Author Archive: Dan P.

Libro Trio

Dan P.Friday, December 14, 20070

“I never read a book before reviewing it – it prejudices a man so.”

Sydney Smith, Essayist, Clergyman

Buenos Aires – In the last couple of weeks a trio, or is it a quartet, or quintet, of books has come across my desk. They didn’t get there by themselves, I went to book launching parties and was given copies of them, which is a delightful way to acquire books, especially when there’s free food and drink, the chance to ferret out the three people at the party actually worth talking to, and no requests to do any work – i.e.,, no one asked me to review the books, they were gratis without strings. The 3/4/5 thing we’ll get to momentarily.

The 2008 edition of Viñas, Bodegas & Vinos was amongst them. Long time readers might hazily recall that I’ve reviewed the last two editions, and that I was a member of the tasting panels for the 2007 edition. Likewise this one. My thoughts from last year pretty much stand – I’m still disappointed that the book is being offered these days in Spanish only, and that it only covers Argentina now – I can’t vouch for the marketing and finances and what went into the decision last year to drop the side-by-side English translation and the rest of the continent, but I can tell you I’ve heard from at least a couple of dozen people over the last year asking if there was an English edition now because all they could find was the Spanish, and the 2006 and previous editions are simply out of date. There’s a market out there for a South American wine guide in English, believe me, and if it wasn’t the massive undertaking that it is, I’d be all over that. Beyond being an update, the book is very slightly expanded this year, with an increase in the number of wineries and wines covered. One fun little addition at the back, being the fifth edition, the editor/publisher had saved up bottles of the top wines from the first edition in the cellar, and we had a separate tasting of those to see how they had held up over the last 4-5 years. Some well, some not so well, but it was an interesting exercise that’s included in this year’s edition. The event, by the way, was held at the Museo Evita, which is worth a visit in and of itself, has a nice little restaurant on the property, and a beautiful courtyard. The top 60 wines were all arrayed for our tasting – one in particular truly stood out for me, the Valle Las Acequias “Rosedal” Malbec 2003, quite possibly the most elegant, delightful Malbec I’ve had the opportunity to taste.

Austral Rumbo guides 2008 Apparently several years in the making, and perhaps another part of the reason why the wine guide has been cut back, editor Diego Bigongiari has been hard at work on a duo of Buenos Aires guides… Now, I realize we need more travel guides to Buenos Aires like we need another newspaper article extolling the amazing and wildly exaggerated cheapness and ease of moving to and living in this city, and it’s also hard to be critical of a couple of books written by someone I’ve spent the last two years working with and also consider a friend. Nor do I object that he included a mention of Casa SaltShaker at the bottom of page 146… Thankfully, I don’t have to be particularly critical, as I think he very smartly approached the guides in a different manner from many of them out there. The guides, first of all, are in Spanish only, and second of all, they come together as a set – tall and narrow and inserted into a plastic cover which is useful for packaging and marketing and protecting the books from dust on your shelves, but completely useless when you’re ready to use them. However, with no manual skills at all you can easily slip them out of the cover and use them separately – which you should. The first book, in big bold letters titled BUE, states it is a traveler’s guide to Buenos Aires and surrounds, from rumbo-austral, rumbo meaing “to get one’s bearings”, and austral being the publishing company. Coming in at 335 pages, it’s packed with ‘hood by ‘hood tips on things to do and see – and it goes well beyond the usual three or four barrios that most tourist guides bother to cover, gives detailed information on how to do things like navigate the bus and subway systems, and covers everything from where to get good coffee to where to find transvestite prostitutes. The maps are well thought out, there are lots of sketches to illustrate various monuments and buildings, and it’s well written. Each entry has a color coded bar along the margin placing it in a category such as “eating and drinking”, “architecture”, or “night and sex” – which would be truly annoying and useless given that color key is in the introduction to the book and includes eight different categories, except they very smartly didn’t just put the color bar, but also the category name in each bar, so you really don’t even need the key upfront after all.

The second book is more for the armchair traveler, or perhaps while you’re sitting in your hotel room, or whiling away an hour or two at a local café. It covers the same neighborhoods, in the same order, one by one, but instead of being a guide, this one is labeled in big bold letters BUE… oh wait, it’s the same, but in small print says it’s the traveler’s book, rather than guide… it’s designed for simply reading. Perhaps the best way to think of it would be as if you had a tour guide sitting right there telling you stories about this building or that monument, or an event that happened here, or one of those great anecdotes that make having a good tour guide a gem to find. While you have to read this rather than listen to it, you do have the priceless advantage of not having to listen to the identically dressed in tracksuits never set a foot on a track middle aged couple from Home on the Range Middle America complain about no one here speaking English and why don’t they learn it and why can’t they eat at 6 p.m. like regular people and do we really have to get off the bus and walk it’s just as easy to take a picture through the window as we pass by. My British readers will recognize the same couple as being from Outer Peasbody on the Marsh, but the rest of the details remain the same.

