Gagit in Argentina – Part 2- Buenos Aires
Posted on | December 7, 2008 | No Comments
Gagit and group arrive in the cosmopolitan city of Buenos Aires to enjoy of course more food , more drinks, and of course, leather, although Gagit only will review the food and drinks , there can no better value than BA in leather goods ,however no review of the part of the animal we did not eat will appear in this section.
The first restaurant of this part of the trip was the restaurant that the Fisherman has been waiting to visit since Gagit reviewed it on this site previously Jangada. The speciality of Jangada is fresh water fish from the Northern waters of the Parana river,especially the Pacu, the king of fish from this area.From the area the local fisherman , have let the chefs at Jangada know there recipes to prepare the fish to perfection and they do.We enter the restaurant,are seated and order my favorite drink Caipiruska with Grey Goose and the others order their favorite hard liquor since we are wined out from Mendoza.
The girls order Arugula Salad as their starter, served fresh with Parmesan cheese, I order an Empanada starter with meat, perfection and the Fisherman orders one stuffed with a Suribis,again perfection.Now the moment we have waited for the arrival of the Pacu, served on a wooden tray called” Caranchea”, and the Fisherman and I share. On the tray along with grilled fish are potatoes, onions, lettuce, tomato,and rocket pesto.This is pictured above in all its glory and even tastier than it looks. The fish is meaty, flavorful, and juicy , fish Heaven for the Fisherman. The girls share the river fish Covina on the tray as the the Paku , but tonight the Pacu gets all the attention.We finish every last bite of the fish and then share a simple dessert of strawberries and vanilla ice cream, a basic and simple finish without overshadowing the fish of the night.
We finish with espresso and my favorite Argentinia ending for a great meal, Lemoncello.This night was a tribute to Jangada and there perfection in grilling and serving Pacu,there may be more sophisticated and more interesting restaurants in BA but when it comes to serving the King of the Parana River, Jangada is the only place to go,and if you do not believe Gagit ,now you can ask the Fisherman, the King of fisheaters.
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The next morning we do a lot of walking around this beautiful city as well as the Saturday Flea Market and now it is time for lunch.We are told by the concierge at the hotel, Magda, that close by is one of the oldest fish establishments in Ba , Dora. We enter the restaurant with wine bottles on the wall and because it is Saturday it is not as crowded as it is during a working weekday.Our waiter Raul, who probably has been here since the restaurant opened in 1840,lol takes our drink order, local beer in the bottle ,Quilmes, for all of us,actually it is owned by Annheiser Busch.
We order the starters after perusing the huge menu, every fish ever thought of,cooked every way possible. The girls start with there favorite Arugula Salad with Parmesan ,shown above. It is salad perfection, fresh, crisp, and flavorful since it is local and organic. The Fisherman orders the Baby Calamari ,shown.which I share with him along with the fresh Marinara sauce, where you can even taste the fresh tomato.The taste and freshness of the Calamari are unbelievable compared to the usually frozen type in most United States restaurants, except of course Cafe Martarano.
The mains now arrive, Foodiechic and Lafont have the fresh grilled Scampi,and shown,, taste perfection again unlike the Costco variety that we call Shrimp at home. The Fisherman has the house specialty, Black Hake a local fish and as shown is served grilled and perfectly timed to bring out the full flavor of the fish .I make a mistake and order a dish , with Shrimp drowning in sauce, peppers, and onions, to completely hide the flavor of the Shrimp. This is totally against what Gagit suggests his readers order, a dish to complicated to enjoy the true flavor of the main ingredient , in this case, Shrimp.Dessert for lunch, the girls order the Strawberries since they enjoyed the fresh flavor of Argentinian fruit they had last night.We order more espressos and our waiter brought the check, expensive by BA standards but $40.00 a person for the freshest seafood and perfect service would be at least triple at Milos in New York, a comparable restaurant to Doro.
