, flavorful, creative, pretty to look at… just plain delicious. And almost right next door to the tacos above, and pretty much the same price, coming in at 65 pesos apiece.

 

Santi Cheese Market, Loyola 1654, Chacarita – If you don’t know this place, and you’re a “foodie”, you should. This isn’t really a place to go eat, though if you’re lucky, Santi himself may whip you up a sampler of some cheeses to tempt you. It’s also not your typical cheese shop or gourmet food shop, especially for Buenos Aires. In fact, there’s no display of cheeses – they’re all in temperature controlled aging rooms. Most of Santi’s business is online, where you can order cheeses for pickup or delivery, including some very cool things like monthly or weekly samplers. But if you’re in the area, it’s worth dropping in just to inhale and relax and… well, buy some cheese. I was on the hunt for some stracciatella and smoked provolone for our menu this week, and he didn’t disappoint. Easily the best place I know in BA for cheese. Period.