Mixology in Argentina Now, lest you think I spent all my time at one party at the Evita Museum sipping high end wines and snagging delicious little hors d’oeuvres off passing trays, let me assure you that’s not the case. I also found myself inside a jam packed soirée at OchoSieteOcho, the “secret” speakeasy that’s not secret anymore, a faceless bar at 878 Thames with a guy in a suit out front deciding whether or not to unlock the door behind him and let you in. He pretty much let’s everyone in, at least when it’s a private event and you have enough wits about you to say “I’m here for the private event.” Here, the focus, at least in the free drinking and dining realm, was well made cocktails offset by iffy hors d’oeuvres that might have been thrown together by someone who’d just dropped into the kitchen and thought they’d “give it a whirl”. The event this time, the dual release of the Spanish and English language editions of Coctelería Argentina and Mixology in Argentina, by Rodolfo Reich, a local food and wine writer and editor. Though I don’t know Rodolfo, I do know his English translator, Brian Byrnes, the person who invited me to the event and reserved an English copy for me. I haven’t read through the Spanish language version, but I trust that Brian stayed true to the original. The book is by parts a history of the world of cocktails in Argentina – at one time a big part of the drinking scene here, not so much these days when everyone is into wine and micro-brewed beers – an introduction to some of the “top” bartenders in the country, and a cocktail recipe book. It’s beautifully laid out and photographed, and it’s well written, at least the English prose. The history part was intriguing and fun to read, no question. The recipes, a mix of classics, reinterpreted classics, and outright inventions, useful if not particularly exciting to read – but recipes rarely are. The introduction to the bartenders, for me, was a trifle odd… not that it wasn’t interesting, it was, but there is, perhaps, a conceit, not uncommon to someone in their early 30s, that the true innovators, masters, etc., are in their own age bracket. Of the twenty bartenders profiled, all but one, at least based on their photos and resumes, are not more than a few years out of college (their birthdates are given, and range from 1971 to 1982, with one from 1963) – and are, for the most part, the bartenders at trendy venues frequented by the club set. Now, not being someone who hangs out at bars, and these days I don’t drink many cocktails, perhaps there are very few over 35 bartenders here plying their trade and proving that they know how to mix a drink, and innovating – but if my experience in other cities around the world holds true, that’s unlikely to be the case, and it was notable that they weren’t included. The best part for me was a single page devoted to a local aperitif called Hesperidina, something that’s uniquely Argentine, though it’s a shame he didn’t spend a little time on others, like Pineral, Legui, or Hierro Quina. For cocktail aficionados, the book is a nice addition to the bar library shelf, and worth the investment.

Books (Reviews)

Buenos Aires, Cocktails, Travel, Wine

The best parrillas

Dan P.Thursday, November 1, 20070

Cuisine & Vins
November 2007, page 118

cuisine insider tips
The best parrillas

This was an editing disaster – The introduction and several paragraphs that left it with no continuity were left off of the article, and then several of the reviews from the previous column were repeated here – somebody was clearly doing some sort of cut and paste on the page and no one checked the results. I’ve just reproduced it as written.

Here in Buenos Aires, when it’s time to celebrate a grand occasion, it’s time for an asado, what we might call a backyard barbecue or a cookout… It’s not that anyone really needs an excuse for an asado, simply being Saturday or Sunday is quite sufficient. But make it a special day and it’s time to pull out all the stops – which basically means, tons of meat, smoking hot, right off the parrilla. I thought this column would be a good chance to introduce you all to some of the basics.

You probably don’t need an introduction to asado etiquette – it’s pretty much the same as any grilling session on any patio anywhere in the world. It’s a guy thing. Everyone stands around, drinking beer or cheap wine, giving advice to the guy who’s doing the grilling, while he ignores all suggestions and does it his way, like it or not. Sound familiar?

But what is different here is what’s coming off the grill, or parrilla. First off, there’s a whole lot of innards. I know, I know – but here in Argentina, the innards, or achuras, are an absolutely integral part of the day, and you probably should know what you’re getting yourself into. First, a couple of glands, because you’re going to see them everywhere – mollejas and riñones – sweetbreads and kidneys. The former, here, come in two varieties – “de cuello”, or from the neck, which means the thymus gland, and “de corazon”, or from the heart, which really isn’t from there, but further below – the pancreas. Creamy and soft on the inside, lightly crispy on the outside, these are a special treat for those willing to sample. Riñones, the kidneys, and if they’re prepared right they have a just slightly chewy texture beneath their grilled exterior, and a rich, pungent flavor.

