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Los Talas del Entrerriano Link On any given Sunday, Los Talas del Entrerriano will grill (and sell out) more than 70 racks of beef ribs; that’s in addition to hundreds of chorizos, blood sausages, and other grilled items. What’s essentially a big tent of meat in the suburbs, the place might not serve the best steak of your life, but it certainly epitomizes the Argentine parrilla experience. Large groups tend to fill the 450 spots at the long picnic tables in the warehouse-like space, but solo diners or smaller groups can find room at the U-shaped bar overlooking the grill dedicated to achuras (organ meats). The biggest spectacle is outside: Beef, goat, and pork are splayed on iron crosses and cooked over an open-flame pit, while smaller cuts and chicken are cooked on an Olympic-sized grill. El Ferroviario Link Whole slabs of beef sizzle on the grills outside of El Ferroviario, a giant meat palace located on the outskirts of Buenos Aires in an abandoned railway station. Waiters move between the outdoor grill and mess hall balancing plates overflowing with every part of the cow. Serving more than 1,000 covers per night, this place is always a scene, and it boasts all the qualities of a great parrilla: Portions are large, prices are cheap, and groups are welcome. To avoid long wait times, reservations are a must.
El Ferroviario/Facebook Yiyo El Zeneize Link When Egidio Zoppi, an eccentric antiquarian from Genoa, immigrated to Buenos Aires in the early 1900s, he switched professions and opened up a wine and canned goods distributor. The business morphed into a popular dispensa (general store) and neighborhood hangout for tango singers, poets, artists, and gauchos. Fast forward a century, when Zoppi’s grandson and great-grandson took over the space, uncovering a trove of turn-of-the-century memorabilia and a wine cellar filled with more than 2,000 antique bottles of Campari, Cinzano, and local spirits aged in perfect condition. They restored the interior and continued the place’s legacy in the form of a cantina, serving updated spins on traditional Argentine drinks and dishes.
Martín Piccinati Anafe Link After hosting wildly popular pop-ups, chefs Mica Najmanovich and Nicolas Arcucci opened Anafe, where the vibe is laid-back but the dishes are anything but relaxed. The husband-and-wife duo reinterprets Eastern European, Italian, and Mediterranean cuisines in small plates that emphasize texture, freshness, and flavor. Vegetarians won’t leave hungry, since more than half of the menu is meat-free. Just save room for dessert, the forte of Najmanovich, a pastry chef by training. If you can’t make it for a full meal, check out the duo’s cafe, La Ventana, next door.
@buenospaladaires_/Instagram Ácido Link If Ácido leaves a sour taste in your mouth, the restaurant has succeeded. In March 2023, 26-year-old chef Nicolás Tykocki opened his first restaurant with his father on the outskirts of Chacarita. Showcasing ultra-savory, acidic flavors, the one-page menu at Ácido defies any particular cuisine, featuring eclectic dishes like Nashville-style fried chicken and cacio e pepe tteokbokki, each accompanied by a few “satellite” small plates. It’s all meant to be shared family style. Don’t miss the regular abuela pop-ups, when Tykocki invites grandmothers to take over the kitchen. Albamonte Ristorante Link You can’t visit BA without dining at a bodegón, a neighborhood tavern serving Porteño fare (generally consisting of a mix of Italian, Spanish, and grilled meat dishes). Since 1958, Albamonte’s devoted clientele has religiously returned time and again for massive plates of fusilli with red sauce or pesto, veal milanesa with french fries and salad, and thin-crust pizzas. El Pobre Luis Link Before El Pobre Luis’s famed owner, Luis Acuña, passed away in 2013, he shared the simple secrets to asado: good meat and good wood. Today, his bustling Chinatown parrilla maintains those two essential ingredients. Football jerseys line the walls and locals pack the house for salchichas parrilleras (spiraling grilled sausages) and Uruguayan pamplonas: beef, chicken, or pork rolled up with cheese, ham, and roasted red peppers, all cooked on the parrilla. Don’t miss the crispy sweetbreads, aka the caviar of grilling. Strange Brewing Link For decades, beer drinkers in Buenos Aires almost exclusively consumed Quilmes, the national brand. In recent years, however, the city has seen an artisanal beer boom of epic proportions. There may be dozens of cervecerias in every barrio, but few are quite as welcoming as this microbrewery and taproom, which serves quite solid pub grub. Strange gets busy, so get there early or expect to perch on the curb.
