Nonna's Pastas?

“When you have good ingredients, you don’t have to worry about cooking. They do the work for you.” – Lucia, 85, quoted in Pasta Grannies by Vicky Bennison

For people in the Circles of Food here in Buenos Aires, Máxi Togni is well known. Coming from a background that took him to New York with stints working for various “known” chefs like Douglas Rodriguez and Daniel Boulud, and taking the helm of the kitchen at the Argentine embassy in Washington, he returned to Buenos Aires. And opened… a hot dog and burger restaurant, Dogg. It’s often touted as a very good hotdog restaurant, though I found it kind of meh.

On the other hand, he and his partner, Martín Arrieta, went on to open Togni Pizza, an excellent pizzeria here that is probably the closest anyone comes to a NYC style slice. And from there, they opened Togni Café, which I haven’t been to, but is rumored to have excellent pastries and coffee. All the time, he had his sights set on opening a nicer, yet still casual, pasta restaurant in tribute to his grandmother - which was actually planned for early 2020, but that whole pandemic thing put it on hold and he opened the pizzeria instead, primarily because of the options for delivery in mid-lockdown.

And, he finally did just that, last year. I’ve been a trio of times, both solo and with my lunch group, to Evelia, Campos Salles 1712, in Nuñez. Though, I would note, I have yet to see either of the two partners present. Small empire and all that. Takes you away from the day to day cooking. Irrelevant too, as his staff are well up to the task - helpful, friendly, and several other Boy Scout related motto adjectives.

The space is bright and airy. There’s a certain Nordic chic feel to the décor. The kitchen is open, and includes an eight seat bar to dine at while watching the cooks do their thing.

Excellent bread, and cheese breadsticks are brought to the table. A small critique, a pet peeve, the butter is straight from the refrigerator and not spreadable at the time of service.

I do enjoy the closeups of the preparations, it’s an occupational thing.

An heirloom tomato salad with basil, olive oil, and sea salt. Vibrant in color and flavor.

Chipirones or calamarettes, baby squid, off the griddle, served with a housemade mayo, herb oil, and a sauce gribiche - a hard-boiled egg, caper, pickle, vinegar, and oil salsa. Yum! And the seafood cooked perfectly, still tender.

A foie pate on brioche with pickles and cherries. Excellent.

We’re primarily here, however, for the pasta, Togni’s claim to greatness. After all, we are, supposedly, about to try his Nonna Evelia’s recipes.

Goat cheese and spinach capelletti. Delicate and lovely.

A quite good multi-layered lasagna.

Bucatini all’amatriciana. One of the best I’ve had in town, and I love the addition of crispy slices of guanciale over the top.

Gnocchi with pesto. Tasty, and the gnocchi light and perfectly cooked. But… missing the texture of a good pesto - they’ve pureed the basil, pinenuts, garlic, and cheese (and there’s little or no pepper in the mix, and it took some doing to get enough on the plate - give me the damned grinder, I don’t need a waiter doing a timid one or two turns of the top and thinking that’s already too peppery). A pesto shouldn’t be a smooth puree, at least not in this context.

And, of course, someone, couldn’t possibly be the Argentine at the table, had to order a milanesa (of chicken, at the least) and salad for lunch, because… milanesa. It was a very good one.

I also missed, apparently, taking a few photos on the Horde visit, as there are several dishes we ordered that I don’t have a photo for.

We meant to order the panna cotta, but it came out of my mouth as the flan. A happy surprise, at least, for me, as I’m not a big flan fan, they’re so rarely cooked right, and usually have that slightly curdled egg texture to them - this one, however, was silky smooth and pretty much set perfectly.

And, what I’d assert is the second best tiramisu I’ve had in town (the best, and a very different style, for me, is the one at Gran Parrilla Cramer). This is a whopping portion for two or more. And really, such a close second that maybe they’re tied for first.

Overall, love the space, great service…

…other than the pepper thing - you need more than one pepper grinder in the restaurant, having only one, and it having to be borrowed from the cooks each time someone asks, is just silly - get a few of them and when someone asks, put it on the table and let them add pepper to their heart’s content…

…and fantastic food. Pricing is moderate - appetizers range from about 10-15000 pesos, and main courses and pastas run from about 15-20000. Nicely selected wine list, including more than a dozen excellent by the glass selections. I might quibble with the idea that these are really anything like Nonna Evelia’s recipes - mostly because it would be rare to find a grandmother from Italy who had mastered pastas from so many different regions of the country. I don’t know where she was from, but it’s likely that her mastery would have been for local dishes. I’m happy to be corrected if I’m wrong, but I’d say these are more Máxi’s recipes, perhaps personal favorites, from around Italy, and offered up in homage to his nonna.

Easily moves into my top five Italian spots in town, and if we’re talking just pastas, into my top three.