The other biggie, and it’ll be offered up to you as a test of your willingness to participate, are chinchulines. These are the grilled small intestine – the best coming from a very young animal that has only been fed on milk, with the milk having curdled inside from heat and enzymes. Yeah, I can hear you saying “ewww”. Go ahead and try one anyone, I’m amazed how many people become converts once they try one.

Follow up the innards with the sausages – there are usually three offered up – chorizos, morcillas, and salchichas parrilladas – the first, a slightly spicy pork sausage, different from the Spanish or Portuguese chorizos that you may have encountered elsewhere, and every butcher shop here has its own recipe. Morcillas – black pudding, black sausage, boudin noir – blood sausage – you didn’t want to think about it, but that’s what it is, and it’s oh so good. The last, usually a thin, coiled sausage, a touch on the smoky side.

Then on to heaping platters of meat – and while every family has their own choices, some of the most common are the tira de asado, which are cross-cut ribs, entraña, which is a skirt steak, bife de lomo which is more or less a sirloin, bife de chorizo, similar to a t-bone or porterhouse, without the bone, cuadril and which is rump steak.

Now, here’s the thing – if you’re really lucky, and you have friends here with a parrilla, you’ll probably get invited, to celebrate one thing or another. But even if not, you can, of course, sample these all at a good restaurant style parrilla – and to get the whole experience, order yourself… or more likely selves, since it’s a whole lot of food, a parrillada, or mixed grill. One of my favorite spots to recommend for the grand experience is El Yugo, Ayacucho 1629, 4806-2009, in the heart of Recoleta, where they serve it up on a tabletop grill to keep things hot and smoking, offer some of the best french fries in the city, especially the thin papas pais, and a salad bar on the side, just in case you need something green.

In October 2006, I started writing for this Spanish language magazine, covering their English language section for travellers. I wrote for them for about two years. The copy editor, apparently not fluent in English, used to put each paragraph in its own text box on a two column page, in what often seemed to be random order, making the thread of the column difficult to follow. I’ve restored the paragraphs to their original order.

Cuisine & Vins, Magazine articles

Red meat, Restaurants

Mercado del Progreso

Dan P.Tuesday, October 9, 20070

What’s Up Buenos Aires
NEWS
October 9, 2007

Mercado del Progreso

A lot can change in two hundred years. The Plaza de Mayo, then the Plaza Mayor, was a different place – the central gathering point for a small city – surrounded by a customs house, post office, church, and fortress, lined up with rows of merchants from the west, with their covered wagons. Butchers, bakers, well… candlestick makers… all in town, gathering to sell their wares to the local populace. Not far away, in what is now the Plaza del Congreso, gathered the merchants of the north, forming the Mercado Indio, and, no surprise, another locale was set aside for those in town from the south, in what is now Plaza del Constitución. But that was all to change… By the mid-1800s, various decrees ended up banishing the merchants from any plaza designated as public use, and a new system had to be found for offering food, straight from the farms and ranches, to restock the local larders.

The first step was the creation of a Mercado authority, which then moved the three principal markets to indoor locations, providing each merchant with a small stand from which to sell his wares – a trio of buildings all near to the Plaza de Mayo, the Mercados “del Centro”, “Lorea”, and “del Plata”. From there, and as the city grew in size, the new system spread outwards, and by the end of the century, there were 21 official indoor markets operating in various parts of the city. A few of those still remain, the one most commonly seen by visitors probably being the Mercado de San Telmo, which still houses a number of food vendors, but has mostly been taken over by antique and junk dealers. Another easy to find, and smaller example, is the Mercado de San Cristobal, just off the corner of Córdoba and Callao.

But the true market aficionado will want to “take the A-train” to its last stop in the barrio of Caballito, where the last remaining fully operational and full sized mercado, the Mercado del Progreso (Av. Rivadavia 5430), opened “at five in the afternoon on the 9th of November, 1889” and other than a revamp in 1894 and a full renovation in 1957 – which included providing every market stand with a running water supply and electricity – has been up and running ever since. True, small encroachments are happening along its sides – what were once integral cafes, meeting spots, and offices have been converted to small shops and restaurants, no longer part of the Mercado itself; and yes, over there is a stand that’s offering up blank CD and DVD discs; but the heart of the market remains true – food. Vegetable stands, fruit stands – all selling produce direct from the farm are dotted throughout the block square edifice. The mainstays are the butchers – each with their own specialty, be it beef, or veal, pork, or chicken and rabbits, even a couple of fishmongers. Here they gather, and here shop the local populace, much as they did nearly 120 years ago – haggling over prices, discussing preparation tips, meeting neighbors to chat – and most importantly, keeping a two century old tradition alive in the heart of Buenos Aires.

