AnuvaBlog

One of the biggest tourist attractions, if not THE biggest in Buenos Aires is the Recoleta Cemetary.

On any given day, especially in the summertime (which here as you know is December through February), tourists from all over the world flock to the opulent and ostentatious cemetary built by the “recoleto” monks.

The name of the neighborhood, Recoleta, comes from the name of these monks who came from Spain, forever ago, and were “recoletos” or , recluses (chastity, poverty, silence, etc). And ironically this cemetary screams fame, fortune and nepotism.

There are literally houses where the dead are buried. Enormous ones made of marble, slate, stone, with crosses, pictures, engravings, statues, and more.

If you like history, especially the history of the famous, the infamous, the prominent soldiers and generals who are buried there, do take a tour as you will learn a lot.

If you find that kind of thing boring though, just take a quick peak inside, as once you have seen a couple of the graves, there is nothing else to see.

Of course, many famous people, like Eva Peron, are buried there, but it’s not like you’re going to meet them. You just see a picture of them on a tomb.

Take it for what it’s worth, I recommend spending 5 minutes there and then going and browsing the street fair next door in Plaza Francia or heading over to Palermo.

It’s almost painful to write a list like this, knowing that your mother-in-law’s meat empanadas are, in fact the best empanadas you have tried in your nearly 6 year Buenos Aires eating binge. Her combination of ground beef, italian herbs, red pepper and a few key secret ingredients that give her’s that extra kick. But alas, they are not available to the general public.

Here is Anuva’s list of the top 5 places to get empanadas in Buenos Aires. For those who don’t know, an empanada is a “hot pasty”–which we don’t have in America either so I will define: cheese or meat or “other” filled pastry that is then baked or fried. The gauchos used to take these with them for lunch when they went out to rope and herd cattle, at least that is one of the explanations I’ve heard. The ancient orgin is put somewhere in Portugal or Spain during the Arabian occupation of the Iberian Peninsula:

We tend to prefer very stuffed (re-relleno) empanadas as that is the best part, the filling. (I don’t know why you would want one that is not super filled).

1. La Fidanzata. Best traditional ham and cheese empanadas. Super filled and cheesy.

2. El Gourmet. Fried empanadas. Lots of options and again, super filled.

3. Los Inmortales. These guys made it on our list for pizza as well. Pizza and empanadas in Argentina very frequently go hand in hand.

4.  La Zoila. Salteno empanadas and other food from Salta: locro, tamales, humita, etc.

5. La Buena Cocina. Very unique flavors such as “El Bosque”: carrot, mushroom, bacon, mozarella and brown sugar.

Que disfruten! (Enjoy!)

Back to the topic of wine from Argentina: They say that the best Torrontes comes from Salta followed by Torrontes from La Rioja (Argentina of course) and San Juan. They are respectively known as Torrontes Salteno, Riojano, and San Juanino.

The reason that these 3 regions supposedly always make better Torrontes is that they have very high altitude, Salta having the highest altitude vineyards in the world.

But we found an exquisite Torrontes from Mendoza that is from the Serrera winery. With a bouquet of fresh jasmin and orange blossom and a hint of honey, I almost don’t even need to drink this wine. Almost. In the mouth, nice acidity combines with flavors of white peach, pineapple and other citrus flavors with a lengthy finish that has floral nuances.

The best food combinations are the following:

1. Fig jam or apricot jam on brie cheese.

2. Sushi and sashimi.

3. Orange, Peach, Raspberry and Mango sorbet.

4. Salads with pears and goat cheese.

Enjoy!

www.anuvawines.com

Im sorry to deviate so much from the topic of wine, but as I learn more about what my parents, and many other adoptive families went through to get these orphans out of Haiti, I feel compelled to share:

The process of adoption for most of these families started in 2006, almost 4 years ago. All of the paperwork had been done as of middle of 2007 for the vast majority, and the only thing that was holding up the process, was a decree by the Haitian president, that no orphans were to be adopted out of the country. This decree ostensibly served to protect children from being illegally trafficked into prostitution or labor rings around the world. In reality, however, many think that this decree was made to keep orphans in the country so as to be able to claim the need for more aid from the international relief funds. The president and his cronies would then abscond with the funds once they entered the country.

