Occasion: A first taste of Buenos Aires!
Location: Minga on Costa Rica in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires (mingaparrilla.com.ar)
Edibles: I had the ojo de bife (ribeye) with a side of spinach gratin; Elizabeth had a penne dish that I barely paid attention to, so focused was I on the luscious grilled meats being served all around me
Musings: Only a few hours in Buenos Aires and I was already champing at the bit for some steak. Elizabeth, who doesn't eat red meat at all, amiably let me pick our lunch spot.
When ordering, we tried to communicate the medium-rare doneness I wanted by using the Spanish words for "red" and "rose" but I guess it didn't translate. When my steak came, I gave it a quick prod with my fork and my heart sank when it barely gave at all. I sliced into it to confirm. The meat proved to be well-done, brown all the way through. Sacrilege, really.
I showed it to the waiter. My Lonely Planet guidebook helpfully supplied us with the word "jugoso" (juicy) to better describe what I was looking for. With a minimum of fuss, he whisked it away to be redone. A part of me winced to see an entire prime steak go to waste, but they really had cooked the bejeezus out of it.
Without being asked, our superlative waiter brought me a second skillet of spinach gratin with the new steak, as the original one was now cold. Full marks for service. Steak #2 was everything I had hoped for. Argentinean beef, famous for being free-range, grass-fed and really delicious, absolutely lived up to the hype. It was rich, tender, and had a robust gaminess that American steak generally does not. If you are a steak-lover, you need to get yourself to Argentina pronto. Oh, and did I mention that this steak cost about $10 USD?
All in all, a great start to our South American adventure!
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