Buenos Aires

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I Can’t Believe I Did That

   My friend Venetia is back from her long vacation in Europe, so on Saturday we spent the day wandering around downtown, enjoying the spring weather. When it came time for lunch, we happened upon a lovely bodegón, the Argentine equivalent of a French bistro.

Love the sign pointing to the washroom!

When we went inside we were delighted! It was classic old Buenos Aires, down to the furniture, the way they displayed the bottles and the tiles on the floor. It also had a distinct tango vibe, with pictures of the old tango masters on the walls. When we had been there about ten minutes, and before we had begun lunch, a young guy sat down and started to play the bandoneón — that soulful, concertina-like instrument that gives tango its distinctive melancholy sound. Well, that was the icing on the cake. Venetia pronounced herself happy to be back in Buenos Aires.

Venetia took these photos and the video, so you can probably see the improvement from my usual ones!

But my feet were itching to dance tango!

Along the wall were several tables, most of which were occupied by groups of people. But the one closest to us was occupied by a man on his own. He looked to be in his sixties. I don’t know what got into me, but I gave him the classic mirada, the flirty glance that’s used in the milonga to entice a man to ask you to dance! He looked a bit startled – not surprisingly — and before I could think twice, I pointed to the small space in front of the bandoneón and said, “Queria bailar tango?” (Would you like to dance tango?)

Venetia nearly fell off her chair!

The man smiled and said he was sorry but he didn’t dance tango, but he thanked me very much for asking. I looked at Venetia and said, “I can’t believe I did that!” She said she thought it was very brave of me, but in retrospect I just thought it was a bit daft. But I’m sure the man will dine out on it for a while — I’m sitting in this bodegón minding my own business and this crazy woman asks me to dance!

Venetia’s steak was tender and juicy, but unfortunately mine was tough as old leather and I couldn’t eat it. I didn’t complain, but just told the waitress it was very tough. When the bill came there was no charge for mine. That’s good customer service, so I would go back.

But I won’t ask any more strange men to dance!

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Research at the Black Cat

These are the spices that create the wonderful aroma

We had a fun research lunch at El Gato Negro on Thursday. We were five: Lina, Joanna, Gayle, Venetia and me.

El Gato Negro is one of the old, classic Bares Notables, and it’s typical of old Buenos Aires. It looks small when you go in the front door, but if you keep walking past the bar you find it opens up into another seating space at the back. Apparently there is more upstairs, but I haven’t ventured there yet.

We pushed two very small tables together to accommodate us, and it was definitely cozy. But the place was packed, so that’s the best we could do.

 

Venetia’s fish fortunately tasted better than it looked!

Not quite sure what to call this beef dish in English but it was yummy.

Joanna and I had lomo salteado (kind of a stir

You can tell Lina was happy with her choice of salad.

fry/stew of filet) which was delicious. Lina was very noble and had a salad. Venetia’s fish left something to be desired in terms of presentation, but she said it was very good. Gayle asked for a croque madame, but they brought a croque monsieur and she sent it back to have the eggs removed! Everyone was happy with the food.

El Gato Negro is also famous for fresh spices, not only in the food but available for purchase, as well as a huge variety of teas. As a result, when you open the door you are enveloped in a delicious aroma. I’ve bought tea there before, and I’m always tempted by the spices, but as I’m not an ambitious cook I think the effort would be wasted. But Lina bought a special Moroccan spice which she was dying to try.

I have the email address of the manager, and I’m going to set up an interview sometime soon. Lovely little place, and everyone would be happy to go back.

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Bar Notable “New Brighton”

New Brighton, Bar Notable of Buenos Aires

This is a Bar Notable of Buenos Aires? It looks more like a high-end gentlemen’s club in England. There’s good reason for that, and it goes back to the place’s history, but I’ll talk about that in another post.

It’s much bigger than it looks from the outside, as the whole space is long and narrow. The dark wood paneling is lustrous and elegant. The mirrors, of which there are many, are polished to within an inch of their lives. The table linen is blindingly white. Two stag heads are mounted on the wall, but even these are understated in an English kind of way.

Lina and I select a bottle of wine. When the waiter brings it, instead of asking one person to taste it, in the usual way, he asks us both. I wonder what would happen if one liked it and the other didn’t! A nice touch though.

Lina selects a risotto of spinach and smoked salmon. When she takes her first forkful, her eyes close and she utters an ecstatic “Mmmmmm!” I can’t count the number of times she pronounces it delicious before it’s done.

