Friday, December 25, 2009

Breakfast and Coffee

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Above, a tray of Medialunas.

 

Porteños generally eat a very light breakfast. Two or three pieces of toast or medialunas and a coffee is common. Medialunas are essentially a brioche shaped in the form of a crescent, like a croissant, and glazed (image above).  When you order medialunas, the mozo (waiter or moza, waitress) will ask “manteca or graso?”  There are two types of medialunas:  Those made with butter (manteca) or shortening (graso).  Personally, I can’t stand the medialunas de graso.  Tip:  Ask the mozo to warm the medialunas

Two or three eggs, sausage (or bacon), a pancake & hash browns is unheard of in BA.  We gringos, however, do get a taste for eggs now and again, so we head to Florentina for the Americano breakfast (pictured below).  I don’t know how they prepare these scrambled eggs, but they are divine.  Creamy.  The juice, as in most BA cafe’s, is freshly squeezed.

A word about coffee: They don't brew/serve coffee like cafe’s do in the U.S. Coffee is prepared in an espresso machine. It’s stronger and richer than what we are accustomed to in the U.S.  We love it!  I usually order café doble.  i.e. double the standard portion, otherwise it's really a small amount. If you do want a small coffee, it’s simply called un café).  Carolyn orders a café doble con leche (double size coffee with milk) or cortado (café with a little milk). Cream or half & half is not used in coffee either. In fact, we could not find that they have cream at all. They use milk or steamed milk.

 

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Above, the Americano breakfast at Florentina (corner of Soler and Malabia in Palermo Soho).

Notice in the previous image that the moza delivered breakfast with salt (only).  I always seem to forget to ask for butter (manteca) and pepper (pimienta).  The butter not only looks beautiful, it tastes better than the butter we get in the U.S.

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Coffee at A Nos Amours, corner of Gorriti and Aráoz.

 

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Although not pictured, A Nos Amours has real croissants and pain au chocolat.

 

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Facturas are pastries.  Starting at the bottom and going clockwise, the long ones are called churos (con dulce), next is a medialuna con chocolat (there are four), but I don’t know the names of the other two facturas.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

La Colonia

La Colonia is a small bodegone with a parilla near Casa Palermo.  The owner was born in the building.  When we first started lunching here, the clientele was almost exclusively taxi drivers. See the photo of a typical lunch crowd of drivers in 2005; everyone in the photo is a taxi driver except the owner (guy in the blue shirt, standing) and the moza (waitress).  The food was simple, tasty and inexpensive (i.e. about $20 pesos for two, including wine).  On our first visit, in September of 2005, it was clear that they were not accustomed to seeing gringos and this status caused some attention.  But times have changed with adjacent Palermo Soho bursting at the seams. Soho clientele have been spilling over Scalabrini Ortiz in search, I imagine, of authenticity and the owner has decided to take advantage of the situation.  He revised the menu, offering a wider selection, albeit at a much higher price.  Of course, the taxi drivers can’t afford the higher prices and no longer frequent La Colonia.  Nevertheless, for tourists, it’s still perfectly affordable and the food is good.  On this last visit, the people at the next table were 30-something Canadians and nobody was interested that they were speaking English.  In addition to grilled meat, there is a full menu and they have good pizza. Location:  Julián Alvarez 1674 esq. Gascon.

 

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Gaucho Gil

Throughout Argentina there are hundreds of roadside shrines memorializing Guacho Gil, a legendary cowboy whose existence is undocumented and continues to be debated.  The legend is that Antonio Gil was a Robin Hood-like outlaw who stole from the rich and gave to the poor.  Eventually he was caught and hanged by the authorities.  Before his hanging he assured everyone that he would survive in spirit and continue to help the poor.  His devotees, to this day, erect shrines along highways and byways of Argentine, leaving offerings to his memory, in the hope that he will perform a personal miracle on their behalf.  i.e. help them recover from an illness, pass an exam, win the heart of another, etc.  The shrines are characteristically decorated with red ribbons, candles, offerings (such as bottles of beer, booze, etc.) and various objects.

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Above, a typical roadside Gaucho Gil shrine.  This one along a dirt road several kilometers outside of San Antonio de Areco. Some are much smaller and others very elaborate.  Keep an eye open and you will notice that there are also some in Buenos Aires.