Strange Brewing Corte Comedor Link Expect top-quality sirloin, skirt steak, rib-eye, pork loin, and house-made chorizo at this Belgrano steakhouse, which sources everything from the team’s butcher shop next door. If cured meats are more your style, visit nearby sister restaurant Corte Charcuterie, and be sure to try the morcilla asturiana, salame criollo, and spianata with hazelnuts and pistachios.
Corte Carniceria / Facebook Catalino Link Catalino first began as a puerta cerrada (closed-door restaurant), a popular Buenos Aires restaurant model trending over the last decade. Now, their doors are open to the general public for “cocina sincera,” sincere food carefully sourced with agroecological ingredients. Relax in the beautiful patio oasis and try dishes like a choripan (sausage sandwich) with chimichurri and criolla sauce, wild boar ribs, and flan with house-made dulce de leche for dessert.
Catalino/Facebook Picaron Link Located a few blocks from the Chacarita Cemetery and Los Andes Park, Picaron is the perfect example of what an Argentine bistro looks like in 2024. There are excellent options for all sorts of diners — meat dishes, as well as a range of vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options — making it ideal for a table of mixed dietary restrictions. Highlights include maiale tonnato (a spin on a local Christmas classic, vitel toné, here featuring smoked pork), roasted sweet potatoes with oyster mushroom ceviche and ají amarillo cream, and corn ribs with llanero cheese, salsa macha, and lime. Una Canción Coreana Link There are more than a hundred Korean restaurants in the city, most tucked inside private homes in the Flores and Floresta neighborhoods. For years opera singer An Ra Chung, owner of Una Canción Coreana, has welcomed Argentine and Korean communities to this Koreatown favorite, where she serves dishes like kimchi jjigae, japchae con carne, and bo ssam. The restaurant got a PR boost when Chung appeared in the documentary Una Canción Coreana.
Una Canción Coreana/Facebook Anchoíta Link Despite his past lives as a pilot, actor, doctor, director, and activist, serial entrepreneur Enrique Piñeyro claims his most challenging role yet is his newest vocation: chef and restaurateur. His industrial-style restaurant, Anchoíta, specializes in grilled meats, river fishes, and pastas. It’s not easy to get a table, but you may have better luck at Panadería Anchoíta, the team’s bakery around the block, or at their nearby wine and cheese bar, Anchoíta Cava. Naranjo Bar Link Due to import restrictions and price, many Argentinians only drink local wines. Naranjo offers a wonderful selection of lesser-known boutique bottlings. The wine bar is located in the micro-barrio between Chacarita and Villa Crespo, where many new restaurants have recently opened. The food is not an afterthought to the wine. Try plates like carrot hummus, halloumi with tomato and peach chutney, and rib-eye with chimichurri butter. Gordo Chanta Pizza Link It took restaurateur and self-taught pizzero Juan Carlos Ortiz years to painstakingly perfect his dough at Gordo Chanta, which loosely translates to “bullshitter” in Porteño slang. The quest began on the rooftop of a Palermo bar, where Ortiz started cooking pizza for additional income during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, his effort has yielded one of the coolest restaurants on the Villa Crespo-Chacarita border, the city’s emerging gastronomic heart. The wood-fired