LEO's Eats with Robin Garr
Think globally, eat locally: I can hardly think of a better place to do both of these things than Palermo Viejo, Louisville's only Argentine restaurant and a perennial favorite among ethnic eateries.
Where is Argentina? If you answered "Down past Mexico somewhere," you've probably come closer than many Americans, sadly, to locating this major nation that runs down the southern part of South America, below Brazil between the Atlantic Ocean and the Andes mountains.
Let's take a bold step toward geographical literacy through a fine dinner at Palermo Viejo. It's likely that your dinner will include beef, since Argentina -- like the United States -- boasts an international reputation as a beef producer. Our cowboys swung lariats on the prairies; their gauchos wielded bolos on the pampas. Unfortunately, both countries nowadays are seeing dramatic change in the beef industry as industrial producers move cattle from grazing lands into mass feedlots, but that's another sad story for another day.
Indeed, Palermo Viejo's bill of fare is heavily focused on beef. Sure, you'll find lamb, pork and veggie options, but much of the menu is devoted to Carnes la Parrilla (meats on the grill), with beefy options ranging in price from $18 (for Tira de Asado, beef short ribs) to $20 (for Lomo, a 6-ounce grilled beef tenderloin).
Grilled meat combos are $20 for the basic model with a flank steak, chorizo sausage and a bite of beef sweetbreads; $25 gets you the all-beef version with rib eye, strip, flank and chorizo served, in South American style, atop a bed of crispy fries and drizzled with garlicky Argentine chimichurri sauce. Super-size it for $28 and get the Completa, a meat lover's special with all the above plus chicken breast and pork tenderloin.
Argentina resembles the United States as a beacon that drew in immigrants from all over Europe. As many Italians came to Argentina as arrived in America during Ellis Island days; roughly one-third of modern Argentines boast Italian heritage, and that's distinctly represented in Argentine food. Palermo Viejo offers such Italian delights as Milanese ($13, Milan-style breaded-and-fried steak, chicken or portobello cutlets); and pasta, pasta, pasta, including canelones, ravioli and fideo pasta (all $16).
Italian immigrants drove Argentina's wine industry, too. One of the world's leading wine regions, it's centered in Mendoza in the high Andes, and these wines are well represented on Palermo Viejo's affordable wine list. (We enjoyed a fine Malbec from Valentin Bianchi, $30, poured brimful in small trattoria-style glasses.)
Our friends Sarah and Kelly joined Mary and me for dinner on a steamy summer evening. ...
Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes, (links corrected)
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/back- ... ermo-viejo
And in LEO Weekly:
http://leoweekly.com/dining/back-home-a ... ermo-viejo
Palermo Viejo
1359 Bardstown Road
456-6461
Facebook: http://bit.ly/PalermoViejo
Rating: 92