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The dinner this evening even though we are still full from lunch is the hot spot, Casa Cruz, the Prime 112 of Buenos Aires, to see and be seen ,and of course to dine. Gagit has eaten in this restaurant before and was not only impressed by the fashionable nightclub decor but the eclectic menu of Juan Cruz, the owner and the chef, German. We enter the restaurant on Saturday night and we are shocked by the emptiness, is this place already lost its appeal? We order our Chaipiruskos at the bar and as they arrive we are led to our table ,drinks following closely.
We are introduced to our waiter Walter who it seems is part of the new era of Casa Cruz, please let the food still be good,I pray.We order our starters not easy with the novice Walter stumbling through his descriptions of the dishes. All the starters are shown, I have the poached oysters,truffled crumbs, taipioca cavier,watercress ,and pears. The dish looks great but lacks any punch at all to enhance the oysters which are poached mushy. The Fisherman has the grilled shrimp,tomato confit,spinach, and kalamata, this dish really did not look good and even tasted less good,lol.Foodie had a blah coconut soup with ravioli soup and Lafont a Salad not fitting for the status of this restaurant. At this point, I was almost ready to leave , for with these starters , I was afraid what might be in store from the main courses,however at this point, a hot Buenos Aires Blonde and her Brunette friend walked by our table and we decided to stay.
We try to order our mains but Walter makes it more difficult with his lack of knowledge of the menu. We also are starting to sweat and find that the air conditioning is not working fully, why not tell us before we sit down to eat? We place our orders and luckily they arrive in short order since the restaurant is only half full this Saturday night, a sign of a fading star restaurant. The mains ,all shown are as follows,the Fisherman ,a Ushuaia King Crab ravioli,pink grapefruit and coconut cream, was more of a glob than a presentation and oily also. I had the Rabbit and it tasted and looked more like Moose as the picture shows.Lafont, the poached lamb tenderloin,warm nicoise potatoes,pine nuts, and a parmesan cheese broth, it sounds like a perfect match but with the lamb chewy and fatty ,the rest of the ingredients are not significant.Foodiechic the overcooked pasta with the over cooked duck confit along with too much truffle oil but tasty portabello mushrooms .If these four dishes were not bad enough, when a server comes over to take a plate away while 3 of us were still eating was a total embarassement for Gagit in bringing his guests to Casa Cruz.
We pass on desserts after having not one good dish yet tonight, we order coffee and Lemoncello but they do not have any ,so just the overpriced check and the not so bad truffles as shown. Let the Truth be Told,Casa Cruz was the top of fashion and food inventiveness the last time I ate here three years ago. On this trip, for whatever reason , maybe change of owner or chef or ego , Casa Cruz not only lost its food appeal and by the crowd or lack of it was obvious, but it also lost any standard for a fashionable restaurant or even a non fashionable restaurant ,certainly the category that Casa Cruz now belongs.
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It is now Sunday and a trip to St. Elmo and La Boca are the agenda for the day, with lunch scheduled at Il Matterello , the highest rated Italian restaurant in BA by all of Gagit,s sources. We are here to find out ourselves if this is really true.We enter this homestyle restaurant in La Boca , the real Italian district since the 1800,s and are greeted as guests by our server Gino,shown above, who has been here a long time and is proud of the restaurant of the Stagnaro family.
Gino takes the time in his version of English,to explain the home made Northern Italian menu to us and answer any question we may have. We start off with starters,as shown, of course Arugula and Parmesan Salad for Lafont and Foodiechic The Spongeman, it is here he tells us the beginning of Tarpon Springs, Spongetown U. S. A.,has the calamari fried lightly and perfectly with a side of Marinara sauce. We ate it so fast no picture was taken,lol. I have an order of ricotta Croquettas again with the Marinara sauce and delicate as possible and also eaten before picture could be taken.We order cold local beer with the starters and it is a perfect pairing for the starters.
Gino now brings us the mains,shown above, : Foodiechic has the homemade Fusilli with her favorite Amatriciana sauce, a delicate balance of pancetta,red chili peppers, and tomatoes.In this case the restaurants home made pasta blended like a mariage made in heaven.The Fisherman orders the Spinach ravioli in the perfect marinara sauce and I have the Fusilli in my favorite Puttanesca sauce, in this case a perfect blend of anchovies, capers,red pepper flakes, and tomatoes.Lafont liked the Calamari so much ,she just had this for her main and it was again gone before the picture.My only regret with the mains is that I would love to try their Gnocchi, but like all Italian restaurants in BA only on the 29th of the month.
