MARIANI’S

  October 17, 2004                                                         NEWSLETTER

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Readers may now access an Archive of all past newsletters--each annotated--dating back to July, 2003, by simply clicking on  ARCHIVE .

Buenos Aires is a city of large neighborhoods, some strung along the Rio de la Plata, some pocketed into the city center, while others straddle the world's broadest boulevard--Avenida 9 de Julio--or lie along the city's generously apportioned and maintained greenlands, including the Jardim Botanico, the Parque de Febrero, the Parque Lezama, and the Reserva Ecológica Parque Natural Costanera Sur. 
    The oldest neighborhood is San Telmo, which has a celebrated Sunday flea market, while La Boca is a section of tatty, narrow streets with baroque, colonial, and folkloric architecture coinciding with streets teeming with porteños, many of Italian extraction, who live in odd, very colorfully painted houses of corrugated tin (left).   Here is one of the city's better Italian restaurants, Il Matterello (517 Martín Rodríguez; 4307-0529), not much to look out inside or out, but very popular and very friendly, run with a familial care for wholesome cooking, evident in dishes like their tagliatelle with arugula, ravioli stuffed with chicken and dressed with basil and olive oil, and the charcoal-grilled chicken. Dinner will run about $15 each, $20 if you eat and drink heartily. (By the way, a standard tip in a restaurant is 10%.)

         The most fashionable neighborhood right now is called Recoleta, where the best international hotels have located, including the Alvear Palace Hotel, The Four Seasons, where I dined, and the new Sofitel (814-849 Arroyo; 54-11-4131-0123; www.sofitel.com), where I stayed and dined.  This Sofitel  is strikingly handsome, renovated from an historic 1929 building by architect Daniel Fernández and interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon in a mix of Art deco and French classic. Huge ficus trees line the long lobby (right), above which is a spectacular glass dome and a marvelous iron-and-bronze chandelier with 48 tulip-shaped lampshades.  To one side is the dining room Le Sud (below), to the other the wood-panelled bar named Café Arroyo and The Library.  There are 144 rooms in the hotel, all done in a light, airy style, with all modern amenities, marble bathrooms  and excellent service from a staff dressed by designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac.  There is also a very convenient room with Internet access and computer guests may use.
      Chef Thierry Pszonka, formerly chef at the prestigious La Bourgogne in town and before that at Lameloise in France, sets a carefully crafted, sophisticated menu at Le Sud with many Mediterranean flavor notes, evident in a delicious plate of gurnard fillets filled with olive tapenade and tomato purée, its vegetables perfumed with vanilla. With this came a lovely Crios Rosado de Malbec 2003. I also enjoyed an appetizer of portobello mushroom with white spider crab, roasted egg, and delicious spice bread; the main course was a superb, richly flavorful breast of duck, cooked pink, with the tang of cherry vinegar, potatoes and quail egg, accompanied by a hearty Salentein Merlot Roble 2002.  Desserts were beautiful and light, fruit based and accompanied by a Luigi Bosca Gewürztraminer 2002.  Dinner at Le Sud will cost about $30.

     The Four Seasons Hotel (Avenida 9 de Julio; 54-11-4321-1200; www.fourseasons.com) has made its mark in Buenos Aires by taking over a previous tenant's tower hotel and carefully renovating the exquisite La Mansion  (right) across a sunny garden-pool area. The hotel has 165 rooms, one-third of them suites, and its restaurant Galani (soon to be re-designed) is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I had a superb tasting menu meal here via British-born Chef Ashley James that began with a fine spiced banana and coconut milk soup with lemongrass and shrimp, with which I drank a Torrontes varietal by San Pedro de Yacochuya.  This was followed by saffron-scented crab ravioli with an enchanting almond-and-candied lemon sauce, not too sweet and very light, served with a chardonnay from one of Mendoza's best producers, Angélica Zapata Alta.  James seared sweetbreads slightly, keeping their delicate texture intact, serving them with a red wine-and-candied shallot tart, with a mesclun salad dressed with a roasted walnut vinaigrette; the wine was a fruity syrah from Finca La Anita.  The fish course was a grouper seared with a little anise flavoring and accompanied by caramelized leeks and a mushroom couscous, followed by two renditions of Patagonian lamb--thyme-perfumed lamb cutlets with an eggplant caponata, and a "crispy lamb parcel" that had been very slowly cooked for seven hours.  A big, luscious malbec from Doña Paula Seleccion de Bodega was an ideal match for this rich meat dish.  Then came caramelized goat's cheese with a tomato chutney and flatbread, finishing off with a wonderful warm chocolate tart with raspberry sorbet. Dinner, without wine, will run about $30 per person.

