The Third Roll of the Meatballs
In which I just keep trying these little balls of deliciousness
You know how this works. No doubt you’ve read both the first and second installments of this search for the best meatballs in the city. I had roughly twenty recommended places, and a couple of them I eliminated because they only offer them occasionally as a daily special (I’m looking at you Parrilla Peña and Rotisería Miramar). So this, unless someone contacts me and says - “You missed the absolute best meatballs in the city” - is the last of this series. On to other dishes!
First up, Bodegón Nuñez, Arribeños 3198, in Nuñez (they also have a relatively new outpost in Palermo, but I haven’t been). Not as old school feeling as most bodgeones, feeling a bit more diner or cafeteria-like. Light and airy. Service is friendly, but really inattentive. It’s one of those places where you’ll wave repeatedly to get someone’s attention, and then they’ll quite possibly forget what you asked them for anyway.
Here, the meatballs are offered as an appetizer, an entrada. I asked my waiter if they’d be enough for lunch, and his reply was basically, “Dude, I weigh 120 kilos, they’re not even a snack, but for you…”. I decided to just order them and figured I could always order more. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me until they were on the table to just order a side dish of mashed potatoes, my favorite accompaniment. These are excellent meatballs, certainly in the top three so far. They come in a rich, vibrant tomato sauce, laid over with a cap of mozzarella, and accompanied by shaved parmesan on the side. I ate them with the ubiquitous pan miñon, Argentina’s flavorless version of a baguette. They’d have made an amazing meatball sandwich with a better bread. 7200 pesos, around $6.
If there’s one spot in town that seems to show up on multiple sites as people’s favorite for meatballs (and other Italian food), it’s Cantina Pietro, Av. Olazabal 4496, in Villa Urquiza. On arrival, I found a place reminiscent of Little Italy tourist trap decor, with red and white check “tablecloths” on a few scattered tables - there’s a larger dining room upstairs, plus covered sidewalk seating. Charming, and attractive, waiter, and manager, taking turns attending to tables.
There are two options for meatballs here. Like the above place, you can just order a plate of meatballs in sauce. But then, there’s the plate I was here for, the Spaghetti con Albóndigas di Nona. Now, I’m going to have to parse this one a little… Spaghetti is, obviously, spaghetti, and the Italian word - in Spanish it’s espaguetis (and, in some of their menu, spaguetti, which is not a word in any language). Albóndigas is meatballs in Spanish - in Italian they’d be polpette. And nona in both languages is ninth. I assume it’s intended to be nonna, or grandmother, in Italian (here it’d be abuela). But let’s set the linguistics aside and dig into this whopping bowl that arrived.
First, fresh pasta, not dried. Second, one of the best pomodoro sauces I’ve had here - rich, chunky, packed with bits of vegetables, herbs, and garlic, plus cherry tomatoes. And, absolutely glorious meatballs. They’re huge to begin with, a solid two-inches or a shade more across, and there are three of them, and they’re light, juicy, and flavorful. I might use a tad more salt in the mixture, but that’s more personal preference. I made my way through half of this and brought the rest home for Henry. These are going to be hard to beat. 12500 pesos, though there’s a 1200 peso cubierto per person, so 13700 pesos, or about $11.
I remember when El Preferido de Palermo, J.L. Borges 2108, Palermo, was just a well regarded neighborhood bodegón (which, strangely, it appears I never wrote up back in the day). A few years back it was taken over by the folk behind Don Julio, the famed (and rightfully so) steakhouse that’s been showing up on various award lists. What was once a casual dining spot has now become a temple to fancied up versions of classic Argentine dishes, with a lot of tweezer work, stoic expressions, and over-officious service. That’s garnered it some accolades - a mention in the Michelin guide and pointed out for its commitment to sustainability; and 17th spot on the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants this year.
I didn’t actually have this place on my list to check out. No one’s ever raved about their meatballs as best I can tell. But I was walking by and checked the menu, and they had them, so why not? Their current offering, and it appears to change, as on their Instagram account they show meatballs and tomato sauce over ravioli - an odd pairing I thought - is served over potato puree, topped with tomato sauce and a grating of aged white cheddar. It’s a bit of a production - a chef whipping the potatoes and then ladling them into a bowl, topping those with seven mini-meatballs - I’ve never seen anyone place meatballs with tweezers before - then a scoop of cooked down swiss chard - and finally, in front of you (after the plate sat for nearly five minutes basically in front of me but out of reach until the waiter showed up with the cheddar), a grating of cheddar.