I have the Spanish omelette. In Canada they always seem to smother them in tomato sauce, but here they serve them as they do in Spain—stuffed with potatoes and no sauce needed.  It’s one of my favourite dishes and the one I often choose in Bares Notables. It gives me a point of comparison to see who does it best. So far it’s a tie between New Brighton and Los Galgos. This one is very large, and before serving the waiter asks if I would like to have it cut in two. I do. I’m sure he knows from experience I will want to take half home with me.

I know some people think omelettes should be runny, but I’m not one of them, so I always ask for it cozido (cooked). When he cuts into it, he notices it is quite liquid, so he thinks I would probably like it cooked a little more. I agree. Pro-active — I like that.

Before leaving, I ask to speak to the manager, Mariela. I explain what I am doing, and we arrange for me to go in by myself next Wednesday at 11 am for coffee, when she will talk to me about New Brighton. Before the lunchtime crowd arrives I will also have free rein to sketch. I’m looking forward to it.

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Bares Notables Research—Los Galgos

Los Galgos is one of my favourite places to have lunch or merienda, but this was the first time I’d gone with the book research in mind. I was joined by Lina, Joanna and Joanna’s husband Gary.

Galgos means greyhound, and the motif is used very effectively on the menu, as well as in the rest of the decor. I took a couple of photos of the inside, but they don’t really show the greyhound theme well. I’m going to go back there on my own and chat with the manager. I’ll go when it’s not too busy and then I can sketch and take better photos.

The food is very good. I like Spanish omelettes, so I eat them a lot and can compare. So far, the one at Los Galgos is the best. The others had meatballs, some sort of steamed dish that contained fish and veggies, and milanesa. Milanesa is a very popular “cheap and cheerful” dish here. It’s a flattened piece of beef or veal or chicken, breaded and fried. Gary’s came a caballo, or on horseback, which is what they call it when it has fried eggs on top—I was familiar with that term as they also use it in Portugal. Everyone proclaimed their food delicious.

In fact, all in all, Los Galgos gets top marks from everyone.

I haven’t scheduled next week’s events yet, but everyone is looking forward to them.

 

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More ‘Research’

Starting on my right, Lola, Gail, Gillian, Lolly, Lina, Wendy, Joanna — the usual suspects!

Last night I went with seven chicas on another research dinner for my book. This time it was Caffe Tabac, which I hadn’t even realize was a Bar Notable. It’s in a different part of the city, which is good because I don’t want to go only to the ones in San Telmo — even though they are the best.

I’ll have to go back to take photos of the place, as we were kind of hemmed in at a corner table. It’s sort of mid-century modern in style, with lots of light wood paneling and lovely donut chandeliers.

 

Yummy canapes

The food was OK, but nothing to write home about. Ditto the service, although our waiter was nice. But we all agreed the canapes were delicious, and in fact some of us had little room for dinner!

 

 

 

I don’t indulge in cocktails often, but as the others were I decided to go for a Bellini, which made a nice change. We also ordered a different type of red wine called Bonarda, which is often blended with Malbec, and I quite liked it.

Some of the others had been to Tabac for lunch or merienda and all said that was better. So my plan is to go back when the weather gets warmer and sit outside for merienda. I’ll take more photos and maybe do a sketch. I also hope to interview the manager, who wasn’t there tonight.

Next event is on Friday for lunch. I’ll have to start watching my waistline!

 

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Research: Bar El Federal

We started the research again last week into the Bares Notables for my upcoming book. The first outing was for dinner at Bar El Federal, one of the oldest ones in San Telmo. There were just three of us – Lina, Wendy and me — but it was a fun evening and I got opinions from everyone. All good.

Here are a few of the photos I took.

The Menu

Behind the bar.

Lots of chorizo for the ever-popular picadas

Wendy and Lina

As you can see, the iconic portrait of Che Guevara graces the bar, so I thought I’d talk about him to add some spice to the book. For example, did you know his name wasn’t Che? It was actually Ernesto. “Che” is a very Argentine word that can mean many things, from “hey you” to “friend” to just a filler word that doesn’t really mean anything. When

Lovely old cash register on the end of the bar

he went to Cuba to join the revolution, as an Argentine of course he kept saying it. One of his comrades starting referring to him by it, and it stuck. Hence: Che Guevara. See — every day’s a school day!

Tomorrow we are going to Caffee Tabac, quite different from Federal, but also a Bar Notable. Stay tuned.

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More tango togs!

Here are two more of the tango outfits I bought last week.

The first one is actually a dress, not a skirt and top. It’s stretchy velvet. Tango clothes have no zippers and they are worn very tight. You have to allow for that when getting dressed — it takes me a while to struggle into them!

