What’s up for this round of the infamous Bite Marks? Another stab at Detroit style pizza? A burger? Shawarma? Spanish tapas? Italian food? Why yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes!
A local friend sent me a message, asking if I’d heard about this place offering Detroit style pizzas. At first, I thought he was talking about Fuego, which we tried a couple of months ago, to semi-disappointment. It was a decent pizza, it just wasn’t really Detroit style other than being rectangular. And I said the same about their New York style pizza. But no, this was another spot, Sunny, Nueva York 4120, in Villa DeVoto. I enjoy trekking out there, somehow it seems like every time we go, we find something new and interesting, and usually quite good.
Vibrant, bustling spot. This was a Saturday lunch and the place was packed and I think I snagged one of the last tables available. Within fifteen minutes of my arrival, there was a line of people waiting for tables. Glad I went early! They offer a good selection of seven different Detroit pies (really only six, because the seventh is vegan, which may be perfectly tasty, but can’t possibly be Detroit style given the whole cheese thing, sorry), and three Neapolitan style. I went straight for the spicy pepperoni (2050 pesos, $16 official, $7 blue). They make a point that not only do they use a starter style dough rather than a yeasted dough, but that they cold ferment it in the pan for 48 hours, which is exactly what you need to do to get that light and airy crust. Also they use a mix of wheat and rye flour, which is an interesting touch.
The pizza? Damned good. Worth the trip. They nailed the dough, the sauce, and the toppings, though they put the toppings above the cheese rather than below, and the sauce below the cheese instead of above. They even got it right on having the cheese browned not only all the way around the edges of the pie, but even some underneath. They did use a mix of mozzarella and parmigiano, which is just the wrong cheese, again. I understand how expensive white cheddar as a substitute for Brick cheese would be here – but parmigiano is pricey too – just use mozzarella and grate the cheddar over it rather than parmigiano, and you’d at least get that tangy, cheddared flavor. Still, I’d happily go back for this pizza, anytime. And, since I was solo, I ate half and took the other half home for dinner later.
About four years ago, in some sort of blurry, not thinking moment, I ordered a burger for delivery from a place I’d been hearing about, El Desembarco, which was located on the other side of town. Not surprisingly, by the time it was delivered, it was cold and the bun mushy. I also just didn’t like the toppings on it, I’d ordered a strange combo. That original location has now expanded into more than a dozen, in and around the city. That includes a new spot opened up near to home, at M.T. de Alvear 2321, here in Recoleta. I popped in one day just to give it a try.
All of their combinations are a little bit strange. Not totally – but, for example, the Hercules, which is the one I picked, comes with bacon, cheddar, and pickles, but also a shower of papas pays, or shoestring potatoes. It still comes with fries on the side, and like so many places here, no option for without, nor to substitute the onion rings on offer. This burger fared far better than the one that took a five kilometer trek across the city. The bun, brioche, is good and held up nicely, the two patties are well seasoned and cooked to about medium. The bacon is generous, though they’d left the rind on the strips of bacon, so there was this rubbery, chewy string that ran alongside each piece (I ended up just pulling the rind string off of each rasher and then went back to eating the burger), and even the fries were quite good. I’d put this on the I’d go back list. 1860 pesos, $14 official, $6.50 blue.
It’s Israeli Food Week here in Buenos Aires, starting late last week. So I headed out to check out one of the spots on their participating restaurants list that I hadn’t been to (I’ve been to most). I was intrigued by the name, Midbar Cocina Judía Profesional, Aguirre 971, in the heart of the Villa Crespo clothing outlet strip. I mean, “professional Jewish kitchen”? Professional as opposed to…? Aren’t, by definition, all restaurant kitchens professional? One could question professionalism, but that’s a different story.
And that, perhaps, speaks to the my initial reaction to the place. The first thing I was informed by the waiter when I sat down was that “the owner is upstairs on the phone, so nothing is being cooked until he’s done, it could be 15-20 minutes”. Umm, hmm, okay. Tempted to just leave, but decided to stay, and in the end, the owner was only about 5 minutes on the phone, until the waiter returned to let me know I could order now. And then, in a scene repeated so many times here in Buenos Aires, I asked what the best dish or two on the menu were, and got the oh so expected response, as the waiter proceeded to start to point to each and every item on the menu and say, “that one’s very good”. I stopped him after half a dozen and just ordered a shawarma, which is available (not noted on the menu, but he informed me) as a “plate” or a “sandwich”. As best I can tell, there’s no difference between those, other than perhaps the plated version comes open faced. They both come with fries on the side, and they both cost the same, 1400 pesos, just shy of $11 official, and $5 blue.
