La comida de Buenos Aires

Last night I ate the best steak I have ever had and this blog post was inspired solely by that dinner.

I went to a restaurant called Parilla Pena. Parilla is the word used here for a grill and parilla restaurants can be found on just about every block in Buenos Aires but this restaurant was definitely the best I have found so far. A close second is a much more touristy retaurant called La Cabrera. The steak at both places was delicious but Parilla Pena was definitely better and it gets extra points for not being as expensive and as much of a draw for tourists.

Meat is at the heart of the Argentine diet which is why parillas are so popular. A typical menu at a parilla consists of different kinds of bife, pollo, and chorizo or steak, chicken and sausage.

Parilla Pena is tucked away on a side street in a neighborhood of Buenos Aires called Recoleta. (As a side note, this is also the neighborhood that is home to the famous Recoleta cemetery.) Like other authentic parilla restaurants, the first thing I saw when I walked in the door was the huge grill with all the different types of meat on it being prepared to perfection.

When we sat down at the table the meal began with more bread than the four of us could eat in a week and we were also given free empanadas. Empanadas are a very traditional food in Argentina but they are not the sweet empanadas they serve at Taco Bell. Here empanadas are commonly stuffed with meat, cheese or vegetables. These very also certainly some of the best empanadas I have had while here.

Finally, we got to the steak. We ordered a cut called Bife de Lomo which basically translates to filet mignon. It was cooked about medium-rare and tasted like heaven on earth. Meat here is also usually served with a delicious sauce called chimichurri and its probably getting redundant but this restaurant also had amazing chimichurri.

So there was just a quick background of Argentine food based on the best dinner I have eaten here. My goal is to learn how to make traditional empanadas and chimichurri so that I can share their wonderful taste back in the states.