Restaurant Review: Las Pizarras

Posted on August 29, 2012 by dawngill

If your Spanish does not include vocabulary from inside a schoolroom, you may not know that Las Pizarras means “The Blackboards”. Las Pizarras (Thames 2296, Palermo, 4775-0625) was highly recommended by Dan at the SaltShaker, so highly recommended in fact, that it is in his top 5 recommendations in the Buenos Aires! This is one of the reasons that my husband Jon went ahead an booked reservations for us on a special night out, and it was a good thing he did because the place was packed by 9:00pm.

True to name, Las Pizarras does not provide any type of printed menu to you at the table, but the menu is incorporated in the decor by being plastered on every open wall surface in the form of a (wait for it….) blackboard! This is an interesting and novel concept, unless you are the guy sitting right under the blackboard while everyone seems to be staring intently at you all night. This allows for the chef to decide the menu each day and change the components, or the entire dish, at a moment’s notice – which is priceless in a city that is known to have availability issued from one day to the next.

We chose our dishes and were immediately served a burlap sac of outstanding warm bread with an infused coffee butter that I could have eaten as an entree. Coffee and butter, and unlikely, but delicious combination.

Don’t get stuck on this novelty, you are going to want to save room for your dinner!

Jon ordered the lamb, which was served over a bed of smashed potatoes and topped with a tomato compote, or relish, or something of that nature. It was tasty, tender and, in a word, gone.

I ordered the risotto, which is not something that I do often, because I feel like it’s one of those dishes better served at home. This one had multiple kinds of mushrooms in it, which is something that I never make at home due to Jon’s detesting of fungi (a ridiculous aversion considering what other foods we eat, but nevertheless) so I enjoyed a chance to eat mushrooms to my heart’s content at a restaurant. The serving sizes are not deceiving, they are LARGE, and we enjoyed every last bit of them.

We had a great time meandering through their wine list as well, which was ample and included many of our favorites for really great prices. Just be sure you bring your glasses if you plan on enjoying wine, the list is on one of the smaller blackboards, and I was having a rough time trying to read the selections (darn you, PRK laser surgery!).

By far the best thing about Las Pizarras is your bill at the end of the night. For eclectic dishes like this, you might find yourself leaving the restaurant feeling like it was good, but not something that you could afford every weekend – Las Pizarras is the exception. Our bill was easily 50% of what it would have been anywhere else in the vicinity, and we were much more impressed than we have been at many of the more expensive places we’ve tried. This was a win many times over with the casual atmosphere, the interesting and tasty dishes to choose from and the affordable prices.

The only downside we experienced was a lapse in the service as soon as the restaurant got busy. The place has roughly 30 tables and we only saw 2 waiters for the dining room, making it a cliche BsAs restaurant faux pas where you get great service for the first 30 minutes and then fall asleep at the table waiting for dessert and/or the bill. We’ll give it another shot though, for the positives outweighed the negatives by a lot at Las Pizarras.

***This restaurant review was written by BAIN Downtown member and blogger, Dawn Gill. For this and other reviews on expat life, visit her blog: http://www.dawnandjon.blogspot.com.ar/. To contribute a review or highlight your blog, contact bain.downtown@gmail.com.

August Monthly Meeting

Posted on August 23, 2012 by dawngill

BAIN DOWNTOWN FRIDAY, AUGUST 31!

This Month’s Theme: Focus On Food

BAIN Downtown members and their guests are invited to join us as we return to Los Arcos, Callao 856 (Between Paraguay and Cordoba) for a Focus on Food presentation with Juan Freire of Tuco Catering, www.tucocatering.com.

Keep the fun going after the presentation for a buy-as-you-go Happy Hour!

Place: Los Arcos, Callao 856 (Between Paraguay and Cordoba) the meeting room in the back

Date: Friday, August 31, 2012

Time: 4:00 p.m., presentation at 4:30pm, Happy Hour to start whenever you want it to!

Program: Juan Freire is a chef born and raised in Buenos Aires, who has spent a good portion of his life studying his way through Europe and cooking in many of the culinary capitals of the world. He has worked everywhere from small family owned restaurants to one of the trendiest hotels in London. He will be joining us to discuss the food heritage in South America, the similarities relating food culture between neighbor countries and the importance of keeping culinary traditions alive.

Fees: BAIN Downtown Members – no charge

BAIN Suburbs Members – $AR10

Guests – $AR20

*New members that sign up for BAIN Downtown at the meeting, the guest fee is waived! Membership is only AR$150 per year! Recommend us to your friends! Bring a guest!

Other Notes:

The BAIN Downtown Website – Check out our website at https://baindowntown.com/ for the on-line membership directory and more!

Want to stay up to date with all of BAIN Downtown’s events? Sign up to follow our blog or follow us on Facebook!

August Wine & Tapas Night

Posted on August 14, 2012 by dawngill

Please join us for the next BAIN Wine and Tapas Event!

