New Buenos Aires food recs

T

TXHookem

1,000+ Posts
Heading back to BsAs on business in a couple of months... very pleased about this, as you might imagine
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So, our client's preferred hotel is the Intercontinental in the microcentro. As much as I'd like to stay in Palermo Viejo, that might not happen since I'm traveling with my jefe. So, any new recommendations on restaurants in the microcentro? If not, I'll probably cab it back to Palermo.
 
My brother's best friend usually stays in that hotel when he comes through for work. Once you walk inside, it's really nice. But the surrounding 2 to 3 block radius is shitsville.So basically you're not going to walk anywhere. (Although you could walk 5 to 8 blocks and it'd be fine.) And the Microcenter basically sucks balls for atmosphere and for restaurants.There is a website called Guia Oleo that consists of customer ratings & reviews of basically every restaurant in town. Even if you don't speak Spanish, you can figure out the ratings for FOOD, PRICE, & ATMOSPHERE. The Link

If you want to stay close you will probably want to look at San Telmo & Puerto Madero.

For Beef:

PUERTO MADERO:

Cabaña Las Lilas: Great location overlooking the water of Puerto Madero. However, it feels absolutely nothing like Buenos Aires. But if you can sit outside, you won't give it a second thought. If you sit inside, you might feel a little like you're in a place that could be in the States... especially with all of the diners speaking English. Great beef. And if you want to try all of those parts that you don't normally get in the USA, these place would be the place. But it's extremely expensive by Buenos Aires standards. (Nicely priced by USA standards.)

LOCATION: Puerto Madero; Alicia Moreau de Justo 516 (Just say "Cabaña Las Lilas" to the taxi driver and he'll know where to go.) The Link


SAN TELMO

La Brigada: One of my students (~45 year old NEXTEL exec) from last year swore by La Brigada. It was his favorite parrilla (steak place) in Buenos Aires. Bar none. He knew the owner, so that did effect his judgement, but he is right that the beef is excellent. And a great setting.

LOCATION: San Telmo; Estados Unidos 465 The Link

El Desnivel: A little less expensive, so it is always packed with travelers. But that shouldn't deter you from checking it out. Even though it is legendary, I've only been there once. I was in San Telmo during the day, so we popped in for lunch. A heavy, beef filled lunch, but still lunch. It was good. NOT fancy by any means. The Link


ITALIAN:

SOTTOVOCE: This review is for the original that is located in Recoleta. The food is good, the service is much better than nearly anywhere I've been (It's American style where they offer help rather than you having to flag someone down), but the decor is a little more towards nice business dinners or larger groups. It's not low-lit and intimate.

The original is at Del Libertador, Av. 1098 (& the corner of Ayacucho) THERE IS ALSO ONE IN PUERTO MADERO

The Link


Taxis are everywhere and extremely cheap, so going from the Intercontinental to Palermo would only take about 12 to 15 minutes and cost about US$6.

You can also just go down to Puerto Madero and walk along and pick whichever restaurant looks good to you. If the weather's nice, you should try to sit outside overlooking the water.

That's all for now.
 
Good stuff... thank you. The only other time I stayed in the microcentro was at the NH Latino on Suipacha. You know... it's not like the client is paying for our hotel room so may I can convince my boss (brother) to stay in Palermo - I think we would both be much happier. Client is near Alto Abasto so either location is probably equidistant, right?
 
So, I used Google to figure out that the client is pretty much right at Abasto shopping... I can't see a geographic reason to stay at the Intercontinental. I'm going to shoot for Recoleta or Palermo Viejo - would really rather stay there.
 
The last time my brother's friend was in town, he ended up at the Hotel Emperador on Av. del Libertador. It's close to the 4 Seasons and it is listed as a resort hotel, but it's not as nice as the 4 Seasons. (And he got it really cheap online. A Friday night.)

Recoleta or Palermo is so much better than the neighborhood where the Intercontinental is.

TWO things slow you down when going through Buenos Aires.
1) Crossing Av. 9 de Julio
2) Crossing mainroads going west (Away from Puerto Madero)

The Intercontinental puts you on the wrong side of both of those things. Although it's much worse during the day and especially between ~5pm-7pm.

Unless you are going to be going to conferences in the Microcenter or Puerto Madero during the day, you don't want to stay at the Intercontinental. Or at least I wouldn't and neither would any of my friends.

Now it's not going to kill you to take a 15 minute cab ride vs. a 5 minute cab ride at night, but why do it to come back to a hotel surrounded by a couple of blocks of urban wasteland?
 
No doubt - in the past, I really liked walking around Palermo Viejo at night - lots of "buzz" in the area. When I stayed in the microcentro, it was pretty much barren. Even if you were walking down to Puerto Madero on Corrientes, it was a light scene.
 
TXHookem - really enjoyed reading about BA in your blog. I head out (for the 1st time - just a quick week) this week. I will attempt to not get robbed at gun point *and* I'm a huge pizza fan so I'm taking your recs (along with some others) to do a pizza crawl during the week.
 
Yeah... I would probably try to avoid the gunpoint experience if I were you. I actually booked a room at "Five Cool Rooms" in Palermo Viejo for my trips. I'd rather stay in a neighborhood I know than the microcentro. Let me know what you find, food-wise, and have a slice of fuggazzetta for me.
 