      Much of the bar and dining action in Buenos Aires takes place along the reclaimed waterfront area called Puerto Madero (left), a long  stretch of red brick buildings that once served as wharves. One of the most popular spots (you always need a reservation, despite its huge size) is  Cabaña Las Lilas (516 Avenida. Alicia M. de Justo; 4313-1336), which has inside and outside seating, fast-paced service, and  a terrific meat-based menu that is cooked up in high volume but very carefully in an open kitchen whose wafted aromas will drop you in your tracks the moment you enter the place.  You will be hungry, you will be thirsty, and you will be very happy surrounded by Porteños, young and old, and every visitor who comes to town (which includes Bill and Hillary Clinton).  The beef is very good, with numerous cuts available, and there are juicy, grilled sausages, wonderful potatoes glossed with olive oil, and a sense that you are truly in the belly of Buenos Aires.  You'd be hard put to pay more than $25 for dinner here.

    One of the cooler, sleeker new casual restaurants in the neighborhood is a bar-restaurante   named Bas (260 Malecon Pierina Dealessi; 4312-2037; www.basbuenosaires.com), done in beautiful tones of blue and white, with large windows, and a very good bar.  The specialty here is seafood, and there is a remarkable $10 three-course menu of soup, main course, dessert, and a glass of wine.
     An even newer hot neighborhood, though quite an old one, north of Recoleta, and now nicknamed  “Palermo Hollywood” because of the number of movies shot here, is teeming with art galleries and funky boutiques, and more than 300 cafes and restaurants, with more opening every week, including the hip new  O-Bistro Argentino (1626 Thames; 4833-6991) and Green Bamboo (5802 Costa Rica; 4775-7050). One of the innovators in the area is a corner restaurant named Un Galo para Esculapio (Uriarte y Costa Rica; 4831-7666; www.galloparaesculapio.com.ar), a multi-tiered place (right) whose curious name--"a rooster for Esculapio"-- refers to Socrates' cryptic pronouncement to his disciples (Asclepius was the Greek god of medicine).  It serves a variety of tapas, sandwiches, and the inevitable cuts of beef, and the bar is usually hopping every night of the week.

      One of the best restaurants I dined at in Buenos Aires is also one of the most charming. You walk into Oviedo (2602 Beruti; 4821-3741; www.oviedoresto.com.ar) and immediately feel very comfortable.  The room seems a perfect size for a restaurant; the lighting is golden and warm; the eclectic gastronomic artwork is eccentric and wonderful; service could not be better (they speak good English here); and the wine list is probably the largest in the city, a magnificent collection of the very best of Argentinean and international wines, most of them hidden beneath a trap door just inside the entrance.  Ask to go down and see the caves; they are fascinating.
     Add to this some of the finest seafood you'll ever eat anywhere--this, in a carnivore's heaven--and you'll learn why I think Oviedo is just about perfect. Martín Rebaudino y Ramón Chiliguay (with staff at left) are the chefs here, and they have a well-developed ability never to make a mistake in texture when cooking their fish, from grilled shrimps a la plancha (the most expensive item on the menu at $14) or scallops au gratin to baked corvina with potatoes in olive oil or the deep-sea stone bass (chernia) with garlic and vegetables.  There is also seafood paella, salmon ravioli, and meats for those who haven't had enough elsewhere,  For dessert have the housemade ice cream, the cream custards, the Mendoza quinces with ice cream,  or the oso panda chocolate cake with berries. 
    Then afterwards head out into the sweet night of Buenos Aires and make it a long one at a club where your heart will soon start to beat in time with the tango.

A  very comprehensive local guide, Restaurantes Buenos Aires 2004 by Alicia Delgado and Maria E. Péréz [Editorial El Ateneo], in both Spanish and English, notes on almost every page that the restaurants has "Surveillance," meaning that you and your car should be safely watched.

Dept. of Corrections: The correct spelling for the bitter tea favored by Porteños is mate.



NOW IT CAN BE TOLD

My annual round-up of The Best New Restaurants of the Year has just come out in this month's issue of Esquire (November). Here are my picks. Congratulations to them all.--John Mariani

BEST NEW RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR: Patina, Los Angeles

CHEF OF THE YEAR: Masa Takayama, Masa, NYC

BEST NEW RESTAURANTS (in alphabetical order of city)
Atlanta: Restaurant Eugene--Chef Linton Hopkins
            Rathbun's--Kevin Rathbun
Boston: Restaurant L--Pino Maffeo
Charleston, SC: Sienna--Ken Vedrinski
Denver: Table 6--Aaron Whitcombe
El Dorado Hills, CA: Masque Ristorante--Angelo Auriana
Greenwich, CT: Gaia--Frederic Kieffer
Houston: 17--Jeff Armstrong
Keswick, VA: Fossett's--John Brand
New Orleans: Cafe Adelaide & Swizzle Stick Cafe--Kevin Vizard
NYC: BLT Steak--Laurent Tourondel
          Mas--Galen Zamarra
Philadelphia: Bliss--Francesco Martorella
Providence, RI: Lot 401--Rachel Klein
San Francisco: Tartare--George Morrone
Seattle: Union--Ethan Stowell
Washington, DC: Le Paradou--Yannick Cam