Date: Saturday, August 25th
Time: 8pm
Where: Caballito *Exact address provided upon RSVP

Please RSVP directly to Celia at celiacriseo@rauljak.com.ar

Bring a beverage and a tapas-style dish to share, and look forward to a relaxing, casual evening with friends. Celia (your host) will also be showing a fantastic Tango DVD she recently received from Los Angelitos, the August BAIN monthly dinner location.

Never been to Wine and Tapas before? New to BAIN or Buenos Aires? We’d love to have you join us. Let us know in your RSVP if you have any questions!

*This event is restricted to current BAIN members only. If you are interested in joining BAIN, please email bain.downtown@gmail.com or fill out our New Member Sign-Up Form.

We hope you can make it!

August Monthly Lunch at Brut Nature

Posted on August 12, 2012 by dawngill

Location: Brut Nature, Pena 2066 (between Junin and Ayacucho)

Time: 12:30 pm

Date: Thursday, August 30

Price: 75 or 100 pesos (correct change appreciated)

In the restaurant business it is an axiom that good restaurants last about three years. I am sure we all know many places that have come and gone within that time frame.

Our destination for Thursday, August 30, breaks the mold and is probably the best restaurant you have never heard of.

Gustavo and his head chef started this family business almost 20 years ago – in fact, this coming March is their 20^th anniversary. One of the comments from Guiaoleo sums up my thoughts on this place – “Great place, frequented by regulars from the neighborhood. Run by the owners, in a spacious house, the dishes are very rich, and the accompanying environment without glare. Absolutely recommended.” Another comment from Trip Advisor “The first night we had the pepper steak and it was delicious. It was probably our best meal in BA.”

Many of the dishes on the menu are named for the loyal customers who have dined here during the past 20 years!

Our lunch menu for Thursday is:

Plato Principal (choose one)

Mini Bife de Chorizo Con Papas Fritas

Risotto de Verduras Azafranado

Pollo a la Crema de Ajo Con Puré

Postre (choose one)/ o cafe

– Helado de Crema Americano con Frutos Rojos

– Ensalada de Frutas Frescas

Our price for the meal with water, soft drink or wine (including tip) is: 75 pesos.

I have asked that Gustavo make available their signature dish (my favorite) for an additional cost – the dish, of course, is the lomo pimiento with creamed potatoes. If you order this it will include both water and wine for 100 pesos.

Reservations are a must – RSVP to mweldon213@yahoo.com

When replying I would appreciate an idea of what you plan to order, this is just to give the restaurant a “heads up” so that nobody is disappointed. You can always change your mind when you arrive.

I look forward to seeing everyone:

Regards,

Michael

August Book Club Meeting

Posted on August 10, 2012 by dawngill

Join us for the August meeting of BAIN Book Club!

Date: Wednesday 29 August 2012
Time: 13h00 – 15h00
Location: Recoleta

The book club meeting for August will feature The Emperor’s Children by: Claire Messud

The New Yorker book reviews writes:
“In this witty examination of New York’s chattering classes, which opens in the spring of 2001, the despot of the title is Murray Thwaite, a famous journalist who made his name in the Vietnam era. The next generation, however, is having trouble gaining traction. Murray’s daughter, Marina, unable to complete a long-overdue book on the cultural significance of children’s clothing, has moved back into her parents’ Upper West Side apartment and is doing a lot of yoga. Her two best friends—Danielle, a television producer, and Julius, a gay freelance critic—are similarly ambitious and entitled, without being particularly driven. All three find sex the easiest way to transform themselves. Only Murray’s brainy and profoundly disenfranchised nephew from upstate aggressively pursues his belief in the true and the good, but he proves to be a sort of literary terrorist, threatening to blow the family apart. The humorous intimacies of Messud’s portraits do not, finally, soften the judgments behind them: If this is what’s become of the liberal imagination, is it worth fighting for?”

Please RSVP to milenanewhook@gmail.com

*exact address provided upon RSVP

This event is limited to current BAIN Downtown members only. To become a member of BAIN Downtown, email bain.downtown@gmail.com.

Hope to see you all there on the 29th!

Book Exchange – Now in a New Location!

Posted on August 7, 2012 by dawngill

The BAIN Book Exchange Has a New Home!

Date: Monday, August 20
Time: 11 am

The book exchange has moved to a new location in Palermo Viejo. After some thought and discussion about how to improve the book exchange, we begin this month with a slightly different approach, with the aim of bringing readers together to exchange quality reading material and chat about our books and more.

Please join us by bringing 1 or 2 really interesting books to lend or give away in exchange for someone else’s great book. You don’t necessarily have to part with your book, you can loan it to another BAIN member who will be held accountable to return it. We want our book exchange to offer participants an opportunity to access high quality reading material in English, which can be hard to find, and expensive to buy in BA. Please don’t bring books you would like to get rid of. Instead, bring the book you would like your best friend to read.

Place: contact Danielle Gold at dgold@counselingba.com

Please RSVP in advance for directions and exact location

*This event is limited to current BAIN Downtown members only. Please contact bain.downtown@gmail.com to learn how to become a BAIN member, or visit our How to Join page.

