The perfect dinner in Buenos Aires can be achieved by following these 15 easy steps:
Step 1: Pick a good restaurant
(El Estrebe is our favorite parilla in Buenos Aires)
Step 2: Good entradas--rucula and hearts of palm salad on the right; the thing on the left is a giant slab of provolone cheese covered in bacon, ham, onions, tomatoes and a bell pepper
(Provoleta is one of the best food inventions in the world)
Step 3: Great wine--this excellent Cabernet Franc from Vinas de Narvaez in Mendoza cost ~US$8
Step 4: The perfect steak -- we ordered one Bife de Lomo (~filet), they cut it into two halves for us to share at the table using spoons--seriously. This massive steak for 2 people cost about US$12
Step 5: You've gotta have good chimichurri (on the right) and good criolla sauce (lower left), not sure what the white stuff is, but the other two are phenomenal
Step 6: Apply sauces, and cut into steak to revel in how perfectly cooked it is. Note: it will always be perfectly cooked, this is Argentina and while they may not be able to run an airline, they do know how to cook steak
(If you’re curious about how they run an airline, check out Aerolineas Argentina)
In case you were wondering, the other half turned out pretty good too
Step 7: Make sure your plate looks like this when you are done
Step 8: Don't be stingy with the Chimichurri and Criolla--it should look more like this when you are done
Step 9: Don't forget to enjoy your awesome and crazily cheap wine
Step 10: Not having desert would just be silly; Flan with Dulce de Leche will do the trick for US$4
Step 11: Make sure to savor every bite of the flan nice and slowly
Step 12: Finish your Flan. Or else...
Step 13: If the waiter offers you complimentary Limoncello, drink it
Step 14: If you failed to finish your wine due to the complimentary pre and post dinner cocktails (and/or the bottle you had at lunch), ask for the rest of your bottle to go. They will happily cork it and bag it for you to enjoy at home
I’m not kidding: How to take your wine to go in Buenos Aires
Step 15: Pay the bill. This incredible dinner for 2 with appetizer, salad, massive filet and great bottle of wine cost ~US$50
Not a bad night–we go here once a week. Keep in mind though, this only covered 2 out of the 5 major Argentine food groups
What did you have for dinner?
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We followed your advice to the letter and had an awesome meal. Thank you so much for the recommendation. It will be hard to eat like this at home.
PS Why is my comic icon a grumpy looking purple face?
Maybe you should be asking yourself that question…
As a fellow blogger, it’s time that you got yourself a gravatar so you have your own profile pic for blog comments: http://en.gravatar.com/ (feel free to use the grumpy purple face)
Glad you enjoyed the dinner!
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I’m a vegetarian and I’ve heard that they have some good vegetarian restaurants in Buenos Aires. That is sad that you didn’t want to try them or post anything about them. If they do meat meals this well, then I would imagine the veggie restaurants would be a lot of fun to try, too. And vegetables are usually pretty cheap. Even though I’m not a meat eater, and your pictures of the steak and the price even tempted me to return to eating meat, at least temporarily, I still enjoyed reading your posts. Thanks for the good information!