Bite Marks #117
"Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch" - Orson Welles
Time for another round of… what’s for lunch?
Banh Mi Company, Paraguay 2033, Recoleta - A new casual spot that popped up on the apps recently. Turns out it’s also close to home, and was good enough to warrant an actual visit. Unlike our recent visit to another Vietnamese newcomer, Ăn Café & Viet Bistro, these folks seem to have a much more solid idea of what a banh mi really is. They’ve got the bread right, the meat - we tried both pork and beef - is nicely seasoned (according to their menu, with Maggi seasoning), they’ve got pickled cucumber, carrot, and daikon, as well as both cilantro and mint. The letdown is the lack of heat, of course, being here in BA. No chilies, no hot sauce - the spicy mayo, barely tinged with sriracha, has about as much picante as ketchup. Their promo came with two banh mi and two summer rolls - choice of prawn, pork, or tofu - for 22,500 pesos, certainly reasonable for the quality. Throw in an option for some fresh chilies to be added so I don’t have to do it myself at home and you’ve got a winner here.
My regular neighborhood shawarma spot, Kebab House, just up and disappeared one day recently. No warning, it was just suddenly closed. I don’t think even a week went by before Mwafi, Uriburu 1796 (and, it appears, another location in Belgrano, at Teodoro Garcia 1725), was open and doing business. Complete change of look, new menu, and new ownership. The previous guys were, I believe, Armenian, the new owner, I think, Egyptian. Spicing is completely different. I ordered up a mixed chicken and beef shawarma - extra picante. He asked me what I wanted on a scale of 1-10 for heat level - I suggested we start at 10 and work up from there. What I got was maybe a 3-4. We’ll have to work on that, because everything else about the shawarma worked - great seasoning, and there’s a little side dip of extra garlic yogurt. And, the sfiha, the beef empanada, was beautiful as well (which now gives me pause - because I think of sfiha a Lebanese version of this, the Egyptian dish of the same sort is hawawshi - I guess I’m going to ask on my next visit). Second place in a row - gotta get with the picante thing! 12,800 for the shawarma, 3600 for the sfiha. Quite reasonable.
Catching up on one of those spots that’s been on my list for a good length of time. Another trip out to Nuñez (which seems to be becoming a destination for some great little restaurants - I’m guessing that it’s sort of the next affordable neighborhood now that Villa Crespo and Almagro have gotten pricier), and a visit to anti, Iberá 1981. Pizza time! Thinking about it, other than the recent pizza in Lima, my last pizza venture was way back in October? That’s unheard of for me, even if I am trying to drop a few kilos.
anti is the pizzeria offering from the owners behind Cuadra, a two-location bakery and sandwich café in the same general area. All three opened up around the mid-pandemic times. With their focus in the bakeries on sourdough based breads, they’ve taken the same approach here, with sourdough pizza masa that’s fermented for 48 hours before use. And it shows. It’s some of the best pizza crust I’ve had in BA.
Their pizzas are what I’d call medium sized. While they’re only “four portions”, the standard porteño signifier for an individual or small pizza, these are huge slices and it would be easier to handle if the pies were cut in six. They also offer an “XL” size for just their margarita and fugazzeta pizzas, which is, we were told, an “eight portion” pie.
This brings back memories of early days in Buenos Aires. Four of us went out for pizza one night at a nearby spot. We decided to order a couple of medium pies to share - which standardly are cut in six slices each. We asked if they could cut them into eight, to make them easier to share among four of us. Our waitress said they could do that, but would have to charge us for the eight portion, or large pizzas. A bit of back and forth, but neither she, nor the manager of the place, were budging. Then it occurred to us to have them cut the pizzas into four, and charge us the price for the small, individual sized pies. Or not cut them at all and give them to us free. Of course, they were having none of that.
Being our first time, we asked for recommendations. The fugazzeta and pizza bianca were at the top of our waitress’ list, and so we decided to go the white pie route for this visit. The pizza bianca is one of the best potato pizzas I think I’ve had, anywhere - with a generous amount of tender slices of potato, topped with more mixed mushrooms than any mushroom pie I’ve seen here. The fugazzeta goes with a twist - instead of white onions, it’s a mix of red and green onions, and it’s topped with provolone rather than mozzarella, and then the whole thing, on both halves, drizzled over with garlic oil. With two beverages we came in at 20,500 pesos (14,000 for the pizza, the same as either of the two ordered individually), a bargain for pizza of this quality. Had we been just a little hungrier, we’d have gone for a red pie. Now, I’m forced to go back (I’m outside their delivery zone)! Woe is me!
Okay, I got over the woe fast and trekked out to try a couple of their tomato-based pies. Half margarita - with a zesty tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes, pesto, fresh mozzarella, and basil - absolutely spectacular; and half an oddball, with the same tomato sauce, blue cheese, and slices of apple. An unusual one - there’s a similar pizza in parts of Italy, particularly if I recall, near to Milano, that involves pears, gorgonzola dolce, honey, and walnuts. More served as a dessert pizza. This one is definitely savory. I would take minor issue with a difference from what is described on the menu - it specifies that the apple slices are marinated in lemon and rosemary. I watched from my table as the pizzero simply sliced some apples and laid the slices on the pizza, and there was no evidence of either lemon or rosemary - which I think would have made it better, cutting into some of the sharpness of the rather pungent blue cheese used. Interestingly, this time the two pies ordered individually would have been 14,000 or 15,400, and they simply charged me for the more expensive one. The difference is minimal, about 50 cents, but still….
This place handily moves into my top pizzerias for Neapolitan style pizzas in town.
Almost eight years ago I first ventured into El Chiri de Villa Crespo, a little hold-in-the-wall sandwich shop. It became a regular spot for deli style sandwiches over a couple of years, and then it closed up. But, it re-opened as a more full-on deli-adjacent restaurant just a block away, with a cute name change - El Chiri de Villa Kreplaj, Juan Ramirez de Velazco 701, still in Villa Crespo. “Kreplaj” in Spanish, pronounced like the kreplach, Eastern European Jewish dumplings. Casting about for something a little less wallet draining (post-Lima vacation) than our usual outings for The Horde, I settled on this one.
They still have one of the better pastrami sandwiches on pletzlach around. We did find the pastrami a little drier than expected, but still delicious. And, they’ve sharpened up those pickles from way back. I’d still like to see a mustard that wasn’t sweet honey mustard available…. but, as we know, I like my heat.
The pastrami also comes as a full plate - with a quarter kilo of smoky, spiced goodness - again just a little drier than I’d have liked, though the gravy and the accompanying farfelach (classic Jewish “pellet shaped” pasta, usually cooked, as here, in onion gravy) helped. I asked for mustard on the side, unfortunately, still honey mustard is the only availability it seems.
A delicious lamb strudel with a compote of garlic and olives on the side, along with well seasoned couscous.
A beautifully spiced and lemony lajmajin, another version of the middle eastern empanada.
That’s one hell of a “mixed salad”!
And, great coleslaw.
I like the space, albeit painted in two weird shades of salmon pink/orange. Service was great. The food, good to very good. Definitely worth a return visit to try more of the menu. Pricing reasonable. Two pastrami sandwiches, one pastrami plate, the lamb strudel, two side salads, one empanada, a bottle of wine, a bottle of beer, and a bottle of water - 114,000 pesos, or about $93, split five ways. And we had more than enough to eat!
Android phone. Motorola G85.
“start at 10 and work up from there” - love it. So you!