You can’t really see the skirt to advantage here, but it’s shocking pick with a thin black lace overlay — and a waist-to-hem black lace fish tail! I hesitated over that one, but I’m glad I got it. It swishes as I dance! The top is again tight stretchy velvet, with lace sleeves.

I think I may have said this before, but the milonga is the last bastion of over-the-top dressing, where you can be as fancy as you like. You can wear clothes you wouldn’t wear anywhere else, and I have to say I enjoy the whole experience more when I’m in these fabulous outfits!

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Tango Togs!

Well you already know about my tango shoe obsession, but I’ve recently been updating my tango clothes collection.

  When my friend Venetia came to Buenos Aires a few years ago, she thought she would dance tango. So she went out and bought this beautiful (and obviously very expensive) black silk chiffon skirt. Then she decided tango wasn’t for her, and she forgot about the skirt. She recently unearthed in in a cupboard and gave it to me. I love it! It’s cut on the bias and swirls beautiful when I pivot!

I bought this skirt on Friday afternoon and wore it Sunday night! Red crushed velvet with a fishtail — the milonga is the last bastion of over-the-top dressing!

At Sueño Porteño, where I went last night, they take random photos of the dancers for their Facebook page. This is me with one of my first partners of the evening. What a great dancer he was!

As if all this weren’t enough, I went shopping again today and bought more! My challenge tonight will be deciding which outfit to wear.

And today I secured another new client — so you know what that means! Stay tuned for photos.

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Two Dinners

This week I went out to dinner a couple of times.

After my tango lesson every week, I go to a little local place called El Sanjuanino, because I can’t be bothered cooking when I get home. This week, Cecilia’s sister Adriana was visiting and she wanted to see me. So we killed two birds with one stone, and here we are eating some of the best empanadas in Buenos Aires. They also serve the house wine in what they call a pinguino, which you can see on the table. You can’t see it very well here, but it’s a big wine jug shaped like a penguin.

Yesterday there was supposed to be a street fair featuring all the provinces of Argentina. It was a lovely sunny day, and I planned to meet some friends and go. Lina arrived on the scene first and WhatsApp’d to say there was no sign of a fair. Apparently it was cancelled, no idea why — oh well, it’s Buenos Aires!

But it was so nice I wanted to go out anyway, so I met up with Lina in San Telmo and we had a late lunch in La Poesia. This is one of my favourites of the Bares Notables, about which I am once again writing a book. The official “research” starts next week, but I’ll take any opportunity to go to La Poesia.

Lina is a steak girl — the rarer the better. I think this one walked into the restaurant and jumped on her plate. I went with lighter fare, as I prefer my steak at dinnertime. These cold plates, with cheese and olives and cold meats etc. are called picadas, and I could practically live on them.

This wall is typical of the kind of things you find in these old bars. I’ll be writing more about La Poesia when we come here for the research night. (I’ll be glad when Venetia gets back and we get some decent photographs — not my forte!)

 

 

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No new tango clothes!

Last weekend I did a review of my tango wardrobe and decided there were some gaps that needed filling. So on Monday afternoon, after my day’s work was done, I set off to the shop where I bought my last stuff.

I had checked their website and seen a dress I liked, but when I saw it in the shop, I didn’t like the colours — kind of drab I felt. I told the woman I like vibrant colours, and she told me she would be getting some more in next Monday. So I made a note to go back then.

But I still yearned for a sleek, tight tango dress with long tight sleeves, so back to the Internet I went. I discovered there’s a tango dress shop not far from me, so this afternoon I set off there. I found the shop, but the lights were out even though the hours said 2 – 8 pm Monday to Friday and it was 3.30 pm on Tuesday. A sign said “ring the bell”, which is quite common here. I rang twice but nothing happened, so I left — dejected.

Along the street is a cafe with outside tables, and today there was a definite hint of spring in the air (remember, Southern Hemisphere), so I sat down and ordered a nice glass of white wine.

I pulled out my phone and went to the shop’s Facebook page, where I sent an enquiry via  Messenger. I said I had been there at 3.30 pm and asked what their hours were, perhaps on Friday — thinking I couldn’t do anything else today. A few minutes later I got a response, and the following conversation took place (in Spanish):

Her: We are open from 2 – 8 pm Monday to Friday. You have to ring the bell.

Me: I did ring the bell, twice.

Her: Silence.

Me: I’m quite close. If I come by at 4 pm will someone attend me?

Her: We’re not open today. But we’ll see you on Friday.

I smiled, shrugged and said to myself, “It’s Buenos Aires!” Then I went back to enjoying my wine and the sunny afternoon on beautiful Avenida Santa Fé.