CHEFS TO KEEP YOUR EYE ON
-Anthony Gonçalves, Trotter's, White Plains, NY
-Robert Sulatycky, Seasons at the Four Seasons, Chicago
-Robert Iacovone, Cuvee, New Orleans
-Craig Koketsu, Manhattan Ocean Club, NYC
-Scott Johnson, Canoe Bay, Chetek, WI

BEST NEW VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT
Green Zebra, Chicago.

BEST NEW BARBECUE
ZydeQue, New Orleans

BEST NEW RESTAURANT OUTSIDE THE U.S.A.
Agua, Los Cabos, Mexico

BEST RESTAURANT DESIGN:  Megu, NYC

NEW YORK CORNER
by John Mariani

    The effusive explosion of Greek seafood restaurants in NYC following the success, five years ago, of the trend-setting Milos on West 55th Street has been nothing short of amazing, given the complete lack of such restaurants prior to that. Milos which was the first to showcase fish you chose yourself and have grilled simply with Greek olive oil, lemon, and capers.  Yes, there were Greek restaurants in NYC, the majority in the large Greek neighborhood of Astoria, Queens (an excellent source for Greek food and wines), but they were more Greek-American in style, with all the usual clichés of Greek salads and Greek meatballs and ultra-sweet Greek pastries.  Milos, together with the far more comprehensive restaurant Molyvos nearby, brought exciting Greek food to everyone's attention, and, so I'm told, to the attention of restaurateurs in Greece itself who had lapsed into mediocrity over the years.
     One of the best newcomers in the genre is En Plo, which means "Set Sail," and its specialty is seafood, unstintingly fresh and treated with respect by owners Katerina Kampouroglou and Peter Spyropoulos (pictured below), who had been involved with another Greek restaurant, Pelagos, on these same premises until recently.  Some kind of management disagreement brought the restaurant into their sole possession, and, having not been thrilled by its earlier incarnation, I was hopeful En Plo would be better. It is. Much better.
    The  brownstone premises still retain a rustic cheeriness, with wood floors, terra cotta walls, and a lavish display of fruits, vegetables, and seafood that immediately strikes a chord of freshness here.  Downstairs there is a bar/lounge called an ouzerie, where you can eat mezes and sip ouzos by the dozen.  The wine list of Greek wines is a good, solid indication of modern Hellenic viniculture, and prices are quite reasonable across the board, Trust Katerina to choose an unfamiliar bottle for you, and you'll be very happy indeed. Menu prices are equally fair, with lunch entrees from $11.95-$18.95, and dinner entrees $17.95-$29.50 (though fish is sold by the pound), which is somewhat below comparable estiatorios of this stripe.
     It's always a tough decision to choose among myriad Greek appetizers, and they are meant to be shared.  I cannot resist the charcoal-grilled octopus with onions and wine vinegar at En Plo, the octapodi wonderfully pliant, soaking up flavor from the grill and onions and tangy from the vinegar. Saganaki filo pastries with spinach, feta, leeks and dill went fast at our table, as did plump, grilled calamari stuffed with feta, tomato and herbs.  We also polished off a large platter of crisp, beautifully fried zucchini and eggplant chips with a tzatziki dip, and I'm always a sucker for the fried cheese called kefalograviera. 

    En Plo is a very fine addition to the upper west side, which is quickly gaining its footing in just about every ethnic food culture. En Plo leads the way in Greek. And the owners are very sweet people who care very much about every customer.
  

SNIVELING ÜBER-SCHWEIN!

"SCENE: Set in a hushed dining room on the fifth floor of the Hotel Palomar near Union Square, this restaurant caters to a crowd ready to set down serious cash for a serious dinner. Pristine white tablecloths and an infield of über-attentive spit-and-polish servers are tethered to every table."--Review of Fifth Floor Restaurant in the magazine 7X7SF (June 2004).

AND WAIT TILL YOU TASTE THE "TOOTSIE BURGER" AND THE  "GASSENHEIMER BLT"

A restaurant has opened in Melbourne, Australia, named Beanz Meanz Heinz that specializes in a menu of baked bean dishes, including  "The Crawf," a bean pizza named after the owner, an AFL football player named  Shane Crawford, shown in the photo at the right.
 