There were no less than 20 families that we know directly that had been trying to get kids out of Haiti since 2006 or earlier. Many of these families had been to visit their adopted children in Haiti, at the orphanage, to establish a connection, teach, and give hope. Many of these parents also put these kids into a private school that teaches English so as to begin the process of assimilation to the U.S.I will write a few more accounts over the following days about the actual events that took place from the day of the earthquake moving forward that allowed these kids to finally get out of the country.

After two years of waiting, it finally took an earthquake to move the System enough to allow my parents (my father is my business partner), to adopt 3 kids from Haiti: Corinna 14, Rashaard 10, and Mumina 6.

Welcome to the family!

What irks me though, is why did it take 2 years and an earthquake to make this happen? It’s not as if these people were not suffering before. Haiti is considered the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

At least these 3 and several hundred others got out. But what of the millions left?

They say wine is a family business. Not the mafia type family, mind you.

Gabriel and Monica Blanco exemplify one of these families. They make a line of wines called Mairena that truly illustrates how important their family is to them:

The name Mairena is originally what they wanted to name their oldest daughter, but due to the military dictatorship at the time, this was not possible. The Blanco’s were told that the name “Mairena” did not exist in the book of names that were “acceptable” and “legal” to bestow upon a child and that they would have to pick another name. Reluctantly they did and the indirect result was that they named their wine Mairena and designed the label with the image of a young girl with lovely flowing hair, embossed in the background.

Their Bonarda has 90 points from Robert Parker and their Malbec is also highly rated. Soon their reserve Malbec/Bonarda blend and reserve Bonarda will win many awards as well. Anuva Wines has just introduced these wines to the U.S. market.

The Blanco’s live in Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza where they are surrounded by their family vineyards and make their wines.

www.anuvawines.com

In the interest of keeping the restaurant review theme going, I have a triplet of restaurants, all with the same theme and owners that I would like to recommend.These restaurants are NOT fine dining establishments. You will not find extensive wine lists, or cloth napkins, or waiters with bow ties.

What you will find is plentiful, delicious food for very little money.

Lourdes and I always get the “parrillada completa” when we go to one of these three restaurants. This is the traditional Argentine fair for meat: organ meats and many different kinds of steak and chicken in a quantity for 4 people for only 55 pesos! It also comes with fries! Now if you’re not into morcilla (blood sausage), or rinon (kidney), or molleja (sweet breads), then maybe the parrillada completa is not for you. But it’s an incredible value and I recommend trying it even if it does give you a little “asco” (grosses you out).

This is actually one of the only meat places in Argentina that has good vegetarian options that are not pasta. They have tamales (corn husks with meat or cheese inside), humitas (corn paste/polenta with cheese and corn inside), locro (traditional argentine stew), empanadas from Salta (with all sorts of different options for fillings), all cooked in a ceramic oven.

For wine here I recommend getting the house wine (vino de la casa) which is only about 15 pesos a bottle at the restaurant. They  do have some better bottles but they do not have wine glasses so in my opinion it’s better to enjoy vino on the cheap.

I recommend this for value as even with beer or wine you can get out of there for well under 50 pesos per person.

www.anuvawines.com

As far as we know, this has never been done: we at Anuva Wines applied the concept of a blind wine tasting to medialunas. For those who don’t know, medialunas (literally “half-moons”) are the Argentinian version of a croissant. Flaky, buttery, sweet and joyous. Well, usually…This side by side medialuna comparison was prompted by a visit to the ever popular and widely acclaimed Cafe Tortoni. While truly aesthetically gorgeous and historic, both the coffee and the medialunas at this establishment are extremely sub par. I ate there last week while meeting some people and the medialunas were dry, day-old and an effort to eat. If I hadn’t been hungry, I would have thrown them away.

Yesterday, however, to celebrate the new year, we had several friends over to sample medialunas from several of the cities top bakeries and cafes. Each medialuna was sampled without knowing where it came from and was judged on the following criteria: appearance, aroma, flavor and texture.