Monday to Saturday 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Dan Perlman is a former New York based chef, sommelier, food and wine writer who now lives in Buenos Aires. For more of his scribblings on food, wine, and restaurants visit his blog at www.saltshaker.net

Online Publications, What's Up Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, Marketing

Places to see and be seen

Dan P.Monday, October 1, 20070

Cuisine & Vins
October 2007, page 82

cuisine insider tips
To See and Be Seen

There’s no question that most of the time, when we set out to dine, the two key criteria are the quality of the food and level of service. Who wants to intentionally head somewhere with bad food, or where they know that the waitstaff are either incompetent or filled with self-important attitude? Okay, there are a few of you who thrive on the abuse or the ability to say, “I had a really terrible meal at Restaurant X…”. But not too many of you.

Some days, however, it’s all about the place. You just want to be surrounded by a fabulous setting, or a romantic air, or maybe just beautiful people. Sure, you still want tasty food and a waiter who remembers what you ordered and is polite about it, but what you’re really after is to see and be seen in just the right spot.

For sheer old world elegance it’s probably impossible to beat the L’Orangerie in the Alvear Palace Hotel, Av. Alvear 1891, 4808-2100 ext.1643, one of the city’s most famous spots for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea – with soaring ceilings, arched windows overlooking an immaculately tended garden, and white gloved staff who attend to your every need.

Across town, in Belgrano, in a beautifully restored old palazzo, is the magnificent Maat, Sucre 2168, 4896-1818, officially a private club, but as long as they’re not full up with members, easily the most elegant dining spot in the city. Surrounded by rich fabrics, draperies, crystal, and a hushed setting, you can indulge in excellent food, far-reaching conversation, and secret business deals…

At the opposite extreme, there are moments when you want to find yourself in a locale that’s modern, chic, and, well, simply striking. Now, it’s not for everyone, but for some, being seated in the glowing white and gold of El Bistro, at the Hotel Faena + Universe, Martha Salotti 445, in Puerto Madero Este, 4010-9200, is an over the top trip to fantasy-land. Unicorn heads mounted on the walls peer down at you as you dine on sophisticated “international” cuisine.

Once again racing across town to Belgrano, you can’t do much better than to impress yourself with the massive modern industrial spot that is Sucre, Sucre 676, 4782-9082. Here, you’ll find yourself getting whiplash as you try to decide between settling your gaze on the massive concrete wine cellar in the center of the room, the colorful three-story high bottle stocked bar, or the huge open kitchen, gleaming with stainless steel and copper.

For shear romance, right down to a crackling log fire, cozy, warm, inviting… it’s pretty hard to top the ambiance at Desde el Alma, corner of Honduras and Godoy Cruz in Palermo, 4831-5812. Often recommended as the most romantic restaurant in the city, they’ve maintained that status in the face of the hype.

Also out in Palermo, the casually elegant room or garden at Thymus, Lerma 525 at the corner of Malabia, 4772-1936 is an ideal night out spot for a date. It might even be the best spot for a first date – it combines cozy little romantic touches with just enough relaxed modernism to take the pressure off. Service is friendly but never intrusive, and the food can be a true delight.

On a beautiful sunny day, there’s little better than to find yourself on a lovely outdoor patio, dining on great food and surrounded by the rich and famous. You almost expect Robin Leach to pop out from behind a nearby bush at Primafila, on the upper level of the Buenos Aires Design Center at Pueyrredón and Libertador, 4804-0055. Just relax, sit back on one of the lounge chairs, and raise a glass to toast your neighbors.

For those who just love dining al fresco, wend your way out to Palermo and settle in at a garden table at Cabernet, Jorge L. Borges 1757, 4831-3071, where you can sample through exceptional creative fusion cuisine, great wines, and watch the world on the street pass you by.

For complete tranquility, we tend to think some sort of Asian retreat, and out in our Chinatown, or Barrio Chino, is just such a spot – BuddhaBA, Arribeños 2288, 4706-2382, where you can tuck into pan-Asian cuisine, followed by tea service, or maybe just tea and pastries out in the calming atmosphere of the zen garden. You might not even need that massage you have scheduled for later in the day.

On the quiet corner of Charcas and Godoy Cruz in Palermo sits Almanza, 4771-2285. From the outside you might think it’s just a neighborhood coffee shop, but enter inside and find yourself in a soft white and chocolate brown room, surrounded by casually artsy photographs, and piles of culinary tomes. Elegant? No. But relaxing and calming like visiting your grandmother’s kitchen – only with far better food.

In October 2006, I started writing for this Spanish language magazine, covering their English language section for travellers. I wrote for them for about two years. The copy editor, apparently not fluent in English, used to put each paragraph in its own text box on a two column page, in what often seemed to be random order, making the thread of the column difficult to follow. I’ve restored the paragraphs to their original order.