pizza oven is the star of the show, producing creative pies topped with ultra-seasonal, local ingredients like roasted cherries, stracciatella, tomato sauce, basil, and spicy honey. While Gordo Chanta is known for its nontraditional Neapolitan-inspired pizzas, the rest of the menu consists of total bangers too: burrata with roasted peaches and pesto, fainá (chickpea cake), and a fluffy, pizza crust-like bread smeared with black garlic butter that will stick with you. More Maps The 38 Best London Restaurants, According to Eater’s Local Dining Expert The 38 Best Restaurants in Rome, According to a Best-Selling Local Cookbook Author The 38 Best Restaurants in Tokyo, According to a Local Expert Chuí Link Once upon a time it was nearly impossible for vegetarians to eat well in BA. Luckily, things have changed. Chuí doesn’t use the vegetarian label, but the wood-fired cooking is free of meat. The entire ultra-fashionable space is located in a garden oasis, where a large open-air kitchen is surrounded by a jungle of plants and trees. Before or after your meal, check out the glass chambers where the team cultivates mushrooms. Oli Café Link A grilled ham and cheese sandwich on a medialuna (like an Argentine croissant) makes for the perfect Porteño breakfast, especially at Oli Café on the cusp of the trendy Palermo and Colegiales barrios. The bright dining room overlooks a glass-walled kitchen, making a buzzy scene for pastry chef and owner Olivia Saal’s menu, which mashes up classic viennoiserie, modern diner fare, and a hint of Jewish soul. Think club sandwiches, babka, Caesar salads, crinkle fries, and a wonderland of dreamy cakes and pastries, including fosforitos: glazed pastries filled with ham and cheese. Julia Restaurante Link You’d never know from the impeccably presented dishes hitting the table that there are only a few young cooks in the tiny kitchen at Julio Baéz’s 22-seat restaurant, named after his daughter. The tasting menu changes regularly, but recent highlights include a parrilla-grilled rib-eye and fernet ice cream with grapefruit and mint. Baéz, who didn’t have the backing of any big investors, opened the unpretentious restaurant on his own to focus on the important stuff: seasonality, flavor, technique, and ingredients. Reservations are essential, but if you can’t get in, try sister restaurant Franca down the street.
Julia Restaurante Narda Comedor Link TV star and cookbook author Narda Lepes is a household name in Argentina. Her restaurant in Bajo Belgrano, Narda Comedor, resembles a mess hall where vegetables take center stage. Many dishes are inspired by Lepes’s travels across Asia, the Mediterranean, and Latin America, including must-order items like napa cabbage with anchovy-herb aioli and, the all-star hit, braised onion with creamy potato mash bathing in a rich meat stock. The all-day restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, merienda (tea time), and dinner.
Eugenio Mazzinghi Atelier Fuerza (F5 Confitería) Link Francisco Seubert started baking sourdough bread in his home after watching how-tos on YouTube. He began selling it outside specialty coffee shops around town, and today, he’s the co-owner of Atelier Fuerza, one of the fastest-growing bakeries in the country. With a team of young bakers, AF is on a mission to put Argentina’s beloved bakery culture in the spotlight, honoring traditional favorites like medialunas de grasa, ricotta cake, pastafrola, palmeritas, alfajores, and chipa.