1. The winner by a nose was Maru Botana (www.marubotana.com). Although criticized by some for their “daring appearance”, Maru’s medialunas on the whole encompassed the desired qualities of the ideal medialuna: a nice golden brown color, flaky-crunchy outside crust, soft chewy interior, and a butteriness that would make even the French say “Oh la la.”

2. Just coming in second were the La Imprenta cafe. With the traditional moon shaped appearance, these lovely pastries stood out more for their sweet glaze and doughy interiors.

3. Still a close 3rd were the larger, Piegari medialunas with a commanding presence and lovely crunch corners. Not too buttery though.

4. Las Cortaderas were small but of good quality, texture and shape. The size in comparison to the others leaves one wondering, however.

5. In a distant 5th are the Bel Aria medialunas. Bel Aria is a chain bakery found in every neighborhood in the city and although I would never not eat a medialuna placed in front of me from them, after this tasting I will never seek them out again.Enjoy!

www.anuvawines.com

Thus begins a new series here on the Anuva Blog and that is reviews of the top restaurants (according to certain publications) in Buenos Aires. This came about from me noticing that nearly all of the visitors to Buenos Aires ended up going to the same restaurants: the one’s who spend a lot of money getting reviews in U.S. publications.

So Lourdes and I went to Cabana Las Lilas, an extremely well known steak house last night for dinner. It’s on the dikes in Puerto Madero, which is prestigious real estate, but the prices were extremely overboard. I am thinking about the fact that they have their own ranch where they breed their own cattle…

Now, we knew what we were getting into, but paying about 4 times (yes 4x) what we normally pay for the same meal of the same quality was breathtaking. And the place is packed!! I really don’t understand why.

We narrowed down the difference between our meal at Cabana Las Lila and what the exact same meal at our other favorite steak houses would have cost/consisted of. Here are the similarities and differences:

1. Similarity: the quality of the meat. Exactly the same. The meat you get at Cabana Las Lilas is no better than any other good steak house in Buenos Aires.

2. Similarity: the overall menu. Nearly the same. Save a few fish dishes, Cabana Las Lilas has nothing different on the menu.

3. Difference: the service. This was a notable quality. The service was impeccable. This cannot be denied. But does it justify paying 4x as much?

4. Difference: the breads/bread selection. Fantastic bread and bread selection. Bread costs about 1 peso per table. Again, a notable difference but one that does not justify the cost.

5. Difference: the wine menu. Extremely extensive. For a wine guy I found their wine menu to be one of the most impressive in the city comparable to any other restaurant. There are so many choices I doubt even the sommelier get’s tired of making suggestions.I want you all to know that this is just our personal opinion of this restaurant after having lived in Buenos Aires for over 5 years. See my other blog on where I recommend you eat steak in Buenos Aires.

www.anuvawines.com

Ok, so the food wasn’t great, but that’s not the reason we went. They kept my glass full of wine (something cheap but there was a lot)! And plenty of other drinks during the show.

In this 90 minute spectacle, it starts with a brief history of the Viejo Almacén (the “Corner Store”) that shows how the place actually used to be a corner store before it became a tango show.

Then several acts follow: first there is a singer with an accordion with a good voice, then 3 couples dancing traditional tango as opposed to more modern theatrical versions that would involve more lifts and jumps. There was a bit of modern dramatic tango worked in, as it makes for some variety.

The thing that really captured my attention and stood out was the venture into musica folklórica (loosely translated as folkloric music) which consists of miniature pipe organs, guitar and light drums. There was no dancing in this part, but it was very interesting to me to see this very prominent part of the history of Argentina displayed on stage.

El Viejo Almacén was named a Place of Cultural Interest in Argentina by the government, fyi.

The ratings: Here in this first of several tango show reviews to come we will use the following rating system…

Food/dinner: 7

Costumes: 6

Music/singing: 8.5

Dancing: 9

Total: 30.5 out of 40. Let’s see how this stacks up in the weeks to come.

www.anuvawines.com