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.

Restaurant Review – La Pecora Nera

Posted on July 30, 2012 by dawngill

Ayacucho 1785 | Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina

It’s not hard to find an Italian restaurant in Buenos Aires…it seems like half the population here are from Italian decent. In fact Buenos Aires began to accept immigrants in large numbers as early as the 1860′s and an estimated 2,250,000 Italians came to Argentina between 1861 and 1914…so you can see how the city is in love with its pizza and pasta heritage.

However, its all about finding a good Italian restaurant and boy do I have a great one for you to check out. It’s called ‘La Pecora Nera’ (or ‘The Black Sheep’ in Italian)…a quaint little romantic establishment nestled in one of Buenos Aires ritziest areas, Recoleta. The atmosphere is very ‘closed’ door reservation only style (I know this because you can’t just walk in, you must be greeted by one of the staff at the locked door), which to some could be perceived as quite pretentious but in actual fact it creates a very intimate setting.

The food is amazing with my wife and I ordering antipasti, platos principals, dolce and cafe (entree, main, deserts and coffee just incase ). With a nice bottle of Argentinian syrah coating our palates we were ready for our gastronomic adventure to begin. We started with beef capaccio and a fish pie strudel. Both were very well seasoned and both came with a small side salad. Fresh crisp pastry on the strudel and tender thin slices of capacho…yum! Next course we both had a vegetarian pasta dish. I had the mushroom ravioli and my wife had a french onion inspired special pasta dish which also turned out to be ravioli. Whilst I don’t normally order much pasta in restaurants, I have to say this was exceptionally cooked and well filled…more points on the main.

You know when you feel satisfied after 2 courses but not stuffed, like you’ve been force fed too many fries at a cheap restaurant? Well here we were just right, so dessert was a given. Boy were we glad we had that left over room because dessert was to die for! I had a Yin Yang chocolate mousse which was super rich and melted in my mouth! My wife however had the standout dish of the evening…Apple strudel with homemade cinnamon ice cream…IT WAS AWESOME!!! Super crisp pastry, freshly cooked apples and the ice cream had to be the most amazing ice cream i’ve ever had…and I’ve been to Italy many times so I know a good gelato when I taste one. Coffee was coffee, Illy an Italian coffee brand (thank god it wasn’t Argentinian – see my coffee blog, lol) and I topped the meal off with a nice desert wine.

So this place must have cost an arm and a leg right? Well surprisingly not. All this for 2 people cost just $488 ARS which is around £68/$100 AUD. Anywhere you go for that quality of food is a great buy.

Overall this place is tops! Great atmosphere, top notch super friendly service and outstanding food…what more could you want? We will definitely be returning soon.

**This restaurant review was written by BAIN Downtown member and blogger, Joel Devenish. For this and other reviews on everything Buenos Aires, visit his blog: http://joeldevenish.wordpress.com/. To contribute a review or highlight your blog, contact bain.downtown@gmail.com.

July Monthly Meeting/Social

Posted on July 18, 2012 by dawngill

BAIN DOWNTOWN FRIDAY, JULY 27!

BAIN Downtown members are invited to join in this month’s Strictly Social Meeting. We will enjoy food, drinks and great company at Porte Zuelo, a Lounge Bar and Music Club on calle Vicente Lopez. The meeting’s start time is later, beginning at 5:30pm, and there is a 2 for 1 Happy Hour menu available until 9pm!

Place: Porte Zuelo, Vicente Lopez 2160: http://www.portezueloweb.com/

Date: Friday, July 27, 2012

Time: 5:30 p.m. – A change from the usual, hopefully some of our working members can join us after the workday!

Program: Conversation! Meet someone new! Bring a friend and introduce them to BAIN! We will provide light appetizers and finger foods while our members and their guests enjoy the Happy Hour specials of 2 for 1 beverages for purchase until 9pm!

Fees: BAIN Downtown Members – no charge, BAIN Suburbs Members – $AR10, Guests – $AR20 *If you sign up for BAIN Downtown at the meeting, your guest fee is waved!

For more information, or to join BAIN Downtown, contact bain.downtown@gmail.com