I was all prepared for a weeklong gastronomic extravaganza as Henry and I winged our way off to Mendoza, a short 600 and change mile flight to the west. I’d worked on lining up reservations at some of the top restaurants in the city, visits to some more offbeat wineries, and just generally having a good time. Unfortunately, somewhere during our first afternoon or evening there, I picked up either a stomach bug or food poisoning, and instead of a gastronomic week it was a gastrointestinal week. For three of the four and a half days there I barely left the hotel, and when I did, it was for very short periods of time.

We’d booked a room at a midrange place, Hotel Argentino, right on the city’s central Plaza Independencia. Clean, well kept, and with attentive staff – particular kudos to the lobby restaurant staff who kept me supplied with simple things like tea and toast, and even went out of their way and made me a pot of chicken noodle soup. If you stay there, ask for room 326 – it’s the only one with a balcony, and believe me, being stuck in the hotel room, having a balcony to sit outside, enjoy the fresh air and sunshine, was a delight.

Henry, luckily, was able to entertain himself a good portion of the time as he has friends from the dance world there and spent a good amount of time with them. Once I was feeling a bit better, we all met up, and they even accompanied (and drove) us out to the one winery we were were able to visit. So, what did we, together, manage? A quick tour of the historic center – basically the main plaza and the four neighboring plazas – España, Italia, Chile, and San Martín, with Florencia, a delightful guide we found through the WithLocals app (I tend to use that and GetYourGuide for more personally curated experiences). We ended the couple of hour tour with glasses of wine at La Sala de Maridajes, Perú 1136, a very cool wine bar with private wine-themed rooms, and a large patio out back.

A nice visit that evening to the lit-up fountains in the middle of Plaza Independencia. Followed by a visit to a somewhat dicey nearby Peruvian restaurant, where I’m guessing I picked up whatever bug hit me the following day.

On Florencia’s recommendation we grabbed lunch on our first full day at Fuente y Fonda, Montevideo 675, where she asserted we’d find great local, regional fare, in huge portions. Somewhere here, in the midst of lunch, I started to feel the rumbles of whatever ended up hitting later in the day.

It’s a really cozy spot, most of the dining is in a covered patio area.

We shared an excellent provoleta liquida with cherry tomatoes and black olives. Well seasoned, one of the better ones I’ve had in a long time, and more than enough for two to share.

And we managed our way through maybe 2/3 of this churrasco de ternera, basically a huge cast iron skillet of well seasoned, grilled veal (four steaks piled atop each other in the center!), wedges of roasted pumpkin, potatoes, red onions, and a fried egg. Side salad, and a vinegary chimichurri. We took the third that was left and passed it on to an elderly homeless woman in the central plaza.

We headed back to the hotel where I thought I’d rest up, and hopefully whatever was happening might pass.

By evening, it was clear that it wasn’t going to. At the same time, it wasn’t all that bad – still just feeling a bit off, and we headed for our first fancier experience, dinner at Soberana, Av. Sarmiento 705.

Beautiful inside and out. Pretty much impeccable service (other than the sommelier, who never came to the table except to open the bottle of wine we’d ordered, didn’t speak to us, and never returned – he seemed a bit of a dour character – everyone else was delightful and attentive).

We’d been warned that portions were large, so we decided, and our waiter approved, on sharing an appetizer, main course, and dessert. The starter was two lightly seasoned prawns and a near perfect potato rosti. Oddly, in between them, a sopping wet coleslaw of sorts that had no seasoning whatsoever – no salt, no pepper, nothing, just a sort of tasteless salad cream. We kind of ate the prawns and potato and left the salad. Our fingers were now crossed hoping our main course was better….

And, it was. A simply spectacular nearly 1-1/2 pound ribeye steak, perfectly cooked, lovely char, an interesting, in a good way, potato puree flavored with black garlic, and a little salsa of confited garlic and almonds to put on the steak that’s an idea I just may steal.

Unfortunately, maybe midway into the steak, the gods of biology decided it was time for the whammy. I will tell you that Soberana has very nice bathrooms, and thankfully, individual ones.

Henry ate the creamy, rich vanilla flan – I barely managed a spoonful. We paid, got out of there, and that was pretty much the end of my vacation until the last day, and even on the last day, mine didn’t involve much in the way of food. Visits to Centauro and Azafrán, as well as further afield spots, will have to wait for a future trip.

Once it was decided on the last day that I was up for a bit of a trip, we headed to Valle de Uco with Henry’s friends. It was too late to garner turnos at several of the wineries I’d wanted to visit, but I was able to reach a lovely young woman, Melissa, at one of my favorite wineries, Masi Tupungato, the Argentine “branch” of Masi Agricola, one of my longtime favorite spots in Valpolicella, Italy.

She fit us in to what was already a pretty busy schedule it looked like, and gave us a tour of their native plants garden, the winery, the edges of the vineyards, and a tasting of their three primary wines.

We had a great time!

We finished off the day at the Manzano Histórico, a complex of small museums and monuments in the foothills. I maintained not eating much, the others enjoyed a lunch at a local café, none of us looking to splurge on a winery lunch that I was likely the only one who would appreciate. And, we said our goodbyes, and the next morning headed home.

And that’s where I’ll leave you this time around. We’ll put Mendoza on our cycle of spots to visit, and get back to check out some of the other wineries and restaurants, somewhere down the line….