More Foc'in Sandwiches

In which I continue my quest for great lunch bites in Buenos Aires.

Round two of sandwiches on focaccia, schiacciata, or pizza bianca flatbreads! Round one saw us through a half dozen of the more highly recommended spots on social media. This round will hit a couple of those, plus some found in the more dusty corners of the internet, but hopefully not dusty corner of Buenos Aires.

Starting off near to home at the recently opened Pellegrino, Junín 1192 in Recoleta. A small sandwich café that’s offering up basically just focaccia sandwiches and what they’re calling Roman pizza, though looking more like they just made focaccia and stacked stuff on top of it. The bread itself, very good. Nice and flavorful, light and airy, good crumb, all the things you want. Going with my usual sort of base sandwich to try, the mortadella is decent quality, it’s slathered with a vibrant, fresh pesto, a layer of chopped pistachios is a really nice touch, and straciatella cheese - more or less the innards of a burrata. Decent lemonade. Sandwiches around 7000 pesos for a half sandwich, as here, and 12000 for a full.

I needed a good, long walk, and the 3½ miles to La Fortachela (“the strongman”), Bonpland 1367 in Palermo seemed the perfect destination. Worked up a reasonable appetite and everything. Cute little shop that basically just makes focaccia and a few other things, mostly for people to take with them. They have a whole two bar stools at a window counter and a single table for two at a bench. I was thinking of my usual go-to order of mortadella, which everyone seems to have, but the young man behind the counter offered that far and away, their best sandwich is the one with jamón crudo, i.e., prosciutto, with cherry tomatoes and thyme butter. First off, fantastic focaccia. Some of the best I’ve tried here in town to date. Light, airy, a decent amount of olive oil in it. The fillings were excellent. Maybe, and I hate to say it, a bit too much jamón crudo - it just ends up with the sandwich being pretty salty, even with the balance of the acidity of the tomatoes. But I’d go back and try one of the others! Sandwiches run around 10-11000 for a half, as pictured, and 19-20000 for full size, double this. They have a beverage combo with any of the sandwiches, you get the drink for half off.

Some say the undisputed king of the focaccia sandwich here in Buenos Aires is Giuseppe Vicenti. The original spot over by Parque Centenario seems to always have a line - I’ve gone a couple of times and just decided not to wait. A few weeks ago, I saw a sign on a space that was being remodeled, just a few blocks from home, at Arenales 2221 here in Recoleta. Already the lines are starting. But I squeaked in towards the end of lunch hour as the place gradually cleared out. Inside, there are a few barstools at a counter, outside, a few tables for two. I will have to ask next time, as it wasn’t until I was reviewing my photos - I note that they say they’re from Puglia, in Italy. But I happened to take photos of the namesake’s entry document to Argentina, as well as that of the woman who later became his wife. They were, respectively, from Genoa and Naples. So I’m wondering where the Puglian part comes from.

At first glance, I’m disappointed that their menu of sandwiches are only available in a larger size - for me, anyway, enough to share with someone. Most other places I’ve been offer a half size. And, Vicenti does, in a sort of "design your own sandwich”, which is a big plus - you can pick your cold cuts, your cheeses, your condiments, oils, and vegetables, and have them on either a full or half focaccia. Negatives of that, it can quickly add up to a more expensive sandwich; and, more importantly, the half size portion rings in at three-quarters the price of the full size. Full sizes range from 15-19000 pesos, half sizes from 11000 on up.

I went with their Loiano combination - sliced porchetta, roasted peppers, pesto cream, and chili oil. It’s really good. At least the insides. I can’t say I was wowed by the focaccia. It’s good. But so far in this tour of spots, I’ve had several better. Still, I’ll happily be going back regularly and trying different combos and maybe making up a few of my own.

