Let’s start off with a round of delivery options (though both are places one could go to, of course). And, as usual, sushi….

 

A couple of years ago, I touted visits to Paru Inkas Sushi & Grill in Belgrano and Paru Inkas Sushi Deli in Palermo. I liked the food at both, though was less than impressed with the service at the former. Still, Henry and I had gone back there and had a better experience service-wise on the second visit. It’s a long way from home, so hasn’t really been on my radar. But relatively recently they opened a small branch of Paru Inkas Sushi & Grill at Av. Libertador 798 in Recoleta, on the back side of the Patio Bullrich shopping complex. I tried to stop in one night recently, but they were jammed, with people waiting, so while walking home, I placed a delivery order and then just went and waited – I wasn’t in a hurry.

Just as good as the original – I went for the kaniwan again – the prawn, peanut, and cheese filled samosa style turnovers, nice and crisp, and with that great passionfruit and rocoto sauce. And, a selection of sashim and one sushi roll – all nice and fresh, definitely high quality. It’d be nice if they had a selection of more than the “standard” of salmon, sole, prawn, and octopus, but so few places do. A little pricier at 540 pesos ($9) for the kaniwan, the five-piece sashimis all come in in the high 300s ($5, or $1 per slice of fish), and the tempura shrimp roll just shy of 600 ($10).

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Vegan sushi is not something I tend to think about. But, “sushi” doesn’t actually mean anything to do with raw fish – that’s “sashimi”. Sushi literally means “sour rice”, and is generally understood to mean a ball of vinegar rice topped with “something”. So a vegan version is not even out of the realm of the normal. I was in the mood for something light, and when Vegan Sushi, Medrano 1239, Palermo, popped up on the “healthy options” on the delivery app, I thought, why not? Especially because they had a trio of different mushroom maki. And in a short while I found myself with a quartet of half-rolls. The Coconut is made with oyster mushrooms marinated in coconut milk, wrapped with brown rice, and in turn topped with crispy sweet potato threads – yum. The Porto is portobello mushrooms cooked with garlic and green onions, also wrapped with brown rice – instead of seaweed, it’s wrapped with thin slices of avocado, and a soy-tofu cream. Another yum. The Softie is a lettuce and rice paper wrapped roll of shiitake mushrooms cooked with smoked paprika and topped with a cashew and pepper cream. This one didn’t wow me, but it was okay. And, a non-mushroom one, the Fresh, with carrots and avocado rolled up with quinua, and topped with hummus. Quite good, though the quinua doesn’t hold together really well like rice does. When it comes down to it, the brown rice didn’t hold together as well as sushi rice does either – it’s not sticky, so these were a little “crumbly” to eat. But tasty all around, and half rolls ran, across the board, 168 pesos each (300 for full 8-piece rolls), so quite reasonable. [Closed, replaced by Ruuska Sushi]

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You’d think that with as few restaurants representing southeast asian cuisine, that I’d have made it to all of them. This one just has a vibe from the outside that said… “no” – it looked more like a trendy bar, and appended the moniker “Resto-Bar” to its name in its public image. I imagined mediocre fried “street food” snacks and colorful cocktails and loud music. But, at some point, I knew I was going to check out Koh Lanta Resto-Bar, Gorriti 4647, Palermo, and on a recent evening, adrift for something different to do solo, I made a quick reservation and headed over. [Closed in early 2023]

Now, some of what I imagined is true. Though, very little. You enter into a bar, packed with all sorts of trendy looking bottles and apparatus. The greeting is exactly what I expected – neither of the two bartenders nor manager even looked up from the computer screen they were intently engaged with – and, other than pausing to make a drink now and again, they stayed in the same position the entire evening. A hostess greeted me not with “good evening” but, “do you have a reservation?” I got the full look up and down while the asking was going on, and then the studied minute over her clipboard when I responded affirmatively, followed by an, “oh yes, I guess you do. come this way, perhaps that table over there in the far corner.” I was dressed pretty, in pressed slacks and shirt. Far prettier than most of the people in the room, who tended towards shorts and t-shirts, but I don’t tend towards 25-30 years old.

But thankfully, that’s about where the reality of my imaginings ended. A full menu of Thai dishes was presented, along with a cocktail list (moderately creative without being stupid about it), and a wine list. While I was perusing, a plate of puffed rice crackers and a decent sweet and sour dipping sauce was placed on the table. I relaxed.

Excellent chicken satay, with the chicken beautifully grilled and still juicy, accompanied by a very mild peanut satay sauce, but an accompanying chili sauce that actually packed a wallop. Nice presentation, and a generous quantity for 380 pesos (just over $6).

And likewise, both presentation and quantity of the prawn kung pad met mamuang, a mild stir fry of prawns, cashews, and vegetables, that was big enough that I only made it through about half, and then asked for the rest to go (680 pesos, or just over $11). Certainly tops the list of the dedicated Thai spots in town, and comes in a not too distant second to Cantina Sunae which covers a wider swath of the region. I will definitely be back.

 

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Dedicated readers know that I love pizza, and that my favorites tend towards the two extremes – either the cracker thin crusts of Romana style or local a la parrilla (grilled) pizzas, or the depths of a real Chicago style. Not that I would turn down anything in between. For the former style, for several years we’ve only had Cosi Mi Piace, which has been pretty much my go-to spot. I’ve even tried the delivery route with them, but the distance makes for a pizza crust that just doesn’t hold up by the time it arrives here in Recoleta.

So when I saw (how did it take three months for me to see this?) a new Romana style spot had opened up, Soler Vino Pizza, Soler 4201, Palermo, with two of my favorite things in its name, I suggested it to my Sunday cadre for a lunch outing.

The menu is just plain mouthwatering, with combinations that had us sucked in from moment one. If the pizzas were as good as they sounded, we were in for a treat.

And, they were. We started with this gem topped with spicy Calabrian style nduja sausage, cherry tomatoes, and straciatella cheese. I think we inhaled this in about 40 seconds; looked at each other; and let out a collective gasp of “wow”.

We had been talking about this one, with morcilla sausage, poached egg, apple, and buffalo mozzarella, and the owner who attended to us brought us one on the house to try. Big yums all around!

It also meant that as we’d ordered two pizzas, reserving a third to decide on later, we didn’t need to order a third, and our second order, which came next, was this amazing portobello and finocchiona (a Tuscan fennel salami) pie that wowed us as much as the first one. We ended up declaring them a tie, with the morcilla one not all that far behind.

Al the pizzas run around 500-600 pesos, or roughly $9-10. They’re “individual” size, though a generous individual size – the cracker thin crust makes it possible, if these were a typical local masa a la piedra thickness, or more like a neapolitana, it’d be a tough slog to make it through a full one of this dimension.

While I’d have to sit down and try them side by side, my gut sense is that these are actually a shade better than the romanas of Cosi Mi Piace. I think I have a new favorite pizza place in town. I also really like that they have a wide selection of wine and beer – though a little craft beer wouldn’t be an out of place addition….

[Edit: apparently, the owner of this place is one of the former owners of Cosi Mi Piace, who split with the others, I don’t know if it was amicable or inimical, but I’d still like to try their pies side by side!]