Let us start, this time, with the taco. Well, not the taco, because, well, we didn’t eat tacos.

We were, however, at Mole Tacos, Av. Federico Lacroze 2801, Colegiales, with plans to eat tacos, post-second booster shot, but in the end, we selected the burritos and quesadillas from the three choices of lunch menu special (burritos, quesadillas, or a salad). Each order comes with two of what you’ve picked (choices of beef, pork, chicken, or vegetable filling), along with chips and salsas, and a beverage (82o pesos).

Since we’d said we were sharing, our waitress had the kitchen put one quesadilla and one burrito on each plate, which was a nice service touch. They’re good. They’re not wow, but they’re good, and far better than I remember their tacos being at their original location, a small, mostly takeout spot, on Av. Cabildo. Then again, that was thirteen years ago, and ingredient availability and quality has changed, radically, here in BA. The chips were freshly fried wedges of tortilla, a very nice plus.

We also ordered a couple of roasted jalapeños served over a sort of onion stew – onions, tabasco, worcestershire, salt, and lemon. Also pretty good, and we ended up adding these to our quesadillas and burritos, since the hottest of the three hot sauces (very mild, mild, spicy) wasn’t really spicy after all (225 pesos).

Not bad, not bad at all.

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Just a late “lunch” of sorts one recent afternoon. I’d been out running errands and wandering about doing things and suddenly realized as I was headed towards home that it was nearly four o’clock and I hadn’t eaten lunch. Very unusual for me, no? This little takeout place is a couple of blocks away, Delicias de nuestra tradición, Azcuénaga 1579, Recoleta, basically offers empanadas, slices of savory tarts, and milanesa sandwiches, to go. They had five types of empanadas on offer – beef, spicy beef, chicken, corn, and spinach. All good, there are better here in the ‘hood, but I would happily eat any of these again. And cheap – 120 pesos apiece (currently about 50 cents).

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A few years ago, and a couple of times after, I quite enjoyed the unusual shawarma at Shawarma Babilonia on Talcahuano. It was a version from Kurdistan, and involved a sort of yogurt cheese, grilled onions, and chili oil, plus different spicing from the more typical Lebanese or Syrian versions we tend to see here. They closed up during the pandemic, replaced by a small butcher shop. Purely by chance, I stumbled across Babilonia, Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear 1288, Retiro.

I asked the guy behind the counter if it was the same place and he gave me a sort of non-committal grunt. The place certainly doesn’t have the patriotic Kurdistani decor and vibe of the previous spot. And, the shawarma is completely different – much more in the vein of the more typical sort here. It’s quite good – very generous, with beautifully spiced meat, a garlicky yogurt sauce, a decent amount of onion, lettuce, and tomato, and a fiery fresh chili sauce served on the side. While I miss the different style of the former place, which may or may not be related to this one, put this one in the recommended column.

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Let’s finish off with a couple of burgers. Pickle burgers, to be exact. Because now that pickles have become more of a thing here in BA, I’m much more willing to order burgers that have them. Formerly, almost the only pickles you saw on burgers were very sweet takes on bread and butter pickles. Very sweet.

Truly serendipitous find when walking down a little one block street, De La Carcova, turned the corner and was starting at The Point Burger, Soler 3571, Recoleta. Burgers with a Venezuelan flair, apparently. Now, the place was clearly new. The woman who was running the place, and appeared to own it, was signing paperwork with two city officials, clearly from what I could overhear, stuff that was necessary to be officially open for business. And the Google maps listing showed a mere five reviews, all glowing, five star reviews, all from the day previous to my visit, and all pretty much saying the same exact thing. I asked, and the woman told me they’d been open for almost three months. I’m not sure I buy that.

The pickle burger caught my eye – single patty, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, bacon, and pickles, 850 pesos. Arriving after a bit of a wait – it appeared that the aforementioned woman was going back and forth between helping customers and cooking the burgers and fries. Still, not a bad wait, and I imagine that was pure chance of timing that she was alone in the place (it was around 2:30pm). Delicious burger. Verging on the smashed patty style, with crispy edges. Well seasoned, and the bacon was crispy. Decent, classic sesame seed hamburger bun. The two lengthwise half slices of pickle were actually pretty good – though the burger, if you’re going to assert it as a pickle burger, probably should have had another one or two slices to actually cover the whole burger. The fries are quite good, maybe could have used another minute in the fryer, and are served with a really tasty garlic and cilantro sauce. Overall, very happy and I’d grab a burger from them again.

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And, one I set off to eat at, rather than stumbling across.

Errantes Cerveceria Artesanal, Alberti 1598, San Cristobal. I don’t recall how this one got on my list – I think it was just a local listicle of new burger and beer joints to try. It’s pseudo-rustic combined with chic industrial in style. Meh, no points for design, but the burger list is extensive, and interesting sounding, including not just beef burgers, but pork burgers, chicken burgers, and veggie burgers. There are fourteen beers on tap – I get the sense that they probably don’t change a lot, since not only are they literally painted onto the fake chalkboard behind the bar, but are also printed on the menu. On the other hand, most of them are just listed as a style – IPA, Irish, Stout, etc. – without a brand name – so they could stick with that array, but change which beer companies they get them from.

And, I ordered up the pickle burger, since it was on my mind from the last place. Same description. Different style. A more classic cooked patty, topped with the same ingredients, plus one – the burger comes with a good swath of ketchup on it. The bacon is not quite crispy, and it’s more of a thick cut style. The pickles are more generous – a good four slices covering the whole burger, as hoped for. The bun is a bit massive by comparison to the burger – a thick brioche bun it’s claimed, though that didn’t seem like brioche to me. It’s just a little heavy on the bread ratio to meat and fillings. Perhaps I should have gone for the double pickle burger, with a second patty – it’s 1120 pesos versus 850 for the single. Very good once again and another I’d happily eat again. Plus, despite the odd decor, there was something about the place that I liked. Even though it’s not really close to home, it’s an easy twenty minute shot from home by either subway or bus.

For the beer, I selected an unusual one, an APA from Beer and Weed, a local brewery that infuses their beer with various strains of marijuana (though, it’s all denatured, you’re not getting any THC in the mix). Really quite tasty, with notes of pepper and citrus in it (300 pesos/pint).

And this seems a good place to end this round of Bite Marks. Also was really nice to have five places I liked, and all of them recommendable, versus the previous post of three local fare spots that I didn’t recommend.