Recommendations in So. America

Waiting for a flight in Brasilia airport. Thought I'd see if anyone has raves for restaurants or pubs. Going to be here a month. Cities include Manaus, Rio & Iguassu in Brazil, B.A. & Barlioche in Argentina, Puerto Montt, Santiago & Calama in Chile, and Lima, Cuzco, Puno & the Sacred Valley in Peru.

[Robin Garr]

Lonnie, enjoy your travels! We were in Peru (Lima and Cuzco, also Iquitos in the upper Amazon) in 1995, too far back for specific recommendations. Be sure to get seviche in Peru, though - the corvina is best. They join Chile, Ecuador and Mexico in claiming to be the original source of the stuff, and I expect they are all right.

Lima's "international" district for the well-off, Miraflores, is pretty much like the "nice" shopping district in every major world city, and just about any local resto there will give you a sample of the nation's flavors. Sorry I can't offer any specific little amazing hole-inna-walls, though.

Cuzco seemed to offer either restaurants designed for American tourists or hole-inna-walls. We ate at a little rosticeria there that had awesome chicken, but I made the bad mistake of dipping my fries in a communal mayo pot ("It can't hurt me! They're nice people, and we've been here long enough for my biota to get used to it!") ... and the ensuing Montezuma's revenge wasted a whole day of our trip.

Check Anthony Bourdain's and Zimmerman's websites. I know this sounds touristy but you might see something that looks interesting.

Rio is not as great a food town as one might think, but I liked Marius Crustaceos a lot. It's a seafood rodizio on Copacabana. There's a good spot called Bar do Mineiro in Santa Teresa if you want to try food from Minas Gerais.

We visited our daughter in BA for a couple of weeks almost 3 years ago while she was doing her WKU study abroad semester.

Posted the following in the Travel Dining Questions and Reports:

http://forums.louisvillehotbytes.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=18680&p=143689&hilit=buenos#p143689

Some of the links may not be current, but it's a start. Aaron M. Renn' s recommendation of La Cabrera was a hit. Fills up quickly, but they were serving Champagne\Sparkling Wine while diner's waited to get in the door. Use caution in ordering, portions were huge.

On arrival we had a couple of hours to kill until we could claim our condo and recover from the redeye:

http://prettyincredible.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=4 is a beautiful cafe where we had a relaxing morning.

Best meals in BA:

La Cabrera

Off a grill at the Feria de Mataderos street festival.

Tegui Restaurant
Costa Rica 5852
Buenos Aires Argentina

We discovered Tegui on a graffiti tour: http://www.graffitimundo.com

Enjoy! BA is a fascinating city, but be prepared to dine late if you want to experience the scene. We sat down most nights between 9:00 and 9:30 and we were usually the first table filled in the restaurant.

From my travels abroad (and I believe Anthony Bourdain touches on this as well) when wanting to try street food look for the line or biggest crowd. There is a lot of bad street food but the good stuff is awesome.

Well @$!#
Missed my flight from Manaus to Rio so supper was microwaved hot pocket, Ruffles (sour cream & onion at least) and the execrable Brahma & Skol pilsner style popular in this state. Never thought any beer could make me crave Bud Light. Next flight leaves at 3:35 AM. Nice thing about the airport, though, is it isn't 100% humidity with ants swarming up your pants legs. Hence the advice to tuck pants legs inside socks. Outside the airport here in the Amazon they make an amazing number of dishes from yucca, like pancakes. Lots of good bean, rice, pork dishes. Locals in this city of 2 mil on the river are smitten with fast Chinese like Louisville is with pizza.
But Rio is up and a Brit couple I dined with said there's a fine microbrew sports pub a block off Ipanema Beach. Trouble is I can't remember the name. Will do a Web search but if anybody knows what he was referring to please post. Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Cervejaria Devassa, 416 Prudente de Morais. When I went they had two beers:a red and a dark. They were ok. (Assuming it's the same place.) Might consider trying pork and pineapple sandwich at Cervantes in Copacabana if you get a chance. That was pretty memorable.

Yes, you are right that the name was Devassa. My fellow traveler was there last week and he reported quite a few beers available so maybe it's a new direction. If I make it I'll advise.
Thanks.

One complaint about servers in South America in general, at least in Brazil, Argentina, Chile & Peru, is they don't keep asking you if you want another drink. Same applies with getting more coffee in the morning. For beer I finally got someone to teach me the right thing to say in Spanish, which is “Tráeme una cerveza cada cuarenta y cinco minutos hasta que diga alto”. This is WAY more important than knowing how to ask where the restroom is.