The tarta vasca, also known as Basque burnt cheesecake, was born in 1988 at La Viña, a pintxo bar tucked into the old quarter of San Sebastián. Chef Santiago Rivera, experimenting on his days off, combined elements from three different cheesecake recipes and refined them over two years to create what would twenty years later become a global sensation.
Though it quietly gained fans in Spain through the '90s, the tarta vasca exploded internationally in the 2010s, thanks in part to food writers like Nigella Lawson and viral Instagram posts. By 2021, it was dubbed a “flavor of the year” by The New York Times, and describes it as “…the platonic ideal of a low-effort, high-reward dessert. The caramelized exterior evokes a toasty marshmallow, but the cake itself is not too sweet”.
What stands out about the tarta vasca that’s different from an Eastern European style cheesecake (later NYC style), are four specific elements.
It has no base crust;
It is baked at a higher than normal temperature in order to caramelize the surfaces to a medium brown;
The interior should be just barely set, almost like a wobbly custard or flan;
It’s served unadorned, with no sauces or fruits.
With my deep dive into cannoli settled well in the past, I set out to find the best tarta vasca in Buenos Aires. I compiled a list of a dozen that showed up repeatedly in a combination of Google and TikTok searches. Gotta put those influencers to work somehow, right?
I have reviewed, for my series on cafés, Joaquin Vasco Tartas, Peña 2326, in Recoleta. I wasn’t thoroughly enamored of their tarta vasca. It had great flavor, but the center was almost liquid rather than just creamy. They’ve clearly got that a little more settled, though it’s still on the borderline. However, I noted something I didn’t on the first visit, which is that their version has a crust, which it shouldn’t - it’s a key part of its creation, and they haven’t “burnt”, or even lightly browned it except at the edge. They get high marks for flavor. But I still say that this is really just an under-baked cheesecake, not a tarta vasca. It’s still delicious.
One other note - their menu lists five “tortas de siempre”, i.e., flavors that they “always have”, and then I think it’s seven seasonal flavors. On both visits they only had three of the five “always” flavors - plain, chocolate, and white chocolate-pistachio; and only Nutella for a specialty flavor. A portion runs 8800 pesos, $6.50.
One of my favorite “social clubs”, albeit not related to a soccer team, but rather to a cultural center, is the restaurant in the Centro Montañes, the Cantabrian social center for the city, at Av. Jorge Newbery 2818, in Colegiales. They’re famous for their tortillas, whopping big potato and egg frittatas filled with one or another combination of meats and vegetables and cheeses. And we were here for lunch, so we started with an absolutely delicious one stuffed with a generous portion of shrimp and peas.
But the true reason we were here was to try their Tarta de queso de La Viña, their version of the tarta vasca, giving homage to the creator of it. Crust-less, check. Caramelized, no. Custard-like center, no, it’s pretty firmly set. No accompaniment, no, but damn that’s a tasty cherry compote - and it’s on the side, not slathered over the top. It’s stunningly delicious, and we wanted more, but other than being crust-less, it’s once again, just not a tarta vasca. 9500 pesos, $7. Another that’s just missing a couple of the hallmarks of the genre, but out of the six presented here, it’s the one I’d make the trip to go back for.
Almost hidden away in a residential section of Colegiales is Buö Café, at Virrey Avilés 2712, corner of Moldes. It’s a cute, trendy-ish looking coffee shop, with a trio of strapping young well-tattooed men attending to customers who seemed to trend towards middle aged women from the ‘hood peering over the tops of their novels at the servers. The coffee is good, if a trifle more acidic than I tend to prefer.
The tarta vasca is offered in only a pistachio topped and chocolate mixed in versions. They apparently offered a plain one, “once”, but it didn’t sell, so they never offered it again. Given that it’s not vividly green pistachio through and through, I went with that - it allowed me to get a good sense of the tart underneath. It’s nicely caramelized above and below, as a good vasca should be, the top then coated with a layer of pistachio caramel. It’s creamy and rich, not quite wobbly, but certainly not firmly set. I shoved the nest of whipped cream off to the side as an unnecessary aesthetic addition. 10500 pesos, a little shy of $8 - edging up into the pricier territory, but at the same time, it’s a generous sized portion, and, pistachios are expensive here. It’s reasonably classic, and it’s tasty, but I wouldn’t make the effort to go back. If I lived in the ‘hood, happy to partake.
