A quartet of Italians today, one of which I’ve reviewed before, and was worth a revisit and more sampling! We’ll start with two in Parque Patricios, both close on the park itself. This is actually turning out to be an interesting neighborhood for food, especially Italian, as the two spots today are excellent, and in the same immediate area, El Globito has what for me is the best pizza calabresa in the city. Then again, also on the park, Los Patricios offers up rather mediocre pizza. But there are more spots to check out. Maybe I’ll do a whole post on dining around the park?!
Let’s start with the most casual of the spots, Sangiovese Mercato, 24 de Noviembre 2183. This one got on my list recently when someone recommended their cannoli for that search. Unfortunately, they hadn’t made any cannoli the day I visited, apparently they’re a sometimes thing.
The interior is a cluttered representation of some old time Italian grocery, hence the name. It’s small – there are only sixteen seats. It suffers from one thing that annoys me to no end – weird colored lighting. The entire space is lit by some daylight from the window, and then overhead spotlights with red-orange filters over them. Why? It makes people, the place, and especially the food, look really bad. You’ll see in the food photos, despite best efforts, I wasn’t able to get decent looking colors. I suppose I could have used a flash, but I hate doing that in a restaurant.
Service is friendly and reasonably attentive, though the two folk attending to the dining room have a propensity to wander out to the sidewalk and sort of disappear for bursts of time. But when interacting, they’re a delight.
As I said… <sigh>. Their lasagna comes highly recommended, and I do love a good lasagna. It’s a very Argentine version of lasagna – it has five layers of pasta, the top and bottom spaces filled with a well-seasoned ground beef mixture…
…but the two in the middle with thick slabs of mozzarella rather than, say, ricotta, or bechamel. It’s almost too much cheese (a common refrain from expats encountering Argentine Italian dishes), and there were small sections in the center where the cheese was still cold. Still, it’s delicious, and the vibrant tomato sauce surrounding it is excellent.
With no cannoli in the offing, I went for an affogato, a rather generous serving of espresso with a good scoop of vanilla ice cream and some chocolate sauce. Good, but I’ll hold out for the cannoli. Overall, recommended, and definitely worth another visit. The above, plus a bottle of water, glass of wine, and tip came in at 28,000 pesos, about $30.
I’ve reviewed Il Ombu Trattoria Italiana, Patagones 2976, on the opposite side of Parque Patricios, before. It’s a bit pricey, but absolutely spectacular, Italian food. And, I wanted to share it with my fellow Horders, and so seven of us headed off their one recent afternoon to dig in to the menu.
We started off with a trio of appetizers to share around the table. Veal-stuffed and then fried olives, an eggplant parmigiano, and the delicious prawns and calamaretti that I’d had a half portion of on my solo visit.
This was the pasta dish that I’d had on my first trip, squid ink fettuccine with salmon and prawns in a garlic cream sauce. I meant to order this one again for the table, but…
…ordered the squid ink fettuccine with mixed shellfish in an excellent tomato broth. I’d be hard pressed to decide which was better. Maybe I’ll have to go back and order them side by side.
And, hand-rolled fusilli pasta in a simple, vibrant tomato sauce with basil and lovely little meatballs. Okay, for seven of us to share we could have used at least one meatball per person, but so be it. Quite good, though I’d probably order something else to try.
We were so stuffed after these whopping dishes that we decided to pass on dessert.
Fantastic service, very attentive and helpful. Equally fantastic food. This place well deserves to be considered one of the best Italian in the city.
For seven of us, with three platters of appetizers, two of pastas (of which there was an easy quarter to a third of the seafood pasta leftover to take home), two bottles of wine, bottled water, one soda, and tip – 210,000 pesos, or 30,000 apiece, exactly what I paid solo for a half portion appetizer and pasta, dessert, glass of wine, bottled water, and tip, on my solo visit.