The meatballs and sauce were quite tasty. The meatballs may be the smallest ones I’ve ever seen - I’d guess the seven of them combined were about the same size as one of the ones noted above at Cantina Pietro. The swiss chard is… there. The aged cheddar, a nice touch, though having to wait until someone was available to retrieve it and grate it was annoying. The potato puree was the downfall. It was whipped so much it was gluey, and it was, to the best I could tell, completely unseasoned - no salt, no pepper, just some butter, and not much of that. Salt was provided on request, but required me to sort of move the meatballs and sauce off to the side, salt the puree, mix it in, and then get on with things - I ended up eating the meatballs and maybe a third of the puree. Not really worth the time and money spent - 20,405 pesos (weird number)/about $16.50.
Our Uber driver didn’t want to drop us off at Bodegón la Buena Medida, Av. Suárez 101, La Boca. In fact, as we were getting near, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to even go there, and was quite sure there was no restaurant there. After all, “middle of la villa”, the shantytown. Except, not really. Yes, it’s a poorer neighborhood, but it’s not a shantytown, and this place is one of the city’s official Bar Notables, the famed historic diners of yesteryear. Plus, it seems to pop up in conversations about meatballs.
We are, however, a bit concerned. This place might be one of the filthiest restaurants I’ve been in in years. From grime on the floor, walls, and staff, to plates that aren’t quite 100% clean. We decided to chance it, but pretty much wrote of any return, regardless of the food.
They’re big meatballs. Like 3” across big. It’s quite the generous portion, especially as four of us (three adults, one child) had just ordered up three different main courses, any two of which would have been more than sufficient.
They’re good. They’re not wow, or exciting good. They’re light, they have a good amount of herbs in them, a nice touch. They, like everything else that was served to us, are devoid of salt, or have so little as to not make a difference. They’re certainly not meatballs that should be regularly coming up in conversations about where to find the best ones. Maybe the biggest ones, but that’s about it. And service absolutely sucked. Inattentive and slow. 9500 pesos, about $8.
From the videos of various folk raving over the meatballs and other dishes at La Cocina de Batata’s (the extraneous apostrophe is theirs, not mine), Av. Gaona 4438, Floresta, I was expecting some huge, old school bodegón with a team of vest-wearing waiters delivering platters of food to expectant guests. Instead I found a small, family restaurant, with maybe eight rickety tables, and a single waitress in a tracksuit.
This is clearly one of the most popular dishes, and more than one plate flew out of the kitchen within moments after ordering it. I’d imagine they just have a big pot of meatballs with tomato sauce waiting to be dished up, alongside the mashed potatoes. The meatballs themselves, beautifully seasoned, large, filling, a bit on the dense side. I’d have guess that they didn’t have any filler, which lightens them up, but examination proved otherwise, so I’m guessing they just over-work the mixture, like over-kneading a dough. Still, absolutely delicious, and even with the very generous portion, I didn’t leave a bit of meatball, nor any of the quite good purée on the plate. A touch more salt on the latter would be in order, but nothing significant. At 9500 pesos, just under $8, these are a steal.
This place has always been a little bizarre. It is, or formerly was, a private club, El Club del Progreso, Sarmiento 1334, San Nicolás. It’s an old mansion built in the 1800s by the Duhau family, who also built the massive three building complex that is now the Park Hyatt Duhau, and Vatican Embassy. This place has all that elegance still preserved, and yet, I’d venture that 99% of the people (including myself) who eat in their two story restaurant are in jeans or shorts and t-shirts, or similarly casual clothing. The waiters are in full regalia, and impeccable in treating everyone like they’re just as dressed up.
I hadn’t even realized they offered meatballs, but a local friend recommended them and it felt like a perfect place to finish things off. Not surprising given their kitchen’s general quality, these are absolutely delicious. Beautifully seasoned, and in one of the better pomodoro sauces I’ve had in town. Garnished with shavings of good quality parmigiano, they’re a meal on their own. To be fair, I ordered a side dish of mashed potatoes, which arrived as a mound that had to be a full pound or so - smooth, silky, buttery, and properly salted.
The final result from the three rounds of this quest? This round did some knocking out of past leaders, replacing three of the six! And, really, the star of all of them is Cantina Pietro - whose meatballs can also be ordered on their own, and then just order a side of mashed potatoes (though, not having done so, I have no opinion on their mash).
With pasta - Cantina Pietro, Cosi Mi Piace, Aldo’s
With mash - Cantina Rondinella, El Club del Progreso, La Cocina de Batata’s
And, as I said, above, unless I serendipitously stumble across betters ones, or someone recommends a place and I concur, I’m call this meatball mission a wrap.