And, just an okay shawarma. The wrap is fine, the meat is okay – if I were to venture a guess, it’s not off of a rotisserie style shawarma, but just sauteed in a pan, it didn’t have that lightly charred texture or flavor. Generous with the salad of lettuce, tomato, onion, and cucumber. The sauce on it was just sort of weird tasting, mostly bitter. As I said, just an okay shawarma. Given the experience and the one thing tried, I wouldn’t venture back. Several good spots for middle eastern food right there in the neighborhood.
Met up with a friend over at the Mercado San Telmo, at a newly opened Spanish tapas spot, De Lucia. They have a small bar on one side of the passageway, where you can get something to go, and then across, an enclosed dining room… very fancy for tapas. Service was friendly and quick.
I ordered up a portion of the tortilla de papas, which they offer topped with a variety of things. I asked if I could combine two of them – roasted peppers and boquerones (vinegar cured anchovies), and they were happy to, with a slight upcharge (750 pesos plain, 150 pesos for each topping). My lunch companion ordered the mussels provençal, which seems an unusual preparation for a Spanish place, being more of French dish, 1300 pesos. Both were really good. For me, one of the better tortilla de papas I’ve had here.
In fact, good enough that we made a return visit on our next get together…
We picked three plates to share. The first is a foursome of housemade sausages – a salami, a cured chorizo, a sopressata, and bondiola (pork shoulder), 900 pesos. All really good. The second, sautéed sweetbreads, lightly charred, with a salsa criolla on top. The bread underneath was just plain white bread and not toasted, we ended up leaving that and just eating the quite good sweetbreads, 750 pesos. And the last, rabas, or, fried calamari rings with lemon and aïoli. Nicely cooked, striking a balance between being golden and not being chewy and overcooked, 1500 pesos. Overall, my favorites were the tortilla on the first visit, and the selection of sausages. I’d go back for those two, a glass of wine, and being happy. Very reasonable prices.
And, for the final review, a high end Italian spot in Puerto Madero, for our biweekly or so Horde outing. Because of traffic issues, two of our planned four didn’t make it, and it ended up just being two of us. Not very horde-like, but we try. We were at Cucina D’Onore, Alicia Moreau de Justo 1768. Now, I’d warned the group in the invite that the place was really pricey, but that they offered a three-course prix fixe menu that was quite reasonable sounding, with numerous options. I went with that, my companion decided to order three courses a la carte. The difference was 2900 pesos… no, really 3200 pesos because they have a 300 peso/person cubierto charge, including on the prix fixe menu (that’s a rarity, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place charge the cubierto on a set lunch menu before), so $24.50 official, $11 blue; versus 8900 pesos, $68.50 official, $30.50 blue. And, it turned out, pretty much for the same sized portions. Service was good, just a bit slow (and I don’t mean the kitchen, but just getting things to the table, like our wine not arriving until after the appetizers, despite that the place was near empty the whole time we were there).
I started with fried calamari – nice and crisp, not rubbery, I like the charred lemon, and even the tomato sauce was decent. My lunch companion asked for a burrata, which was listed on the menu as prosciutto and burrata, but arrived as a caprese salad of slices of mozzarella, tomato, and some julienned basil. He chose not to correct it, interestingly, there is no caprese salad listed on the regular menu, though it is an option for the prix fixe.
I went for the ribeye steak in a creamy mushroom sauce, cooked nicely, well flavored, I was happy. The baked french fries were soft, no crunch at all, kind of like baked potato in a strip. The other dish was listed on the menu as abadejo, pollack, in a prawn sauce, accompanied by a baked potato gratinéed with mozzarella. Again, not what was received – instead the fish was smothered in tomato sauce and it was what was gratinéed, while a timbale of mashed potato sat alongside. The fish was a bit mushy and overcooked, and smaller than my prix fixe steak.
We both ordered tiramisu for dessert. The a la carte version is simply two pieces of the exact same prix fixe one. It was an okay tiramisu, nothing to write home about, but not bad.
So, overall. The place is a little stuffy, and formal. It feels like, as many places in Puerto Madero do, a tourist spot, but my sense was that with the exception of a couple to our side, who we ended up chatting with, everyone else in the place was local. Still, I’d imagine it leans heavier on the tourist side, just in general. I think the prix fixe is a great deal, even with the add on cover charge. For appetizers you get six different choices, and for main courses, thirteen, followed by any of four desserts. That’s a lot more choice than most places give you on a set lunch. And obviously, there’s a huge price differential between 3200 and 8900 pesos, nearly three times the cost. I’d put it as recommended for the prix fixe, but probably not worth the freight at full price. And I’d also watch to see that you get what you ordered, given that my companion received two things different from what was described on the menu and what he ordered. The menu overall is very “Argentine Italian”, as opposed to traditional Italian.
