In which we… oh, you know the drill already.

Urbano Cocina Americana, Cabrera 5502, Palermo. There’s an attempt to be a sort of all encompassing “American casual food” spot, akin to a vague knockoff on something like Hard Rock or TGIF at this relatively new spot (last year during the pandemic). From an extensive menu of burgers and lots of barbecued and fried things, I’ve only been party to trying their “taco fest” (six tacos, chips, and fries, 1400 pesos) and a side of onion rings. My lunch companion had also tried an order of the barbecued ribs via delivery. Let’s say that these are the sort of tacos you might want after a night of heavy drinking and just kind of leave it at that. The fries and onion rings struck us as the “out of the freezer and into the fryer” commercial sort, as were the out of the bag cornchips, and we can leave them at that as well. The “hot” sauce was… not. The cheez-whiz dip was what it was. Actually, that kind of sums the place up. It is what it is.

Fabric Sushi, Cabello 3990, Palermo. A little over four years ago I wrote up the flagship spot of a new chain of sushi spots. Over that time, they’ve expanded and now have 20+ spots in the city. I found it expensive, and the rice too sweet, but I’d forgotten those details when ordering from this locale. These days it’s still expensive but with the opening of a spate of new, fancier sushi spots, like those I wrote up recently, it barely falls in the high-end category. A recent delivery order from one of their newer outposts, not far from us, garnered a nice array of half-rolls, something I wish more places would offer, so that I could try more things, as well as a mix of nigiris, which likewise, they offer in “twos” rather than “fives” or “sixes”, allowing for a more mixed selection. They also have a decent number of rolls that don’t feature cream cheese, another plus. All really good, really fresh, the rice was spot-on. Added into my rotation of go-to spots nearby. The array above of 20 pieces came in at 2100 pesos, delivered with tip.

Voglio di Pizza, Azcuénaga 1542, Recoleta. New spot, just opened up, a little over a block from home. No fanfare, I just happened to notice it on a recent day walking down the street. It’s little more than a counter behind a window, with just a small sign out front – pizza to go only. I like the name, “I want pizza”, because, I often do. Interesting, and not usual suspects array of pizzas on offer, and a big plus, even on the small pizza they’ll let you order half and half, without an upcharge. The “pepperoni” isn’t pepperoni, it’s longaniza sausage, but they tell you that on the menu. The fungi is topped with rehydrated dried porcini (since we don’t have fresh here), a nice touch of flavor and texture, though maybe a little heavy on the accompanying sweet caramelized onions. Good crust, good sauce, definitely a spot I’ll order from again here in the ‘hood. Small, six portion pizzas run 620-950 pesos, large, eight portion ones, 830-1190.

Mil y Pico, Dorrego 1194, Chacarita (and a second location in Parque Chas). A new offering from the chef behind Pico, Hell’s Pizza and Morelia (which closed during the pandemic), with backing from the restaurateurs behind the SushiClub chain. I tend to like either really thin or really thick crust pizza more than in the middle… oh, who am I trying to kid, I just like pizza, as long as it’s well made and tasty. Here, the offerings are empanadas “representing” various cuisines of the world (apparently the same as at Pico, which I haven’t tried yet), and an array of pizza a la parrilla, i.e., grilled pizza, toppings that albeit not the same, is reminiscent of the menu at Morelia.

Running the “dining room”, at least on the day I was there, a sommelier/wine distributor friend of mine (checkout the under the glass floor wine cellar). Upfront, service was, while friendly, really harried, as, apparently, both a second waiter and the busboy for the day had simply not shown up to work, leaving one waiter backed up by the manager to handle the restaurant, in and out, about 20 tables. At the same time, the have a really small grill in the open kitchen, not a lot bigger than many people have at home, which seems a bit shortsighted for a place that that’s basically in use for almost everything people order. What I’m saying is things were really, really slow getting to the table (15 minutes to get the empanadas, then 30 minutes for the first round of pizza, then almost an hour for the second).

Empanadas – we started with a Milano, with a delicious filling of ossobuco. Less successful, the Estocolmo, a fish empanada apparently using salt cod that had clearly not soaked and refreshed enough times, as the fish was both chewy and extremely salty. The odd bright blue coloring comes from “kale powder”. I’ve never seen kale quite that bright blue, but okay. (140-170 pesos each)

The eight piece pizzas are available in whole, half, or quarter pies, though given that the pies are made whole and then reheated and served in sections, the upcharging (the half and quarter are respectively 15% and 30% more) seems a bit of a cheat. Two people can easily handle a whole pie (maybe without the empanadas, we were definitely really full), and being able to order quarters made it fun to try four different types, and get one slice of each apiece. (Whole pies 650-1290 each, quite the range, depending on toppings.)

They were, unfortunately, out of the mixed mushroom pizza, but we tried the fugazzeta confitada, a delicious blend of caramelized onions, goat cheese, mozzarella, and fiery cachi chilies; the sorba el tano, with tomatoes, peppers, onions, basil, spicy ‘nduja sausage, and buffalo mozzarella, another excellent choice. For our second round, the espinaca, spinach, bacon, egg, and onion, which was good, but missing the promised hit of garlic and chili; and the canapé with tomato sauce, arugula, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella, and brie which was very sweet, strangely. All in all, enjoyable, and my lunch companion ordered a whole fugazzeta confitada to take home for later.

Overall, enjoyed the pizza, and would happily go back on a day when they’re better staffed!