Favorite Places to Frequent in Buenos Aires:

The month we stayed in Buenos Aires, we found places that my co-worker/friend Sidney and I would frequent multiple times. Whether it was good food, good help, a fun atmosphere or a little of those things combined, we tended to frequent a few places quite often when we had the chance. These places helped bring a little familiarity and routine to a otherwise topsy-turvy work schedule and stresses. Here are a few that will stick out in my memory for quite awhile....

1. La Chacra (aka "The Mafia Place"): Av. Córdoba 941, Buenos Aires.


Our first Friday night in Buenos Aires, we were wanting a restaurant that was of the Argentine steakhouse variety. I had already had beef at our hotel for lunch a couple times during the week, and while it was really good, I didn't really see it being better than a good steak in the U.S.. I was in search of something that would live up to my expectations of Argentina beef. One of the guys working for the company that was helping us suggested La Chacra. It ended up being only a couple blocks from our hotel. It quickly became our favorite restaurant by far during our stay in Buenos Aires and easily the best steak I have tasted...ever.....

On the outside, there is a large stuffed cow at the entrance. The window features critters of various types (lamb, goat, ribs) over an open spit and being cooked right there for the world to see. That alone is enough to get your mouth watering. Inside, it's like a large hall, narrow but fairly deep. Tables are scattered around in an organized clutter. The walls are filled with the heads of different variety of stuffed animals. It was almost German in style, definitely nothing fancy, but still kind of neat. Who are we kidding though, we didn't go there for the interior decorating, we were there for the food.


The place got the nick name of "The Mafia Place," from the wait staff. I didn't know the name of the place until about the fifth time we weren't there. I'd say to Sidney, "Where do you want to eat tonight?", and he'd reply, "Mafia Place?", and I'd know exactly what he was talking about. The wait staff are all older, professional looking guys. And when I say "professional", I mean professional "good fellas", "made men", or "hitmen". I'm sure they were of Latin descent, but the slicked back hair and older looks made them look similar to Italian guys you might find on the Sopranos. The maitre 'd is this little old man, again with slicked back hair, a nice suit, grey hair that was once black and half opened eyes behind some old glasses. We simply called him the "godfather". We were sure if you had a problem with a meal, he'd "take care of it", meaning he'd take you in the back and watch his boys beat you silly, then tell you kindly to get out of his establishment. There was Frankie Knuckles and Tony Bones as well. By our third time in the place, Tony would come over and give us a hardy hand shake when he would see us. The wait staff was great.


The food was even better though and if you left not full, it was your own damn fault. Before you even got situated, there was a big basket of assorted rolls an bread. After ordering, you got an emapnada simply for being there. The mixed salads were basic, lettuce, tomato and onion in a vinegar/oil dressing, but it was excellent and there was a big ass bowl of it. The beer was of the drought variety, one of the few places we found that had it on tap, and served in ice cold mugs.

I only tried two different things on the menu, the ribeye (or as it was labeled on the English menu, "ribs eye") and the salmon. It was thick and juicy and so easy to cut. It was also so good you didn't need any steak sauce or bbq sauce, and I'm usually the type of guy that puts BBQ sauce on anything, but that would have just ruined it. Depending on the server, they would sometimes bring some hot peppers to put on the steak as well. Those would just bring out the flavor even more with an added burn. As for the fish, I'm the type person that doesn't believe in ordering salmon in a restaurant. Don't get me wrong, I love salmon, but I have yet to have salmon that is any better than the way my Dad fixes it...until now (sorry Pops). I would have kept right on ordering my steak every time if I hadn't asked to have a taste of Sidney's salmon about the fifth or sixth time we were there. I was blown away by how good it was. A big, thick slab of fish is grilled, then thrown on your plate. They also have their own homemade tartar sauce which just added to the fish.

To round things off, the desserts are up to par as well, with the chocolate mousse and some Argentine ice cream (similar to the creamier Italian ice creams) on top would top off any great meal. While a bit spendy by Argentine standards, if you didn't get the two beers and dessert that we usually got, you could easily get a good meal for around $30 USD. I'll miss this place a lot, it was a fun place to go to and great food.

2. Tancat: Paraguay 645, Centro, Buenos Aires, Argentina


The Tancat (no, it's not a strip club as our boss feared on the way there) came from the recommendation from the front desk at our hotel. It was just right down the street, which is probably why we went there so often, more for the convenience than the food. Don't get me wrong, I only had one bad meal there, and that was more because of my newly discovered dislike for Octopus than anything he restaurant made. It could be a tad inconsistent, but it was good food, cheap and easy.

It was a traditional Spanish place, and I'm not talking Mexican neither. The inside decor gave it a great cozy feeling, like some bar you see in 70's movies. It was always packed during the dinner rush (9pm to 11pm) and we even had to wait a few times for a table. They had some great Spanish mainland beers on the menu as well (Estrella Galicia was my favorite). The last meal we had there was by far the best, which I had Bife de Chorizo, commonly known as a sirloin steak tip. I had it once before and it was only okay, mainly because it had been over cooked. This last time, it was cooked right and excellent.