Light refreshments & good conversation will be served

Monthly Morning Coffee

Posted on August 5, 2012 by dawngill

Please come join us for the next BAIN Morning Coffee!

Date: Tuesday, August 14th
Time: 10:30am-12:00
Where: Palermo Chico

The Morning Coffees are a great way to meet new BAIN members and reconnect with old friends while enjoying coffee and goodies.

Never been to a coffee event before? New to BAIN or Buenos Aires? We’d love to have you join us. Let me know in your RSVP if you have any questions!

Please RSVP to Mary Kempf at mtkempf@gmail.com
*Exact address provided upon RSVP.We hope you can make it!

BAIN Monthly Dinner – Cafe de los Angelitos

Posted on August 5, 2012 by dawngill

Join us for the August BAIN Monthly Dinner!

This month, we will dine at Cafe de los Angelitos, which is one of the most traditional Argentine cafes and cultural centers. Large groups of people visit the elegant rooms and enjoy their delicious food and wonderful atmosphere. This cafe has witnessed “porteña” history for over a hundred years and is in the vanguard of Tango. Though this dinner is limited to the cafe, you may want to return to Cafe de los Angelitos to experience a spectacular dinner and the elaborate and distinguished Tango Show they offer, which was awarded the prestigious award by the Asociación de Cronistas del Espectáculo for best costume and choreography.

Date: Thursday, August 16th
Time: 8:00pm (20.00h)
Location: 2100 Rivadavia Ave, at the corner of Rincon (the extension of Junin)
Cost: AR$160 per person for a 3-course menu and beverage (see attached menu for details)

Please RSVP to Celia Jakimczuk celiacriseo@rauljak.com.ar, by Monday, August 13.
We hope to see you there!

www.cafedelosangelitos.com

Restaurant Review – La Fabrica del Taco

Posted on August 5, 2012 by dawngill

Gorritti 5062 | Palermo Soho

Looking for Mexican Food in Buenos Aires?

Everyone knows that I absolutely LOVE Mexican food, but the choices here are limited. Most Argentines do not like spice. They even think pepper is spicy! There are only a handful of Mexican restaurants here. Maria Felix is the WORST and it’s expensive. Xalapa is pretty good, but only certain dishes are delicious. Their beans and burritos are bland and boring. There is a smaller place called La Fabrica del Taco which has amazing food and is pretty reasonably priced. The drinks are good and they have more to offer than just a regular frozen margarita like most restaurants here. The inside of the place is decorated with Mexican wrestling masks which always reminds me of the movie Nacho Libre. They have televisions that play Mexican music videos from the 80s and 90s and it is absolutely hysterical. I guess it can be considered a dive, but the food is pricier than that. They have REAL hot sauce and the tacos are unbelievable. We go once every few weeks to get our Mexican fix in BA. Here are some pictures of the restaurant:

Pork cooking on a spit

Piggy Bank for tips

View of the inside of the restaurant

The kitchen is bustling

Fresh juices

Real hot sauce!!!!!

La Fabrica del Taco has a limited delivery area or take out service where you can order online or by calling in. They offer a 2 for 1 Happy Hour Tuesday – Sunday and are closed on Mondays.

**This restaurant review was written by BAIN Downtown member and blogger, Moira Griffiths. For this and other reviews on expat life, visit her blog: http://mg-in-ba.blogspot.com.ar/. To contribute a review or highlight your blog, contact bain.downtown@gmail.com.

Cooking Courses with Chef Daniel Taddese

Posted on August 5, 2012 by dawngill

www.conviviobuenosaires.com

August-September
Mediterranean Cuisine Series

Light French ( 7 Class Sessions)

Offered on Wednesdays or Thursdays: 10:00 am-1:00pm

Wednesdays, August 15, 22, 29 & September 5, 12, 19, 26
or
Thursdays August 16, 23, 30 & September 6, 13, 20, 27

Reservations: 15-3227-0154 or daniel@conviviobuenosaires.com

Mediterranean cuisine is characterized by flexibility, a wide range of ingredients and regional variations. Mediterranean cuisine comes from the 21 countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea. Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon, are some of the countries best known for their culinary traditions. Last month we explored Spain & Italy, for this session in the series, we will focus on France, taking inspiration from the work of Michel Guerard to produce lighter French dishes, while retaining authentic flavors.

We’ll be using seasonal fresh produce, alongside meat, seafood, and poultry preparations. Our cooking techniques will include grilling, broiling, and sautéing.

Demonstrations will be provided and students will gain hands-on experience. And we’ll all sit down to share our dishes in a convivial setting along with a glass of wine and a good conversation!

Attend three classes for AR $ 1,400

all seven classes in this session for AR$ 2,800

Single classes AR$ 500

These are small classes of 4 participants which fill quickly.

More classes coming, including: Dinner Planning, Markets of Buenos Aires, and Cooking is Cool for teenagers. Call for details or check website for updates.