Buenos Aires - Food

Going into the vacation, Brandon was set up to have high expectations for the food in Argentina. Numerous people had told him how great all the food was and he of course was excited But alas, his hopes were met with disappointment as we struck out night after night, eating mediocre meals (pricey mediocre meals).

As long as Bailey had her sippy cup and snacks, she didn't seem to care much about anything else!

Breakfast was always at the hotel and was a typical continental breakfast spread: coffee, breads, fruit, scrambled eggs, juices and yogurt. It was a perfect start to each day. But lunches and dinners caused us some worry. Part of me thinks we were trying to hard to find good food, asking all the workers at the hotel and cab drivers where to go. We might have been better off to just wander the streets and stumble upon a corner bakery. But that’s just my theory.

Our search for good food led us down dark and dangerous streets. Literally. On our way out to La Boca, we asked out cab driver where a good place for dinner was. He gave us the name and vague directions (back that way a few blocks and then to the right). After spending the afternoon in La Boca, we started asking around about the restaurant. After all, the way the cab driver talked about it, it was a tourist hot-spot featuring food from all over South America. A few people didn’t know what we were talking about and one woman looked at us and said it was too dangerous to go that way at night. We persisted and eventually made it to the front stoop of the restaurant.

Alas, it was a sketchy neighborhood, especially as the sun set and the scattered streetlights flickered off and on, and the restaurant was closed. They didn’t open for dinner until 8. It was 6. Bailey goes to bed at 8:30. Thankfully there were some workers in the restaurant who were gracious enough to call us a taxi to take us back to our hotel. Strike one.

Pre-dinner smiles; excited to try the spread in front of us!

The worst meal, by far, had to be at a place called “El Gaucho.” It looked nice from the outside, had meat grilling over an open fire in the front window and was crowded, despite the pricey menu. We thought we had a winner. We ordered a parrilla for 4, which looked great.

Looks good, hu?

Looked being the key word. The only meat that was edible was the chicken (which wasn’t half-bad). And we would have been completely lost if not for the French fries and bread served on the side. Strike two.

Brandon flashing a thumbs-up in hopes that we found a winner!

Our last night in Buenos Aires, Brandon was determined to find something good. We ventured out on the recommendation of one of the guys working the reception desk at the hotel to a restaurant called Puerto Cristal. All I can say is: finally. It wasn’t over-the-top amazing, but compared to what we had experienced thus far on the trip, we were delighted to have finally found a restaurant where we enjoyed the food.

YEAH! Good food!