Cuisine & Vins, Magazine articles

Restaurants

Patagonian wines, Mítico Sur

Dan P.Saturday, September 1, 20070

Cuisine & Vins
September 2007, page 78

cuisine insider tips
Patagonia for beginners

Given the whole reversal of the magnetic poles, which direction it’s warmer and all that, one would think that here in Argentina we’d be looking for Northern charm, and Northern hospitality, and talking about the Deep North… but, it seems there’s just something about going south that brings all that out, even when south is a frozen glacier… Admittedly the glacier’s only a small part of Patagonia, which actually encompasses several provinces “down that-a-way”, and also offers up ingredients for cuisine that are unique in regard to the rest of the country – particularly in the world of game animals and seafood.

Buenos Aires is home to a small, and growing number of restaurants that specialize in the cuisine of Patagonia, ranging from simple neighborhood hangouts to among the poshest of restaurants in the city. Easily the most fun to be had is at one of the former, Mítico Sur, hidden away at number 389 on the narrow cobblestone Pasaje San Lorenzo in the barrio of San Telmo. This rustic two-story converted home offers up a literal sampling of tidbits from the deep south in the form of what are called tablas. We might call them an antipasto if we were going Italian, but we’re not… Mítico Sur serves an array of different platters, ranging from vegetable and fruits, to cheeses, to seafood, to meat, and combinations of all four – smoked, pickled, cured, and fresh, ingredients that Patagonia is famous for are laid out in little dishes to be nibbled upon. Among the best, the smoked trout and the cured wild boar, or jabalí. You can order a tabla by yourself and have more than sufficient for a meal, or you can share with friends, the most fun – and wash it all down with a glass or bottle of one of the region’s excellent wines – and this spot offers up one of the best selections of Patagonian wine to be found in the city – and very well priced.

The following two reviews got left off the page, which, given the start of the column takling about a number of restaurants, made no sense. Reproduced here:

If you like a homey setting, but want something both a little less rustic and also more classically styled for dinner, head out to Palermo, at Honduras 5710, and grab a seat at Divina Patagonia (they also have a branch in San Telmo, at Balcarce 958), where you can treat yourself to a hearty and creative meal that again ranges the food world. Amongst the more interesting dishes, a roasted loin of wild venison served up with an elderberry and currant packed bitter chocolate sauce, a slow cooked breast of wild boar lacquered in a fresh raspberry puree, or crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside “meatballs” of smoked trout served with a Patagonian Dijon mustard sauce. The wine list carries a good selection of the major commercial brands from both Patagonia and other regions of the country and is fairly priced.

Possibly you’re in the mood to up the ante and head for one of the lugares de lujo, or ritzy, upscale spots. While everyone likes to make fun of the Puerto Madero refurbished warehouse district and its tourism oriented dining, one of the things to note is that that often means some pretty high quality food – lets face it, tourists can be pretty demanding. For a place that’ll live up to high standards, head on out into the Puerto and get yourself a table at Aires de Patagonia, Alicia M. de Justo 1798, a handsome room, done up in exotic woods from the south like lenga and rauli, that give the room a very classy feel. The food, likewise, with beautifully presented, creative dishes like a fresh crabmeat (centolla), zucchini, and apple salad stacked with phylo dough, or a rack of Patagonian lamb, cordero, leaning up against a slice of leg of lamb, and all juiced up with a reduction of Malbec and a delicious tomato confit. The wine list, strangely, focuses more on selections from Mendoza than Patagonia, but there are definitely some southern gems to be found – not surprisingly, given the locale, both food and wine here are expensive.

When it comes to wines, Patagonia isn’t the first spot that comes to most folks minds in regard to Argentina. It’s still a relatively new area for commercial wine-making, with three of the provinces, Rio Negro, Neuquen, and Chubut weighing in with selections. It’s a cool to cold climate for grape-growing, and so not surprisingly, grapes that do well in a chillier environment are showing up as some of the region’s best. On the white side, that has come to mean Semillon, either on its own or blended, and the current reigning champ in that arena is the Infinitus Semillon-Chardonnay blend with its beautiful flavors of stone fruits, a touch of lanolin, minerals, and a mixed bag of spices. On the red side, unquestionably, Patagonia is producing Argentina’s best Pinot Noirs – in fact, the quality has been so superb that the owner of the famed Sassicaia super-Tuscan blend, Piero Incisa della Rocchetta, snapped up a vineyard planted to the grape and has started producing a small quantity of pricey but spectacular Pinot under the name Bodega Chacra. For those whose budget and searching patience doesn’t stretch that far, there are a wide range of lesser priced and more widely available Pinots and other grapes, including a personal favorite blend from NQN winery (Neuquen sans vowels), called Picada 15 – a ripe, fruity, spicy, and delicious blend of Pinot noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.