Well - this is interesting. I booked 5 Cool Rooms several days ago for 3 nights (and I'm roughing it the other 3 nights in a San Telmo hostel - usually like to do a combo) I'll be at 5CR from 12/25-12/28 - you've probably got a set schedule but feel free PM me - I feel like I owe you a beer for the advice!
 
We're going to miss each other by about 2 months... I'll be heading there next year. Let me know what you think about 5CR, though. I booked a Large since my budget was up to $150/night. You'll really like that area. San Telmo has a totally different vibe but it's making a nice resurgence. Don't wander into La Boca
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A friend was staying at 5CR last year (in October) for like one night. So I called and asked for her. They asked me what room she was in and I started laughing because I thought-

You only have FIVE ******* rooms! YOU figure it out.

But it turns out that they have more than 5 rooms.

And if you were coming down so soon TR, you could have asked if I needed anything.
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Hell Napoleon - I didn't know you lived there. If you'd called yourself Peron or Kirchner, maybe I could've had a chance
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I leave Wednesday afternoon, so if you need anything on the small side - doing carry-on only - that wouldn't get me arrested at the airport - PM me.
 
Apparently the 5 is not because of the number of rooms but the number of owners or something like that. Goofy name but apparently a good place. I've heard the small room leaves a bit to be desired but the overall reviews of the place are good.
 
La Cabana
Cabana Las Lilas

Perhaps the best steak I had in my life was in Mendoza. Probably a good 1 lbs of meat, cost something like 8 bucks.
 
C'mon guys... Cabana Las Lilas? I've been to BsAs twice and that's a total guidebook recommendation. Give me something good... not a typical businessman's dinner place - a place more like Uriarte or Bar 6.
 
Trip is booked... staying at Five Cool Rooms - looking forward to a lucrative business trip and a nice return to BsAs.
 
BTW - my parents are going to go to BsAs in May... I'm going to try to point them in the right direction. What part of town would you suggest? I'm thinking Recoleta, even though it is more expensive. I guess Palermo Viejo would be 2nd with San Telmo as 3rd - just not as safe. They're in their 70s although completely in good shape, no mobility issues or anything. What do y'all think?
 
Don't even think about putting your parents in the trash dump that is San Telmo. Would you put them next to an impound lot? Next to a sewage treatment plant? Next to [insert undesirable location here]?

RECOLETA, RECOLETA, RECOLETA.

If you can get them near a park, then all the better. Palermo is next. (Palermo in reality is about the size of Manhattan, so it's best to be a little more specific than I'm being, but Palermo is next. Or "Barrio Norte", which can be considered kind of like the less beautiful part of Recoleta.
 
I wasn't really finding much of anything in Barrio Norte. They want to stick within a specific budget so I gave them a couple of options in Recoleta and some in Palermo Viejo... places like La Otra Orilla, Casa Palermitano and Solar Soler - reasonably priced B&Bs. Don't want to send them anywhere near the Microcentro and while San Telmo does have some upside (don't know that it's totally as bad as you paint it - there are some decent areas), no way I send them to Monserrat or some of the other areas on the edge (places near Parque Lezama which are bordering on Boca)
 
Try Le Sud in the Sofitel for something of a change for BA- 3 star Michelin chef;
Duhau is also one of the top business locales in the city now- I highly recommend this place as the best in BA these days.

Uriarte is still one of my favorites for late work dinners if the folks you are meeting are young too. Mint in Palermo is also pretty cool but very casual.

Put your parents at the 4 Seasons, ask for a room facing 9th.
The Ceasar just down the street next to Bull Patio is also a really nice place and fairly inexpensive. One trick we use is; make a reservation at the Faena- then call the 4 seasons and say you have a reservation at the Faena and it is full but you need two more rooms. What is the costs- oh yea, we are getting $189 a night at the Marriott for the Citigroup rates; what is your citigroup rate. Typically they just throw out the number the Marriott gave you or add $10 to it. I have gotten the 4 seasons down to about $89 during off season but then again I stayed there over 100 days in 02.
 
TXHookem - Somewhat of a hole in the wall that is filled with locals is a place called Juana M (Carlos Pellegrini 1535, in the basement). Its a combo parilla/Argentinian joint, but the cuisine is more modern than traditional.

We also went to Francis Mallman's restaurant Patagonia Sur in La Boca. Its was a ***** for our cab driver to find and the dispatcher couldn't help him either. Its very good but expensive ($100 USD per person fixed price for 3 courses, although the good thing was that we ordered the wine by the glass but they kept refilling it for free).

For your parents, I'd recommend Recoleta. I have a guy who owns several apartments in Recoleta and Barrio Norte that are inexpensive. Let me know if you want his contact info.
 
One great place to eat is El Cuartito on the edge of Tribunales and Retiro. Just a local joint with great pizza...
 
...and the pizza is all kinds of win. I had a small pizzaiola, an empanada to start and an overflowing glass of red for under $7.

Went back to one of my favorites - BoBo Hotel & Restaurant... food, as always, kicked all kinds of ***.
 
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