This place is so new it wasn’t even on my radar. I just happened to spot Rasenna Focaccia, Guardia Vieja 3723, Almagro while walking through the neighborhood. Cute little place, just a single large table inside, and quite a few outside, so for dine-in, it’s a fair weather spot. The menu is short and sweet - eight pre-selected combinations; but then it has a “make your own” section with half a dozen or more each of meat, cheese, vegetable, and condiment. I went with the Liguria combo - sliced porchetta, spicy pickled peppers, arugula pesto, and olive oil. Let’s start with the key part, the bread - a complete wow. Better even than La Fortachela above, which was my current front-runner for best bread. And the filling, a great combination, though the porchetta seemed a bit lunchmeat-y - I guess it was too much to hope for that it would be a nice slab of real rolled pork loin laden with herbs and garlic. I do wish they offered a half size, but at only 13,000 pesos for a full size, this is a steal. I ate half, and brought half home for Henry to eat later.

According to the lettering on the window of Recco Focacceria, Lerma 186, Villa Crespo, this is the place where focaccia is or was born. I’m not sure what that’s meant to indicate, obviously it’s not remotely the birthplace of focaccia, nor, given that the place is barely a year old, is it even close to the emergence of focaccia in Buenos Aires. Maybe they should have claimed “re-born” or something if they felt that they were giving it new life. Regardless, it’s a cute little café.

They offer both topped focaccia as well as sandwiches. I went for the latter, and chose their version with lomito, which is cured pork loin, arugula, bread & butter pickles, and brie. The focaccia itself is… fine. A bit soft and not overly interesting. The filling combination is decent, but didn’t wow me, and while I do love my pickles, these were just a tad too vinegary for my tastes. Half sandwiches run around 10-11000 pesos, full sandwiches, interestingly, don’t vary, they’re all 18500 pesos (except a single vegan offering which is 17800).

More interesting than the sandwich, a quite good housemade alfajor with an almond and orange infused dough, and a filling of dulce de leche, cocoa, and peanuts. I’d swear there was a touch of anise in there as well, but the manager says no. Overall, however, it was just okay. I guess not every place this round could be a winner.

Make that two that just don’t make it into my winners’ circle. Bruma Focacceria, Libertad 425, in San Nicolás, pretty much comes in at the bottom of the proverbial barrel for me. First, nothing about the place to recommend. It’s taking up a tiny space that’s clearly intended for not much more than window display. There are three barstools at a narrow counter, and two tables on the sidewalk, one of which was taken up the entire time by a loud trio who apparently work in Bruma’s “event space” upstairs. I mean, this is a really tiny space, with just a waitress/cashier and someone in back putting sandwiches together, but a trio of 20-somethings who were back and forth to a locked room above. Methinks something else is going on behind the scenes and this is just a front for whatever activity that is.

The focaccia sandwich list is short, with mostly the usual suspects, though one standout of what purported to basically be what back in the US we’d call a meatball parmesan sandwich. Had to give it a try. Especially because “it’s grandma’s recipe”. Whose grandma? Which one of the five of you, because you don’t look like you’re all related. And why is there an obsession with grandma’s recipes? Do you know how many grandma’s are or were bad cooks? Both of mine were, sorry to say. Back to the meatball sandwich. First, mediocre focaccia. Second, while the meatballs had decent flavor and seasoning, heavy on onions, they’ve been smashed flat and griddled until they’re crunchy. I don’t want crunchy meatballs. The mozzarella atop is supermarket standard. The tomato sauce might have been interesting, but like many an Argentine pizza, it was no more than a thin blush on the dough.

As to the 1948 Abruzzo connection claimed on the signboard, I couldn’t find one. The closest I could find was a bakery in Termoli, in neighboring Molise province, that closed up about three years ago, and it wasn’t specifically a focacceria, being more known for its pastries, though they did offer sandwiches on ciabatta style rolls. Maybe there was once a focaccia specialized place in Abruzzo, but if so, it apparently predates the internet.

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So where do we end up after, now, a dozen spots? A tie for first place goes to La Focacceria from the first round, and Rasenna Focaccia from this one. Both have absolutely fantastic focaccia and creative, delicious fillings. A slight edge to the former just because of having an indoor dining space that I like a lot. And second tier, but truly not far behind, a three-way tie, all from this round - Pellegrino, La Fortachela, Giuseppe Vicenti Recoleta - I’d probably give an edge to the last of those simply because of the variety of fillings and the “make your own combination” offerings.