In October 2006, I started writing for this Spanish language magazine, covering their English language section for travellers. I wrote for them for about two years. The copy editor, apparently not fluent in English, used to put each paragraph in its own text box on a two column page, in what often seemed to be random order, making the thread of the column difficult to follow. I’ve restored the paragraphs to their original order.

Cuisine & Vins, Magazine articles

Restaurants, Wine

With Liver and Giblets for All

Dan P.Thursday, August 16, 20070

“The wickedly entertaining, hunger-inducing, behind-the-scenes story of the revolution in American food that has made exotic ingredients, celebrity chefs, rarefied cooking tools, and destination restaurants familiar aspects of our everyday lives.”

– back cover blurb from…

Buenos Aires – …The United States of Arugula, by David Kamp, catchy title, no? Wish I’d have thought of it first. For those of you not in norteamericano foodie circles, this book has been getting a lot of attention since its publication last year in hard cover (paperback edition just came out in July), everything from press reviews to casual offhand remarks, online and off (yes, there is still life offline). First off, let me say that it’s well worth reading, a veritable page-turner of recent food history in the U.S. – I’m not going to say I couldn’t put it down, as I did, several times, because it’s a long book and I had other things to do, but I also read through it, cover to cover, over the course of the last week.

Here’s the good stuff – it’s witty, and I like that. It’s not laugh out loud funny, but it has enough humorous anecdotes, and David Kamp has enough snarky irreverence thrown in to keep a smile on my face through a good portion of the book. It gets into the “history” of the foodie movement pretty well, going very in-depth on a few stories, James Beard, Julia Child, and Alice Waters in particular are covered at length and breadth, and resurface throughout the book. It’s well organized, starting with at least a mention of the late 18th century and moving on up to what was present day when it was written. I knew a good number of the stories already, but not in so much detail, and, of course, I’m in the business, so a lot of the people in the book are people who I know either casually or well. And hey, there are a few stories that I could… well, never mind.

On the other hand, and you knew there’d be one… while he acknowledges that food didn’t spring miraculously into existence with the arrival of James Beard on the scene, quoting Barbara Kafka, “It’s like there was no food in this fucking city, or this country, until this miraculous apparition came along! Or there was no cooking at home until Julia.” But then, he promptly manages to cover the entire period from the 1790s until the 1930s in a matter of a few pages, and even in those keeps returning to the latter part of the 20th century, and then covers the period from the 1930s until the early 60s in less than a dozen pages, most of which are focused on one restaurateur, Henri Soulé. But, in a sense, that’s in keeping with the style of the book – its focus is on some very select individuals and their stories, with others coming into play more as peripherals – not that he doesn’t give those extras some page time, but I was left feeling like they were propping up his main characters – for the most part, the three folk listed above, whom, after reading the book, did I not know better, could have pretty much done it by themselves, with a few food writers thrown in for good measure.

The book is, not surprisingly, coastal-centric… if one can be coastal and centric at the same time – focusing mostly on the food scene in New York, the San Francisco Bay Area, and a bit in Los Angeles. While there’s no question that a huge amount of the modern food movement, and in particular the public figures in it, come from those areas, I think he gives short shrift to the rest of the country. Someone like Norman Van Aiken, the godfather of “Florida cuisine” doesn’t even make an appearance in the book. Ming Tsai (who ought to fit his celebrity criteria) is nowhere to be seen. His ethnic influences seem limited to French, a nod to Italian (Mario Batali apparently invented Italian food in the U.S. with the help of ingredients from Dean & DeLuca), Mexican (Rick Bayless and a bit of Bobby Flay doing the same for south of the border cuisine, with a very brief nod to Mark Miller and Diane Kennedy, whom, we gather, did lots of research but not much else), and a bit of Japanese, in particular sushi, and in particular the famed Masa and Nobu. There is, in essence, no mention of other influences – China, India, Southeast Asia, the entire rest of Latin America, the Middle East, the rest of Europe, Africa, Austraila (admittedly the latter two have yet to have any major impact on cuisine in the U.S.) – the influence of Chinese cuisine is covered in three widely separated paragraphs, Craig Claiborne meeting the authors of a Chinese cookbook, a mention of Michael Field’s review of a different Chinese cookbook, and Wolfgang Puck bringing Chinese influence (apparently for the first time on our shores) into his restaurant Chinois. The only mention I recall of all of Latin America outside of Mexico is a brief cameo by Felipe Rojas-Lombardi, from Peru.

