Aaron M. Renn wrote:Go to La Cabrera. It's a well known steakhouse there. I ate lots of steak in BA, but this place was deservedly #1. Make sure you get the chorizo as an appetizer.
They've got a place there called Kentucky Pizza (it might be a chain). I can't vouch for the food, but the name sounds worth a visit to snap a photo if nothing else.
Half way through the trip and wanted to update the post should anyone else search on Buenos Aires (B A).
Daughter told me that she and friends hit Kentucky Pizza down here frequently after a night of clubbing and that it's serviceable pizza.
Went to La Cabrera. Everything was delicious including the chorizo, a sweetbreads appetizer that had 3 sweetbreads the size of chicken thighs, and a huge ribeye that was outstanding. Appetizers are bigger in a lot of cases than entrees in the US. Order 1/3 of what you think you should order. We're told it's not customary to get a go box in B A, but this happens so frequently at La Cabrera they offered. We took home what felt like 10 pounds or so of food and had 3-4 additional meals for 3 people at our condo out of this one dinner. Delicious, but huge quantities if you don't order correctly.
http://www.barbq.com.ar/ is a barbecue joint we went to last week. Daughter has been in B A for a couple of months and was jonesing for some BBQ. Fun place with great blues soundtrack and pretty good food. Ribs were good as was the liter of Budweiser. Daughter had a pulled pork sandwich that she enjoyed and satisfied her barbecue cravings
Buenos Aires Grill
Av. Santa Fe 1876, Recoleta
http://www.guiaoleo.com.ar/restaurantes/Buenos-Aires-Grill-3329Had a very nice lunch here, skewers of beef, chicken, sweetbreads, and some peppers and onions with some fried potatoes and an order of grilled vegetables. It was a couple of doors down from the famous book store El Ateneo
http://argentinastravel.com/268/el-ateneo-in-buenos-aires-a-bookstore-to-end-all-bookstores/. Attractive outdoor dining that was full so we ate inside.
Tegui Restaurant
Costa Rica 5852
Buenos Aires Argentina
This was a restaurant on a recommendation list from a graffiti tour we took,
http://www.graffitimundo.com. Tour was a lot of fun, but mosquitoes in the grassy areas when we were walking were close to intolerable. {Edit after return} Turns out that it was a partucularly bad week for mosquitoes. Weather was transitioning from Summer to Fall and the native Argentines said ti was as bad as they had ever seen it. Rest of the stay was relatively mosquito free and we did enjoy more outdoor dining.
This high end restaurant was on the list because it was virtually unidentifiable except for the extensive stencil based graffiti that covered the entire front wall of the restaurant
http://loquelasguiasnodicen.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/tegui1.jpg . Open the front door and it's like entering another world
http://www.hoteliernews.com.br/HotelierNews/Hn.Admin/UpLoads1/Imagens/2010/1124/681171b0-0b3c-47ad-ad8f-ae55be0acd85/tegui.......................jpg. Sleek, modern atmosphere with open kitchen. Moderate amounts of English spoken here. Phenomenal food and wine, but it is very pricey. We had a three course meal, (2) two course meals, a shared desert, and a couple of bottles of moderately priced wine and it was comparably priced with top tables in other major cities. The wine list is extensive and the sky is the limit if you want to have a blow out meal here with high end wines. Figs wrapped in Pancetta and brussels sprouts ravioli were both unbelievable.
Modena Design
Figueroa Alcorta 2220 -
Buenos Aires - Argentina
Had lunch here on the patio after touring the art museum. Typical lunch fare, but it was a beautiful day and we had a nice view of the flower sculpture and law school.
Feria de Mataderos
Street fair on the outskirts of B A that has lots of interesting goods and great food. It's a haul from our Belgrano neighborhood and we used a car service, but definitely worth the trip:
http://www.feriademataderos.com.ar/. Probably a couple dozen or so open grills going with chorizo sandwiches, lots of pork including a full pig head on one grill, empandas, and numerous restaurants around the town square. Lots of booths with local cheeses, breads, honey, wine, and the best homemade alfahora with Dulce de leche my daughter has had yet. We ended our trip there watching the gauchos race their horses at breakneck speed down a city street trying to spear a ring the size of a quarter while standing in their stirrups. Lots of native costumes, dancing, and GREAT street food.
And off topic, but if you have a need for a car service we can highly recommend
http://silverstarcar.com. You may not need one because the Radio Taxi service is pretty good and it's reasonable. The subway is adequate, but can be very crowded and hot. Fred picked our daughter up at the airport on arrival and we've used him on our trip too. Fred is a font of knowledge, loaned us a local phone that we charged with prepaid minutes for the duration of our trip, exchanged dollars for pesos at a very competitive rate (almost 1 peso per dollar more than I got in Louisville), and had some good local knowledge on currency counterfeiting and other local currency scams.
Will update again with final dining experiences when we get back in town.