We of course must have dessert here, and shown above is the Tiramisu, yummy, and the Charlotte ,Almond ice cream with thick chocolate sauce as the picture almost shows the hot sauce dripping.We have our espressos and the check of $100.00 for all of this. This meal at the 1 star restaurant in Miami, Il Gabbiano was $400.00 and not even worth the $100.00. Let the Truth be Told, all the reviewers and critics that rated Il Matterello the best that BA has to offer have got it right and Gagit only is glad to confirm this.
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It is Sunday night and we just need a quick bite before we go out. We are sent by the Concierge, tonight Alfredo, to the Filo. Filo has pizza Argentina style and even with out a picture it is a must on any trip to BA. Also, a must on any trip to BA is Senor Tango, if you enjoyed Robert Goulet , you must hear Senor and the ensemble sing Do Not Cry for me Argentina.
It is now Monday a work day but have no fear ,we will also eat. Foodiechic and I have a local lunch at Recoleta Cafe a BA landmark. This is the first time I have steak in Argentina and this Cafe is known for meat. I have it the Argentinian way ,egg on top,and fries as shown.The steak is a Argentinian steak and as I have said on many blogs, the meat is for Argentinians not Americans, It is tougher because it is not aged and young and does not have the taste that we Americans are use to taste.In fact , Foodie has a salad because she is not interested in beef in Argentina.Foodie has the Helados, vanilla with chocolate sauce ,as shown, as I have my Lemoncello and espresso.The good news the check is $25.00 bucks.
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This night we attend the impressive solo piano concert and since it is at the Panamericano Hotel, we have dinner in the restaurant Tomo 1.We enter the restaurant and have the feeling we are in a private dining room with no decoration and few customers.You know that Gagit is not a favorite of hotel restaurants, and this restaurant just confirms my theory.We only order mains, Lafont a nice Lamb dish, The Fisherman, Shrimp of course acceptable but not the best we have had, Foodie, Seabass, a less than acceptable presentation, and I have the nights speciality , shown above in perfect color,Ravioli with native Ostrich. I can honestly say that the native Ostrich’s taste and texture were closer to the steak I do not appreciate and the ravioli over dente’d, I guess the Ostrich is fed the same way as the beef.We pass on dessert and go back to the hotel to prepare for last day in Buenos Aires.
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This is our last day here and it is hectic, business , leather, and eating again and again. Lunch is pizza at Filo again and now the toughest decision we have to make, where should we go for our last dinner in BA? The Fisherman decides and to no ones surprise back to Jangada for the Pacu.
We are joined for dinner tonight by the Marcbeths , who just landed in BA today. The new couple take a separate taxi and even though we leave later than them ,they do take the long cut ,as the Fisherman says through Brazil.An hour later they arrive as we have had a few drinks,Chaiperuskos or Beer,and then order a assortment of the great empanadas, Suribis, carne, and pollo.We are now ready for the main course, of course Fish from the North. Tonight we order , 4 yes 4 platters, the Fisherman has a Pacu for himself and finishes it all without sharing a bite. The rest of us share Covina, a saltwater fish, and Dorado, fresh water,all served on the tray with potatoes, lettuce,and tomatoes. These both fish are shown above since the Pacu is shown at center stage on our first visit.
Let the Truth be Told, we did not leave a bite of fish standing on this second visit and no matter how many times one comes back to Janganda ,I am sure it will be the same high level of quality and taste.As, I leave Janganda , no dessert tonight, Gagit has to award the restaurant a fifth star and we all need to return to the hotel to prepare for the next day and our trip to Bariloche,and hopefully a vacation.
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Let me introduce myself: I am ER Gagit. Food and Drink are my Game. I have done extensive traveling, eating and drinking in some of the finest establishments throughout the world. read more
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