“Back in the day”, i.e., early on in this blog, which has now gone on for nearly two decades, I used to do a daily, or at least every couple of day, writeup of what I’d been up to. Mostly food and wine, but a lot of other stuff – after all Buenos Aires was new to me and I was out exploring. The thing is, I’m still out there exploring pretty regularly, and some of that’s been lost over time as I’ve settled in to a more set range of what I write about. But I thought I might bring back the general idea of a repass, though not daily – how about weekly? Besides, I can bring back an archaic word like sennight.

Sennight: Week. First recorded before 1000; Middle English sevenyht, seoveniht(e), sennyght, etc., Old English seofon nihta; seven, night

Let’s start with a little Italian outing at Arte de Mafia, El Salvador 4975, Palermo for my regular Sunday lunch out with a local friend. The red and white check table toppers give that Little Italy vibe, which is not necessarily a good thing. But it’s quickly apparent that there’s a theme here, that fits with the name. The entire restaurant is dedicated to classic mafia movies, with posters, artwork, and memorabilia that fit the theme. As does the look of the tables.

I almost wish that the waiters fit the theme too – some sort of Marlon Brando-ish voice approach, or a little tough guy act, but they’re charming and friendly, and happy to make recommendations. We decided on their Lasagna con cordero della famiglia Corleone, a lamb lasagna “Corleone family” style. We were both trying to think whether either of us had ever had a lamb lasagna before. It’s got great flavor – it’s basically just a lamb bolognesa instead of beef. It’s a little borderline on the concept of lasagna though with only a bottom and top sheet of pasta and the filling in between – almost more of just a big open raviolo.

For our other plate, the Conejo Don Tony Pagliotto, a braised rabbit and “ratatouille” timbale in the style of, apparently, a mafia don of that name. Interestingly, of all the plates – each of which references a pop culture movie mafia family or person, most of whom I recognized, I can’t find anything about a Tony or Antonio Pagliotto in the genre. Did they just pick a random Italian name? When reading the menu description, this was not what we pictured – particularly that the rabbit was “pulled”, but we’d both happily eat this dish again. Neither dish was a wow, but they were both good, basic Italian cooking – though you can see on both plates that the tomato sauce is a little watery, it still had good flavor.

And finished off with a couple of decent cannoli. The shells are darker than usual because they’re tinged with cocoa powder, as is the ricotta filling. Again, solid, but no wows here. A little sweeter than I prefer, especially being drizzled all over with honey.

I am going to go a bit random through the week, as it happened. Our next door neighbor knocked on the door and handed me a tira de asado, a strip of a dozen beef shortribs. I was in a stew kind of mood, and slow cooked these in beef stock after browning them with onions, garlic, carrots, celery, dried apple, chilies, cannelini and canary beans. Pretty straightforward, and delicious on a chilly “winter” night.

I’m a big sake fan, and when I was having lunch with my friend Michael at Nippon in New York two weeks ago, he gave me a trio of small bottles from a producer that he represents. Uka is an interesting bi-national venture, using organic rice grown in the San Joaquin Valley in California from Koda Farms, and mountain spring water from Mt. Adatara in Fukushima, Japan. This is the first of the three bottles I tasted, their sparkling junmai daiginjo sake, which is off-dry and very… apple-y, and paired beautifully with the stew!

Continuing my exploration of cafés in my neighborhood – a venture that I started about ten weeks ago, I dropped in to one of our more commercial local chains. In my immediate neighborhood we have two branches of Havanna, this one at Av. Pueyrredón 1801, corner of French. I know every tourist goes and buys boxes of their alfajores to take back home, but really, they’re pretty mediocre. I do like that it’s one of the few places I can get an almost Vietnamese style coffee, with an extra strong espresso and sweetened condensed milk.

And, another café, newly opened (I think this month, or maybe last), Crecia Bolleria, Juncal 2179. A bolleria is a place that specializes in breads and rolls – the Spanish equivalent of a French boulangerie. As such, I probably should have sampled the savory wares – their medialunas look pretty amazing. But strangely, I was in the mood for something sweet, and they had just put out this ricotta tart (I guess the ricotta is mixed in to the filling, rather than being more cheesecake like). Good, but nothing exciting. Really good espresso. For those interested in keeping up with this project, the map continues to fill in!

Staying in sweet mode (very unusual for me), one of my favorite local desserts, a milhojas de manzana – a multilayered baked apple dessert with a decent hit of… nutmeg? At the classic bodegón Los Galgos, Av. Callao 501, corner of Lavalle, in San Nicolás. Their version is probably the best I’ve had in town.

And, a look at two of the plates I was particularly happy with at this week’s Casa SaltShaker dinner. It started off with the base of the Mexican street food esquites, the off the cob version of the elotes, roasted corn with cheese, chilies, lime, and mayo that is one of my faves. Here, I roasted corn, pineapple, rocoto chili, and hearts of palm, then added briefly poached shrimp, calamari, and cockles, all in a homemade mayo of egg yolk, walnut and corn oils, lime juice, habanero and ancho chili flakes, garlic, salt and pepper. Cilantro added in and scattered about.

And, hand-rolled semolina rigatoni.

The rigatoni are tossed with a lemongrass and turmeric infused brown butter, and then topped with anticuchos of chicken hearts (marinated in aji panka, black vinegar, mirin, and soy sauce), and slivered green onions.

And, how was your week?