Atelier Fuerza Dos Niño Gordo Link The city’s unconditional love for beef combines with its obsession over Asian fusion at this pan-Asian parrilla, called “Fat Boy,” where Japanese, Korean, and Chinese flavors meet Argentine traditions. Two fish tanks complete with floating faux jellyfish open onto the dining area, which is decorated with 143 red chochin lanterns. Sit at the bar for a great view of the open kitchen, where chefs plate memorable dishes like miso chile-glazed sweetbreads, steak tataki with wasabi and shiso, and the famous katsu sando: beef milanesa tonkatsu and Japanese mayo between two slices of brioche. Obrador Florida Link Argentina might be famous for its beef, but the unsung hero of the food scene is the helado. The Italian-style gelato is a big deal in BA; take a walk around any barrio and you’ll notice locals lining up at ice cream shops no matter the time of year. After a tour of the city’s classic heladerias, those looking for more unconventional flavors should head to Obrador Florida, where graphic designer turned ice cream artisan Mercedes Román carefully sources sustainable fruits to create 12 rotating flavors. Gran Dabbang Link Gran Dabbang delivers much-needed spice and flair in the city’s traditional meat-and-empanadas palate. Chef and owner Mariano Ramón, who spent time in the U.K. and India, is a master at layering flavors and textures in dishes that utilize fresh, local produce to blur the borders between Latin American and Asian cuisines. Think pacu fish marinated in hazelnut and turmeric and served with mango raita and kirkiña (an herb similar to cilantro), manioc and goat cheese bread with creamed corn and tomato chutney, and swiss chard pakoras with carrot chutney. Open Monday nights, the restaurant is a favorite haunt of the chef community.
Allie Lazar El Preferido de Palermo Link The iconic Palermo bodegón, which originally opened in 1952, got a total makeover under the careful eyes of restaurateur Pablo Rivero, of Michelin-starred steakhouse Don Julio, and chef Guido Tassi. Try upgraded Porteño comfort foods like beef or chicken milanesa with perfectly crisp fries, house-made charcuterie, and sambayón ice cream. Reservations are essential.
Laura Macias La Alacena Link This quaint trattoria just outside of Palermo’s trendy epicenter is the type of neighborhood restaurant everyone wishes to have in their barrio. Head chef and owner Julieta Oriolo channels her Italian roots to create simple and tasty home-style dishes. Be sure to try hand-made, fresh pastas like cavatelli, tortellacci, and tía Carmelia’s lasagna bolognese. Most of the pastas, sauces, freshly baked breads, and pastries are available for takeaway at La Alacena Pastificio, the team’s pasta shop a few blocks away.
La Alacena The Flour Store Link Those who say New York is the city that never sleeps have never partied in Buenos Aires. Fuel up for a night out with a burger at the Flour Store in Almagro. Nearly a decade after the city underwent a major burger and craft beer craze, this rib-eye smash burger on a freshly baked bun remains supreme. Just arrive promptly when the restaurant opens at 7 p.m. (12 p.m. on Saturdays) or expect to wait in line. Don Ignacio Link Off the tourist track in residential Almagro, this local dive is the king of the milanesa. Deep-fried flattened cutlets of chicken or veal are topped with a universe of cheesy and porky adornments. Portions are huge and prices are cheap. This is Argentine comfort food at its finest.
Allie Lazar Mishiguene Link This isn’t your bubbe’s shabbat dinner. The upscale Jewish eatery by chef Tomás Kalika recreates Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Israeli, and Mediterranean dishes using fresh ingredients and modern techniques in ways that both intrigue and evoke nostalgia. The bone-in pastrami will leave you utterly verklempt.
Mishiguene/Facebook La Conga Link Over time, Peruvian immigrants have helped shift the traditional Argentine palate toward specific flavors and spices (hola, cilantro and ají picante). La Conga, a Peruvian hangout in the Once garment district, turns out ridiculously large portions. Order the roast chicken; the full, half, or quarter bird comes with a side of french fries, salad, and sauces. With a larger group, fill the table with papa a la huancaína (potatoes in cheese sauce), chaufa (fried rice), ají de gallina (chicken stew), and lomo saltado (stir-fried beef). Roma del Abasto Link Given more than 60 percent of the population in Argentina is of Italian descent, locals take their pizza very seriously, often getting into heated debates over which pizzeria serves the best Buenos Aires-style pie. So when Roma, a “bar notable” (deemed of cultural importance by the city government), nearly shuttered after 90 years in business, the pizza-loving restaurant group behind La Fuerza Vermouth took over the idyllic Abasto corner spot. To order like a pro, start the meal with chicken and beef empanadas, followed by a wood-fired pizza al molde (thick crust), and wash it all down with the house vermút con soda water. La Cocina Link La Cocina in Recoleta bakes up a handful of empanada flavors sealed with careful repulgue folds. The stewed chicken is a keeper, as is the Pikachu, loaded with cheese, onions, and mildly spicy red pepper flakes. La Cocina also has a second downtown location hidden in Galeria Boston.
