At lunchtime, an endless lineup of food carts grill sandwiches for the hungry workers from nearby offices. They all offer the same things, and it's hard to see much difference between the carts, but some enjoy long lines while others are disquietingly empty.
On a Twitter recommendation, we stopped by a parrilla called Las Cholas on a sunny afternoon we were spending in Palermo. During our time in Buenos Aires, we've eaten at a lot of restaurants, and can safely say that Las Cholas is among the very best of them.
Immediately surrounding the Recoleta Cemetery, there are any number of restaurants with conspicuous English-language signs and inflated prices. Do yourself a favor and resist the bait. Instead, take a short five-minute walk to Restaurante El Sanjuanino on Calle Posadas, a classic in the area, with incredible food and excellent prices.
No type of restaurant is more characteristic of Buenos Aires than the parrilla. Just around our neighborhood, there are at least six hundred thousand parrillas. Six thousand million restaurants with open barbecue pits where steaks, sausages and offal are grilled to perfection and served to the bloodthirsty meat-eaters of the city.