Serving up cheap eats with quick and friendly service, La Morada is extremely popular with the lunchtime business crowd. Found near the Plaza de Mayo, the restaurant specializes in classic Argentine fare, such as empanadas, locro and tartas.
It took us awhile, but we finally made it to Kentucky Pizza, one of the most famous pizzerias in the city. People seem to either love or hate this place. One acquaintance told us it was absolutely the worst pizza around. Meh, we don't agree. But the main reason I wanted to go had nothing to do with pizza. My parents live in Kentucky, and I thought it would be funny to get a picture for them.
It was a Sunday afternoon, and we were stomping angrily around Palermo Hollywood looking for a place to eat. The restaurant we had wanted to go to was closed, and we had no backup plan. One of the bad things about eating in Buenos Aires is that restaurants have irregular schedules... Mondays, Sunday afternoons, Tuesday nights, closed. Advance research is always a smart idea. But one of the good things is that there's usually another great option around the corner, regardless of where you are.
Towards the end of our time in Buenos Aires, with too many great restaurants left to visit, we went on a binge. Parrillas, pizzerías, cafés, morning, noon and night. "Jürgen", I said during our last meal, pork grease dripping repulsively off my chin. "This is getting disgusting. Tomorrow, let's heat something healthy." Abuela Pan, your time had come.
Without a doubt, one of the most enjoyable meals we had in Buenos Aires was at El Obrero, a classic bodegón in La Boca.
We were sitting outside at La Fabrica Del Taco, a popular Palermo joint serving up cheap Tex-Mex style fare, when we noticed something strange about the restaurant next door. It had the appearance of a fancy, exclusive club, with red curtains obscuring the interior, but every couple who approached the door looked anxious and slightly furtive, like kids about to put their hands into a cookie jar. I went to investigate and, after reading the menu, understood the nervously excited behavior of the people going inside. Te Mataré Ramirez is an aphrodisiac restaurant. And its menu is among the best things I've ever read.
I'm not sure why a restaurant would want to call itself The Office: a word with horrendous connotations for most of humanity. When we lived in Valencia, Spain, there were two: The Office and La Oficina. And both were great! Almost as though they were trying extra-hard to prove that offices don't have to suck. Buenos Aires' The Office, in Palermo, adheres to that trend.
When I consider the word chalkboard, my head instantly seizes up with all sorts of negative connotations. My brain thinks "school", my nose remembers the stale stench of erasers being pounded together, and my ears... the unbearable screech of a bad piece of chalk scraping uselessly against the slate. Awful.
We've already written about El Cuartito, one of the very first pizza joints we discovered in Buenos Aires. Las Cuartetas is similar in food, name and decor. But it's larger and, especially on a weekend night as the theaters of Calle Corrientes are emptying, much more boisterous.
Buenos Aires is the kind of city with hidden treasures on every street. We were walking down Calle Gaona in Caballito, both of us grumpy with hunger, when we happened to pass by Bellagamba. Stepping inside, we discovered one of the coolest bodegas we've yet seen in the city.