But the biggest “missing” for me were the people, the “ordinary” people. I know that this book is focused on the celebrities – and let’s face it, that’s really what it is, a mixed celebrity bio, which for the most part in this tome means someone who has appeared regularly on television – and anyone who isn’t or wasn’t a celebrity is simply either ignored or discounted – does he really need to remind us, every time he mentions something good that Craig Claiborne did, that in his later years he “declined” into alcoholism, and how many times do we need to hear that James Beard was fat? Or repeatedly pointing out that they were gay, which, if it was somehow worked into their influence on the food scene might have been relevant past the first mention. Or that nobody really likes, or ever liked, Alice Waters…? The people missing, however, are more than just the rest of the professional food world in the U.S., they are the people who were eating all this food. The tenor of the book comes across that 99.99999% of the populace were pretty much dragged, kicking and screaming, forced at gunpoint, to try anything new. There seems to be no awareness, and certainly no acknowledgement, that what made it possible for these chefs and food writers and food growers/raisers to do what they did is that We, the People, were actually a prime part of the equation – from immigrants hungering for foods of their homelands, to GIs who’d been overseas and came back with stories to tell of things they’d eaten, to the world simply “becoming a smaller place” with international travel, global media and in recent years, phenomena like, for example, hey, food communities on the internet, where we were actually actively seeking out the new, the exotic, the different – the social, cultural, political world that influenced the culinary or gastronomic environment into which these people could flourish and become the celebrities that they have.

Books (Reviews)

Food, History, USA

Malbec or bust?

Dan P.Tuesday, August 7, 20070

Time Out
Buenos Aires for Visitors
Winter/Spring 2007
Page 64

Malbec or bust?
Dan Perlman finds a bottle for every budget

To some, it’s a ‘full-bodied explosion of currant fruit and notes of cocoa with subtle toasty oak and a long finish’. To others, ‘it’s just grape juice’. Forget politics or religion; a topic that truly polarizes the average dinner party crowd is wine, especially when the discussion turns into long-winded, pedantic arguments that inevitably end in the suggestion that the group orders a pricey bottle. And in most restaurants, a hundred dollars will get you some pretty amazing ‘grape juice’.

But, it’s not all about the money. For most of us its about the simple pleasure of enjoying a bottle of wine with friends, over a nice meal. Fortunately for connoisseurs and casual enthusiasts alike, Argentina produces a range of fine wines to suit all palates and budgets.

The good news for wine lovers of little means (or those who just don’t want to deal with pretentious sales staff in the city’s high-end wine shops) [Note: that parenthetical was added by my editor, who has a vastly different view of sommeliers and salespeople than I do.] is that you don’t need to go into a specialty store to pick up a drinkable bottle of red. Most basic grocery stores stock San Felipe ‘Doce Uvas’, a spicy, fruity blend of twelve different grapes that’ll cost you AR$8 in a shop and around AR$15 in a restaurant. Yup, we’re talking about the quirky, squat oval bottle on sale alongside shampoo and instant soup at your neighborhood supermarket.

In the same budget range, there’s an entire line of wines from a subsidiary of the well known Bodega Esmeralda, that are bottled with an eye towards emphasizing the pure flavors of individual grapes. There are a dozen of them, and so far all worth trying, but the current standout of the Rodas Colección 12 is their Petite Verdot, which will set you back about AR$8-9 in stores and around AR$15-18 in restaurants.

It’s a shame that these wines haven’t picked up more of a following in the restaurant world, because they’re amazingly food friendly – a line of Shiraz (or Syrah) blends coming from Bodegas Callia out of San Juan province – but if you see one, grab it. My personal favorite is the Callia Alta Shiraz-Tannat, a bold, spicy wine that’s a great steak complement – at AR$10-12 in stores and AR$18-20 in the few scattered dining spots that carry it, it’s a steal.

There’s a lot of competition in the next price range up, in fact, something around the AR$20-25 mark, or about AR$15-18 in stores. We’re partial to the Finca La Linda line, which isn’t obscure, but certainly isn’t one of the usual suspects, either. Their Tempranillo is particularly good.

For those who like to allocate more of their budget to wine, lay down AR$25-30 for a bottle of Sur de Los Andes Bonarda. While there’s as much of this grape planted in Argentina as there is Malbec, it’s not nearly as well known, but ought to be.

We haven’t recommended a Malbec yet. Where does the Argentinian classic fit in the budget list? It’s not that there aren’t good ones in the lower price ranges, but for our money, Malbec tends to shine when you hit the mid to higher range bottles. Our top pick in the next price range up is Malbec de Ricardo Santos, which costs about AR$35-40 in stores and AR$50-60 in a restaurant. It’s a beautifully structured unoaked Malbec, exactly what the grape is all about.