QUICK BYTES

 * This fall, Hotel Bel-Air continues its signature winemaker's dinners with 5 evenings, with cuisine by Executive Chef Douglas Dodd. Oct. 21: Trefethen Vineyards, A Harvest Feast with John Trefethen; Nov. 8: Tenute Sette Pontiwith Dr. Antonio Moretti; Nov. 11: Sterling Winery Wine and Cheese Dinner with Ron Lilly, Cellar Master; Nov. 18: Cain Vineyards, with Chris Howell; Dec. 2: Dom Perignon. Each dinner $125 pp. Call (310) 909-1602.

* From Oct. 18-31  NYC’s  Trata (212-535-3800) will launch a 5-Course Greek Wine Tasting Dinner, created by Executive Chef Christos Christou, paired with regional Greek boutique wines.  $70 pp.

* On Oct. 20 NYC's North Square Restaurant  will host a 6-course Harvest Dinner to celebrate the wines of Seneca Lake and New York’s fall produce. Producers as Standing Stone, Hermann J. Wiemer and Lamoreaux Landing will be featured, along with. varieties of squash from New York farms in a dinner by Chef Yoel Cruz.  $65 pp. Call 212-254-1200.

* W. R. Tish   is offering a series of  events combining  food, wines and  humor. On Oct. 26, "Blind Leading the Blind," a tasting of 16 brown-baggers rated on "the 100-point scale." At the NY Friars Club,
$88 pp. . . . Nov. 10, "Is Spain the New France?" with  Fino Sherry, Albariño, La Mancha, Rioja (Gran Reserva), Toro, Cataluña, PX. At  Metropolitan Cafe, $85 pp. Visit www.wineforall.com

* On Oct. 25  The St. Francis “BIG RED” walk-around tasting will  benefit the American Institute of Wine & Food’s “Days of Taste” children’s educational programs at NYC’s  Guastavino’s, with participating wineries St. Francis Winery & Vineyards,  Croft Porto, Delaforce Porto, Fonseca Porto, Taylor Fladgate Porto, and Taittinger Champagne, and restaurants Aix, Acquavit, Beacon, Blue  Hill, Capital Grille, Cupcake Café, Frank’s,  Gallagher’s Steakhouse, Guastavino’s, Keen’s Chophouse, Maloney & Porcelli, Morton’s of Chicago, Nick & Stef’s, Oceo, Payard Bistro, Post House, Riingo, Savannah Steak, The Palm One, Pulse at the Sports Club/LA, Tom Cat Bakery, Tribeca Grill. Silent  auction. $100 pp, $90 for AIWF members. Call 718-229-6565 or visit www.kobrandbigreds.com.

* On Oct. 27 Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto in Berkeley, CA, has announced a Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine 4-course dinner by  Executive Chef Alfredo Hernandez.  $54.95 pp. Call 510-845-7771; www.spengers.com. . . . Also, Spenger's has announced a month-long benefit program that will raise money for the Berkeley Food & Housing Project (BFHP). During the first week of November, the benefit menu item will be the Coconut Shrimp appetizer; during the 2^nd and 3rd weeks, seared ahi tuna, followed by the grilled stuffed rainbow trout; then banana cream pie.

 * On Nov. 14 in Chicago,  ristorante we and Executive Chef Charlie Brown, Chicagourmets, and AIWF will join together to host chef-author Michael Lomonaco, author of Nightly Specials. $65 for members and $75 for non-members.  Call 708-383-7543.

* On Nov. 15 Gruppo Ristoratori Italiani in NYC is holding its annual Italian food & wine fundraiser, VINO E CUCINA, at Cipriani @ 200 Fifth Avenue, showcasing the region of Lazio.  The City of Rome will be represented by  La Rosetta and its chef-owner, Massimo Riccioli. Proceeds to GRI Giacomo Bologna Wine Scholarship Fund. Also, a live auction will take place. $75 pp in advance, $90 at door. Call  212-262-2128.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: This newsletter is also available on the very comprehensive food site www.sautewednesday.com
which has dozens of other links to food articles from around the world, and also at www.Gayot.com. New York Corner reviews are also available at
 www.nycvisit.com/johnmariani

MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly.  Editor/Publisher: John Mariani. Contributing Writers: Robert Mariani,  Naomi  Kooker, Kirsten Skogerson,  Edward Brivio, Mort Hochstein, Lucy Gordan, Suzanne Wright. Contributing Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery,  Bobby Pirillo. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.

 John Mariani is a columnist for Esquire, Wine Spectator, Diversion and the Harper Collection. He is author of The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink (Lebhar-Friedman), The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink (Broadway), and, with his wife Galina, the award-winning new Italian-American Cookbook (Harvard Common Press).   To  purchase from amazon.com, click on the image below.

copyright John Mariani 2004