Christophe is a fine-dining restaurant located in Palermo Hollywood. After eating at many parrillas I figured that I should take advantage of the types of cuisine that Buenos Aires has to offer; Palermo Hollywood being the perfect area to try different unique restaurants. However, I think I would’ve been happier going to just any parrilla instead of this restaurant. Maybe my taste is not sophisticated enough for Christophe’s fusion of flavors but for what you pay and what you get I didn’t think the restaurant was exceptional in my Buenos Aires restaurant experiences.
Amongst all the trendy restaurants within the Humboldt/Fitz Roy and Guatemala blocks of Palermo Hollywood is Restaurante Oviedo, a humble looking establishment that serves up your typical parrilla but also has an extensive menu of other chioces. At this restaurant I was excited to see arroz con pollo on the menu and immediately made that my entree choice.
La Soñada is a parrilla located off L.N. Alem in the Playa Grande neighborhood of Mar Del Plata. My first thought of L.N. Alem was to compare it to PB in San Diego. This main drag is loaded with bars/clubs and restaurants while many cars cruise the one way street. Many of the restaurants are either the type with pizza or the trendy type. Walking both L.N. Alem and Irigoyen in total I came across two parrillas which to me seemed lilke a small amount for the amount of establishments that are littered in this area. In the end, I chose to eat at La Soñada, a small place off L.N. ALem. The hyperactive waiter probably made the dining experience a fun time. I don’t know what it was, maybe he smoked some ice before work but this guy was all over the place and kept dinner entertaining.
Don Alonso is a parrilla located in Mina Clavero within the Córdoba province. As apart of the day tour I took outside of Córdoba we stopped here in Mina Clavero for lunch. Mina Clavero is fueled by their river that people treat as a beach-like tourist destination, in addition to the casino there too. I think the reason we ended up eating at Don Alonso was because our tour guide was friends with some of the staff so what better way to get bring in a little business.
Amerian Córdoba Park Hotel is centrally located in Córdoba city directly across the street from Patio Olmos Shopping Center on Av. San Juan. According to the website, the hotel is rated a 4-star superior quality hotel. From my travels I can’t say that this hotel was 4-stars but, I guess, for Argentina rating standards the Amerian Córdoba Park Hotel does fulfill the qualifications for that distinction.
If you’ve watched any special on Buenos Aires on Travel Channel or Food Network, more or less there’ll be a reference to the popularity of ice cream. Now I could probably write about any ice cream shop in Buenos Aires but I wanted to focus on Grido, the ice cream shop I couldn’t stop seeing while visiting the city Córdoba.
Alfonsina is a restaurant located near Patio Olmos shopping center in Córdoba. The restaurant is small, loud, and busy; filled with a mix of locals and tourists. The menu is simple with not much of a parrilla offering. Not knowing what Córdoba had to offer in terms of restaurants I was recommended this restaurant by the employee of one of the tour guide offices. I doubt he gets any kick-backs by recommending this restaurant but he did claim that it was one of his favorite places. Without many other options, I ate here and had a simple, quick meal.
I’m the type that believes that some of the best food will come from either your hole-in-the-wall restaurants or better yet, street vendors. Now, the sanity issue is always a concern but when it comes to the street vendors you have true locals cooking good food while keeping it at a fair price since the overhead costs are minimal. As with the taco trucks I’m used to come the choripan carts of Argentina. Choripan simply is a chorizo sandwich. The chorizo is split down the middel the long way, placed in bread with chimichurri and other garnishes of your choice. If that sounds tasty to you, trust me, it is.
La Rueda is a parrilla located in the central commercial area of Mar Del Plata. My experience with this restaurant was with doing take-out rather than sitting in and dining. I was actually very impressed with the whole operation of doing take-out orders. Even with the many people making orders I can confidently say that they didn’t screw-up my order and didn’t forget the chimichurri. I also thought that the prices were reasonable when opening up all the packages and seeing the amount of food that I’d received.
El Palacio Del Bife is a parrilla located in the central area of Mar Del Plata. Being centrally located within Mar Del Plata amongst the hotels, this restaurant’s clientele is predominately tourists that spent a few too many hours in the sun during the day. The menu is standard with their choices as with any other parrilla. Personally, the portion of one steak is enough for two people but as evident by the couple over on the next table there are those who will each eat their own well-sized steak. I thought the service was a bit shotty as the normal attentiveness of these male career waiters wasn’t up to par with other parrillas.