If your group appreciates the finer things but still wants to keep a bit of a rein on the budget, try a relatively new wine out of Salta, a blend of Malbec and Cabernet from high-altitude producer Raul Davidos. Bodega Tacuil “RD” is a true stunner, packed with fruit and amazingly balanced. Coming in at about AR$65 in stores and AR$80-90 in restaurants, the bottle can still be considered affordable.

One of the best known Argentinian wineries is Escorihuela Gascon. A couple of years ago they introduced a line of limited production wines, each of which is exceptional. Our personal favorite is the Escorihuela Gascon “Pequeños Producciones” Barbera, which will set you back AR$80-90 pesos in shops, and around AR$120 in restaurants.

Dig deep in your wallet: we’re heading upmarket towards some of the best bottles in Argentina, or indeed anywhere. The top-end wines – AR$100-500 in restaurants – just keep getting better and better. If you’re up for spending around AR$90 in the stores and AR$125 or so in restaurants, Trapiche Ciento Viente Años is a great blend of Malbec, Cabernet, and Petite Verdot.

The grand prize of Argentinian wine goes to a bottle that sings Malbec, San Pedro de Yacochuya, a wine from the Michel Rolland stable, which, depending on vintage, will set you back anywhere from AR$150-300 in stores and AR$250-500 at the table. If that works for your wallet and ‘grape juice’craving, you can’t do much better.

In mid-2006, I started writing for Time Out Buenos Aires. With changes in their way of conducting business, I decided to part company with them after my last article and set of reviews in mid-2009.

Magazine articles, Time Out Buenos Aires

Argentina, Wine

More tea, padre?

Dan P.Tuesday, August 7, 20070

Time Out
Buenos Aires for Visitors
Winter/Spring 2007
Page 70

More tea, padre?
You heard us. Hip porteños are getting into… afternoon tea. Dan Perlman reports.

It’s a regular refrain we hear from visitors, “I just assumed with the Italian influence that I could get a good espresso here… so where can I find one?” It’s a good question. Make no mistake, porteños have the raw materials – quality coffee beans and equipment are readily available in BA. But strangely enough, it’s actually easier to find a good cup of tea.

We’re not talking about your basic orange pekoe in a bag. Yes, many, if not most places, use teabags, but there are some great local producers of teas and tea blends, including well known brands like Inti-Zen, Cachamai, Evy, and Gold Beginning. Higher-end restaurants often offer a selection, ranging from basic black or green, on up to various fruit and herbal blends.

Anyone can enjoy the simple but sublime pleasure of a cup of tea, the true tea aficionado, however, will appreciate the services of our own local tea guru, Inés Berton In addition to running her world class tea blending company, Tealosophy, she’s also the force behind Inti-Zen, and the soon-to-be-introduced Chamán herbal blends.

Ms. Berton is a returned porteña who grew up in BA and initially trained as a perfume blender; she later switched gears to pursue her passion for tea. She has worked in Paris, London, and New York, blending teas for some of the top importers, and notably, she’s served as personal blender to the King and Queen of Spain, as well as to the Dalai Lama. She’s a tireless world traveler who goes straight to the source, standing in the tea fields in southern China supervising the picking of only the best leaves, herbs from southern France, and vanilla from Madagascar. Most recently, a month working with herb-picking shamans in the highlands of Perú. It’s impossible to sit down with her and not come away passionate about drinking tea – her enthusiasm is infectious, and her shop, at No. 37 in the promenade alongside the Hotel Alvear, along with it’s attached tea salon, is a scented heaven.

Working with virtually every top hotel, and many of the best restaurants in the city, Berton creates custom blends for each customer, working with the venue’s chef to come up with flavors that fit the tenor of the cuisine. As one of only 11 acknowledged “tea blenders” in the world, she’s much in demand.

So where does Ms. Berton recommend “taking tea”? She advocates the elegant experience of a full afternoon tea at hotels like the Alvear, the Cesar Park, and the Park Hyatt – where, come 5pm, the salons fill with the dedicated chamomile-swillers. After a brief tour of hotel-hosted teas, we’d tout the amazing experience of taking tea at the Alvear in particular – the house blended almond tea is a true eye-opener, and if you think you know what Earl Grey is all about, think again.

Looking for something more low key? For more casual venues, Ms. Berton has some suggestions too. She’s particularly fond of Tea Connection (corner of Uriburu and Pacheco de Melo), where more than a dozen blends of teas stack up well against the kitchen’s wonderful selection of fresh sandwiches, tarts, scones, and salads. Mark’s Deli (El Salvador 4701 in Palermo Viejo) is another of her favorites along with i Fresh Market in Puerto Madero.

In mid-2006, I started writing for Time Out Buenos Aires. With changes in their way of conducting business, I decided to part company with them after my last article and set of reviews in mid-2009.

Magazine articles, Time Out Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, Tea and Coffee, Travel

Author Archive: Dan P.

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