I have no idea why L’Adesso, Fray Justo Sta. María de Oro 2047, in Palermo, has been on my “to get to” list for so long. It’s been open for a decade at its current location, and for four years before that nearby. And it’s been on my list since it opened. Chef Leo Fumarola has great Italian restaurant cred – born in Puglia, grew up in Rome, worked in restaurants in Italy, England, the Canary Islands, and… Russia. Moved to Argentina, married, opened a restaurant offering up both classic and modern takes on Italian food. And most people I know who’ve been rave about it. We’ve not been, until I toddled off one recent Sunday afternoon (the only lunchtime they’re open) for a solo visit.
The meal begins with a simple tomato bruschetta and an array of breads. The standout, just barely seen peeping around the left side, are small, savory, anise crackers called taralli, that are one of my favorite things to snack on. A perfectly made Bellini… it was brunch after all, right?
The tender, juicy, ossobuco fritters with a sweet-spicy sauce and vegetable salad is a beautiful starter. It’s enough for 2-3 people to share, and I ate just half of it and had the rest packed to go.
Fumarola’s “grandmother’s recipe” of handmade cavatelli in a lovely rich tomato sauce accompanied by two whopping bracciole is a triumph. I want to eat at his grandma’s house. I’ll settle for going back for this dish again. Again, I ate about half of it and had the rest packed to go.
It should not be surprising that the cannoli are likewise offered up in a portion that exceeds one person’s normal consumption. Three of them, and normal size, not minis or anything, with light, delicate shells, sweet ricotta (a tad more than my personal preference, but fine), and a generous dipping on all ends of crushed pistachios. I ate one. Two came home with me.
Excellent, attentive service. Comfortable patio area to sit in, there’s also an inside dining area, but it feels a bit staid, if weather permits, sit outside. And, along with all the stuff I had packed to go, without being asked, my waiter included a bag of what had to be close to a quarter kilo of taralli. All of the above came in, along with tip, at a whopping 50,000, but, it was basically food for two people, and gave me an entire second meal the next day.
Highly recommended.
Recent accolades, particularly a mention in the new Michelin Guide for Argentina, have brought Raggio Osteria, Gurruchaga 2121, Palermo, to notice. So I have to admit I was surprised that although I was eating early, I was there from 7:30 until about 8:45, it was only me and two other people. Yes, it was a steamy summer night, but other nearby places were booming with business. Chef Sebastian Reggiante hails from Bologna, and his menu, to some extent, reflects that. He’s also a sweetheart of a guy, coming out to talk to me when I made some off-hand comment to my waiter that he misinterpreted, and which worried the chef. And we’ve kept in touch over the last couple of weeks.
Another great bread selection, and a delightfully refreshing house cocktail with Campari, strawberries, and roses.
A slightly overwhelming platter of chilled porchetta, one of the better ones I’ve had here in Buenos Aires, and served with pickled vegetables. Definitely a two-person or more split, though I gamely finished every bite.
A somewhat different take on a spaghetti carbonara. First, and the off-hand comment that got me in trouble, the menu said “spaghetti alla chittara”, which normally results in a rectangular cross-section spaghetti, these were round. I merely asked if it was a substitution – it’s not like they taste differently, it just surprised me – plus, I like it when you get what a menu says you get. That resulted in the chef coming out to explain to me that these were extruded spaghetti alla chitarra… which sort of makes them… spaghetti… because there’s no chitarra (guitar) involved. It wasn’t important, but it led to a fun conversation. The sauce for me was different in that it wasn’t particularly creamy – it was more like a glaze of the egg yolk and cheese that adhered to the pasta – great flavor, but almost sticky rather than creamy. It was absolutely delicious, it was just different.
And yes, I own a chitarra, and use it.
Service was good. Given the few people in the place, it could have been slightly more attentive. The restaurant is in the lobby of a hotel, and it seemed like the staff were back and forth from the restaurant to the hotel to the patio out back. Again, early hours, they had just opened, and were still setting things up. Food was fantastic. The two dishes, the cocktail, no charge for water, which is simply offered as part of the meal along with the bread, and tip, 28,000 pesos.
Another highly recommended.
Interestingly, all of these, for a full meal for one, come in at 25-30,000 pesos, or hovering right around $30, and that ranges from the little hole in the wall spot to the fancy Michelin recommended one – though with differences in what courses were ordered. Still, it gives a rough range for what eating out at a good Italian spot in town will run you these days.