3. The Italian Restaurant in Soho Palermo....

I don't remember the name of this place or what streets it was on exactly. We found it the first Saturday night we had to go out. Soho Palermo is kind of a trendy district in Buenos Aires, lots of bars and clubs and tons of people out. We went to a few places, but neither of us like big crowds so we would have a drink then leave. After walking most of the way down the strip, there was this little Italian restaurant place. There was a few people eating outside and a few more having drinks inside. There was a younger guy standing out front with menus, encouraging people to come in. So we did. We get to the table and tell him we want a beer and he suggest this big tube like thing. Basically it's a tube of beer, probably three feet tall, with a cooling core system in the middle and your own little drought spout that you pour your beer out of. I'm not sure how much beer it holds, I lost count after about the fourth one, but for the $15 USD, it was worth the money. After one and a half of those, on our way out the door, we asked the same dude where a good place was to get good empanadas in the area. He quickly sat us down at a table outside and ordered us empanadas until we told him to stop. They were probably in the top three of all the empanadas I had in Argentina (and I had a lot of them).


We ended up going just there the next night we went to Palermo, two "turbo tubes", more empanadas, and some laughs and flirting with the cute waitress and it was time to find a taxi back to the hotel.

4. The corner store (aka The Homeboy Shopping Network)

Every block has at least two or three little stores with drinks, snacks and whatever else they might sell. We frequented the one on the corner of Paraguay and Suipacha. On our way back from an after dinner walk around the city or a six in the morning return trip from enjoying the Buenos Aires nightlife on Saturday morning, we would often stop by here to grab some water or snacks. Every night without fail, it was this rough looking younger kid manning the cash register. He has his front teeth partly knocked out and talked in a real gruff voice, but after a week or so, he eventually warmed up to us. He even complimented me on how much I had learned Spanish the last week we were in town.

The name "Homeboy Shopping Network", came from one of work conversations about the old "In Living Color" skits they used to have. With the urban back drop the corner store was on and the "ruffness" of the kid, it looked like something that would have been on that skit.

5. The Irish Pub on Reconquista St, Centro (I think)

Our first Friday night in town led us to this forgotten named Irish Pub not too far from our hotel. Nothing overly fancy, dim lighting, wooden decor, and a talkative bartender who spoke decent English. Oh and some great Irish beers on tap. I fell in love with a Stout they had, for the life of me, I can't remember the name of it though.

We went in there twice, once on the aforementioned Friday night before a Saturday that we had to work, so we were fairly calm. Had a good time just shooting the breeze with the bartender and having some beers. The second time, we actually had dinner. I tried the salmon, which wasn't too bad. It would have been better if it was cooked a little more.

7. The Plaza in San Telmo


We ended up going to the artsy, rustic San Telmo four or five times during our stay in Buenos Aires. During a weekend day, it was hustling and bustling with people having lunch, people or a drink with people selling all types of crafts and gizmos around it. At night time, there were many people going in and out of the bars and cafes that surrounded the plaza.


Not a far taxi ride away, we would go to a little store around the corner from the plaza, grab a bottle of wine or a liter of beer and go back to the plaza and just sit and people watch. All kinds of interesting people can be found there. We met an U.S. citizen who lived in Rio De Janerio, a chick from New York City, people from Chile and Colombia, had a bum beg us for wine, and watched Tango dancers. It has a little bit of everything. A great place to sit, people watch and converse with other people. Too bad they don't have anything like this in the states.

8. The African-beat bar in San Telmo


The only bad thing about this place is we found it the final weekend we were in Buenos Aires. The last weekend, we had both Saturday and Sunday off of work, our only "full weekend". We went to it both nights. Just right around the corner from the plaza in San Telmo, we would hang out on the plaza until our wine or beer was gone, then head over to this bar. It was ran by a couple from the Ivory Coast. Not very crowded, they played Afro-beat music, like Fela Kuti and other native African artists (except for the end of Saturday night, when they played some crappy rap music that I didn't care for) and were very cool to us. We ordered beers and empanadas Friday night (great empanadas), but on Saturday night, we had some Caipirinhas, a Brazilian drink that was fabulous.

9. Hispano, Salta 20 Buenos Aires, Argentina

Another restaurant we found toward the end of our stay. Actually, Sidney had already known about it, but we didn't make our way over to the area it was at until later. It's in the working class section close to our hotel. It's been around for awhile, since the 50's and was fairly packed both times we went in. They had the best seafood I had in Buenos Aires.

10. Florida Street


Even though I hated going down this street with all of it's hustle, bustle, tourists traps, hustlers, street vendors, and sidewalk musicians, I couldn't leave it out. No matter how much I tried to avoid it, I still walked down it at least a couple times a week. There was a large (and fairly ritzy) mall that we would go the food court for lunch (not my idea), it was also a way to other near by places.