Allie Lazar Confiteria Caren Link Sandwiches de miga, a local obsession comparable to English tea sandwiches and Italian tramezzini, are often associated with celebration. The making of a miga sandwich is an art form, and Confitería Caren in Recoleta has maintained the same artisanal quality for more than 50 years. The shop only offers takeaway, so grab a variety of flavors (like ham and cheese; chicken and celery; salami and cheese; and ham, hearts of palm, and salsa golf), and bring them to nearby Parque Las Heras for a picnic. Roux Link This corner bistro near the Recoleta Cemetery has become the barrio go-to for those looking to eat and drink well. Ideal for a laid-back dinner, Roux serves fresh Mediterranean seafood dishes that are a counterpoint to the traditional meat-heavy lifestyle here. Small groups can request the private chef’s table in the wine cellar.
Allie Lazar Los Galgos Bar Link Many local cafes resemble hipster specialty coffee shops instead of historic Buenos Aires landmarks, but Los Galgos revives the city’s nostalgic cafe culture for the modern age. Set in a revived corner spot in Tribunales that dates back to the 1930s, the cafe serves a properly made cortado, plus solid food throughout the day. The toasted ham and cheese sandwiches attract courthouse workers for breakfast. Then a rowdy lunch crowd piles in for hearty fried milanesa with fried eggs and Russian salads, or revuelto gramajo, an egg scrambler topped with ham or vegetables and shoestring potatoes. Cocktail aficionados commute from afar for pre-dinner aperitivos and charcuterie picada platters.
Los Galgos Parrilla Peña Link One of the few remaining traditional no-frills steakhouses in BA, Parrilla Peña is always a solid option for quality food in an unpretentious setting. Every meal starts with a complimentary fried empanada, and then pros order dishes like provoleta cheese, ensalada, bife de chorizo (sirloin), provenzal fries, and flan mixto (with dulce de leche and whipped cream) for dessert. If you want to really fit in, order the house table wine and lighten it with ice and a splash of soda water. Aramburu Link Hidden in the opulent Pasaje del Correo passageway in Recoleta, chef and owner Gonzalo Aramburu’s namesake, two-Michelin-starred restaurant serves one of the last remaining tasting menus in the city. Request a table overlooking the kitchen and watch as the chefs prepare an 18-course menu featuring local seasonal ingredients, complete with foams, clouds of liquid nitrogen, and carefully selected wine pairings.
Aramburu/Facebook Mercado de San Telmo Link The Mercado de San Telmo opened in 1897 as one of the city’s first major markets to cater to European immigrants. Today, most stalls have shifted from serving the local community to attracting a tourist clientele. Despite feeling like Disneyland, the market is still worth a visit. Make your way to the Beba Cocina stall for classic home-style empanadas, fainá, and tortilla Española. Or pop over to neighboring stand Nuestra Parrilla for choripan (sausage sandwich), before washing down your meal at Nilson with a glass of wine. El Gauchito Link Empanadas are omnipresent in BA. They come in all shapes and sizes, baked or fried, filled with flavors that often tell stories of particular places. While you’ll encounter the handheld pockets on every calle, there’s something special about this tiny empanada dive in San Telmo, named after Gauchito Gil, a Robin Hood-like gaucho saint. Roberto “Beto” Ormeño is known for fried beef empanadas, which recall his childhood in Argentina’s La Rioja province. On a cold day, tuck into other regional delicacies, like a bowl of locro, a soul-warming stew especially popular during national holidays. (责任编辑：) |
