A quartet of spots, with pizza, Korean food, Italian food, and Peruvian-Nikkei food.
On a random roll of the dice, I had headed out to barrio Coghlan to check out one of those “neighbors say it’s the best in the barrio” pizzerias, Primera Parada. Unfortunately, they turned out to be takeout only. Now, that’s not what it says on their online media, nor on Google, nor would it seem to be, given that they have tables and chairs both indoors and out. But when I stepped up to order, the guy told me “to go only”. Thinking I misheard him, I asked again, and he said, “we don’t allow people to sit and eat here”. Now it doesn’t seem to be a covid thing, since neither he nor anyone else on staff had a mask on or was taking any other precautionary measures. I don’t know if it’s lunchtime no seating but at dinnertime yes, all I know is he wasn’t even polite about it. And bizarrely, suggested without prompting, that if I wanted to eat at a pizzeria, I could take myself somewhere else – plenty of pizzerias in the area, he opined. Well, I won’t be going back there.
Instead, I wandered a few blocks away to what Google had listed as one of the top five pizzerias in the ‘hood. Luigi’s Pizza, Av. Dr. Ricardo Balbín 3002, turned out to be a little hole-in-the-wall on the corner of Quesada, and is primarily a takeout place. But, they do have three small tables for two out on the sidewalk on the side of the building, and were happy to serve me out there. A small pizza, half “Veneciana”, which was my usual “Calabresa” fave of spicy longaniza sausage and onions, with the addition of strips of roasted peppers; and the other half I left up to the woman running the counter, and she said her favorite was the three cheese – mozzarella, provolone, and blue cheese. This is a good pizza. It falls down a bit on the crust, which has great flavor, but was the wrong kind of dough for such a thin crust – it was a bit chewy – perhaps needing time to rise, or just a different composition. The toppings were all quite good, especially her choice of the three cheese!
I couldn’t tell you why, but I visited this place with a friend back in April and somehow, never wrote it up. For a Korean spot, that’s not like me. Daonda, Av. Carabobo 1519, in Flores was just a couple of weeks ago the spot that the Horde selected for a lunch outing. As soon as we entered, I said, wait, I’ve been here. So I went back later and looked, and while I had photos, I’d never written it up. So, here we go.
On the first visit the banchan was a bit meager, with just some kimchi, pickled daikon, sprouts, and cucumbers. Although I didn’t grab a photo the second time, we had another couple of dishes of different vegetable preparations as well. Maybe the difference between two people and five people at the table?
First time – we ordered dumplings, sauteed pork belly, and the sweet and spicy fried chicken. All quite good! Service was a little stiff – the older guy who seems to be running the place wasn’t all that friendly, and we felt almost like we were intruding.
But interestingly, four months on, when I walked in, he remembered me and this time, was friendly. So maybe he just was having an off-day. We went for dumplings again. The group left most of the choices in my hands…
So we had the fried chicken again, along with a mildly spicy chicken stir-fry, a pork stir-fry, and beef noodle soup, and, given that I had free rein, I ordered up a plate of something off-beat, the pork belly and chitlins (small intestines) stir-fry, extra spicy. I declined to tell everyone what the last dish was. One person opted not to try it, one person tried it and later after being informed what it was looked like she wanted to head for the restroom, the other three of us completely cleaned this plate. Best thing on the table as far as I’m concerned. All very inexpensive, all very good, and a lovely lunch outing.
Taking over the space vacated by Young 22/70 Bar at the Museo de Bellas Artes, is La Ferneteria, Av. Figueroa Alcorta 2270. They’ve redone it to be more artsy, there’s lots of interesting lighting and digital displays scattered about. Service is a bit scattershot. There were several of us in line at the reception desk, and the hostess escorted one party off to their table, and then, just didn’t come back. She wandered off into the restaurant, went to the bar to chat with the bartenders, and… had a coffee. Meanwhile we’re all just standing there. So I just walked in. There was someone on her phone just inside the door, and she looked at me and asked what I was looking for. I pointed out that the hostess was at the bar having a coffee and there were people waiting. She sort of shrugged and waved me in – just take any table. Luckily, wait-service was a bit more attentive than that.
Really good bread. Soft, pillowy, and laden atop with salty, yummy cheese.
A burrata salad – my waitress had suggested not going with the plate of prosciutto I’d originally selected – saying it was a bit much for one person. This was too. I was basically done with lunch after eating an entire burrata over a bed of rehydrated dried mushrooms (why not use fresh? there are so many good fresh mushrooms out there right now), with cherry tomatoes, hazelnuts, and basil. A few grinds of pepper, some sea salt, and a little olive oil, and this was delightful.
I just kind of looked at this whopping bowl of rigatoni alla bolognesa, ate a few bites, and asked for it to go. Ate it for lunch the next day. The ragú, excellent – a really properly made, slow cooked, shredded meat bolognesa, maybe a little more tomato than I would put, but that’s personal tastes. And it’s topped with a really delicious sort of sour cream and parmesan mixture to blend in. Mild downfall on the pasta, which was undercooked. Not badly, but it hadn’t quite gotten to the al dente state. Another minute in the water would have done it.
All in all, I like the place. It’s a little pricey, but not bad.
And, another Horde outing, this time out to La Pescaderia, Crisólogo Larralde 1716, Nuñez. I read about this place in a recent article on the best spots to have seafood in town in whomever the writer was’ opinion. Just two of us were able to make it this time, and we decided to go for their lunch prix fixe menus.
There are four different options for the starter on the prix fixe we selected. My companion went for the tiradito nikkei, slices of white fish, we think sole, in a quite nice citrus and soy cure. I went for a half roll of the pesca brasa, another white fish, probably cod, with avocado, and topped with chimichurri and crunchy almonds. I thought the sushi rice was just a little bit… off. Not quite the right texture or flavoring, but still good.
For the main courses, he went with the vegetarian sushi – interestingly, although the menu offers several different vegetables sushis, both of the types he got were avocado based. Pretty good too. I went with the grilled cod topped with… umm… crunchy almonds. I guess I was on a theme without thinking about it. Cooked perfectly, marinated in an orange sauce, and then the almonds over that. Plus tasty rice and peas.
And, the prix fixe also includes either ice cream or coffee, we both opted for the former. Good stuff.
For all the above, plus beverage, the prix fixe price of 2300 pesos is eminently reasonable. They also have a less expensive one by a couple of hundred pesos, but it was far less interesting in its options. Overall, the menu looks great, and I’d go back to try things off the a la carte side of things. Service was friendly and efficient. All’s well in the world.
Good stopping place. There’s more to share, but I’ll save them for another post.