Vascas Tartas - This is currently a delivery only service, offering both a classic and a couple of different alternate flavored tartas vascas. It’s listed on Google as an espresso bar, at Vidt 1955 in Palermo, but that turned out to be an apartment building. I contacted them while standing in front of the place via Instagram message and was informed that no, there’s no café there. Whomever I was talking to didn’t seemed inclined to correct the Google listing, but did let me know that there is a café in the works, just not at that address.
So, I ordered one online. It arrives in a cute little carry container perfect for one slice of a cake, pie, or tart. I have to admit, I was surprised it didn’t get too knocked around - though that might vary depending on who and how it’s delivered (my guy was on a motorcycle, I’d imagine on a bicycle with a backpack carrier, it might get a little more jostled). It’s got that nice caramelized surface, it’s got the wobble, it’s a little bland to be honest, and it’s got a rather thick pie crust base. It’s fine, but I probably wouldn’t order one again. Ostensibly it’s priced at 8500 pesos, but add 1100 to that in delivery fees and it’s 9600 pesos, or just shy of $7.
La Garage, Arévalo 2253, Palermo - Cute little place that’s basically a kitchen filling a… garage… with a display counter almost to the storefront. It’s all to-go or to sit at one of a few tables under an awning on the sidewalk. There’s no table service, you have to go up an order - something I didn’t realize (there is a note on the menu to do so, but not every table has a menu on it, and no one is delivering menus, and my table didn’t have one… so I sat there… the counter folk looked at me a few times, someone cleared a table, but no one said anything. It’s also a busy spot, so when I finally realized it, and got up to go place an order, a couple of young women swooped in and grabbed my table, laughing as they did so, with a “you left the table, it’s ours” comment, and leaving me standing there until someone else left. Then I was informed that they only do filtered coffee if you order a large glass - basically a water tumbler - which I hate drinking coffee out of - no handle, the glass gets hot. If I wanted a small coffee, I had to go with the, more expensive, Turkish coffee. I was rapidly losing my happy mood.
Once finally ordered, paid for, and seated, I waited. It took a bit until someone showed up with my “torta de queso tipo vasca” - which is a misnomer… sort of. This cheesecake-like preparation is a tarta vasca. A torta vasca is a different thing, what in the French pastry world is called a gâteau basque (etxeko bixkotxa in the Basque vernacular), a jam (French side) or pastry cream (Spanish side) filled two-crust pie.
Back to the outing - the coffee is great, and the service is done with a bit of a flourish. This, out of the six in this round, is the closest to the original from La Viña that I tried - it’s pretty much dead-on. And absolutely delicious. It’s certainly the most authentic tarta vasca of the half dozen, and I would happily make my way here again - though prepared for table battle. The most reasonably priced of all of them at 6500 pesos, about $4.50.
Bulevar, Monteagudo 209, Parque Patricios (and another, probably the original, location at Av. Caseros 438, Barracas) offers up their version, which is, other than being smothered in a mixed berry compote, pretty damned good. It’s got the wobble, it’s crust-less, it’s got the browning, and it’s quite good. I found the compote overwhelmingly sweet though, and it just drowned out the flavor of the tarta. I’d be fine ordering it again, but I’d ask for it without the compote, or at least put it on the side. I can’t find my receipt, but I think it was 7400 pesos, about $5.25.
This is a good place to wind this round up. Where do things stand?
Centro Montañes - for sheer enjoyment, this is far and away the clear winner for me so far
La Garage - the truest to the original, and absolutely delicious
Buö Café - excellent version, just lose the whipped cream
Joaquin Vasco Tartas - delicious, just far more like a regular cheesecake in my view
Bulevar - again, delicious, I’d just ask for the compote to the side, there’s too much of it in ratio to the tarta
Vascas Tartas - While visually quite appealing, I found it a bit underwhelming. It’s not bad, but it’s not one I’d seek out again.
On, soon, to another half dozen, roughly.