Awhile back I put up a review of El Boliche de Alberto, the one highly recommended steakhouse within the actual city of Bariloche. Well, that experience had left a very bitter taste in my mouth. Steak is Argentina’s national food! How an Argentine parrilla could fail so badly was beyond me.

I was positive I could find some good meat near Bariloche, even if I had to travel a distance for it. And that’s where El Patacón comes in.

12►

Bariloche’s best restaurants, oddly enough, are not actually located within the city with all of its famous chocolatiers, but rather outside the city center on a 26-mile route that takes you all the way to the harbor. That routes includes just about every good restaurant I ate at in Bariloche, including El Patacón.

El Patacón is very special, though. Although it may seem like a traditional (if not exceptional) parrilla, it claims the unique honor that it was the site of a presidential dinner between Bill Clinton and Argentina’s Carlos Ménem, while Clinton was visiting Argentina for a presidential summit. Though I’m not a fanatic lover of Bill Clinton, I was rather curious—if this place was good enough for Argentina’s own president to bring Clinton here, it must at least be good, right?

And, for once, this kind of celebrity hype actually panned out, in nearly every way.

First, in terms of ambience. The restaurant is constructed like a log cabin and so has the nice log cabin coziness to it. It’s an Argentine steakhouse, combining the down-home feel of a parrilla with a little bit of an upscale quality, e.g. the very nice polished wood for the tables and the crooked pillars made from contorted branches and trunks . But don’t let the upscale features fool you—this is a traditional steakhouse at its finest, to the point of being touristy, both for Americans and Argentines. In fact, the signature dish is even named Martín Fierro after the quintessential Argentine gaucho (cowboy) who was the protagonist of perhaps Argentina’s most famous epic poem (which was also named Martín Fierro after the hero). It’s a nice place for groups, as with most steakhouses, but classy enough to bring a business associate for a relaxed evening. The service adds to the experience, as my waiter was not only amiable but had an energetic, cheery attitude that really suited the coziness of the restaurant and made me feel welcome.

And, while the food wasn’t the best I’ve had at a parrilla, it really was quite good. In contrast to El Boliche de Alberto, which ruined nearly every dish, here I can’t really complain about much at all, except maybe the bread. And the steak, the key part of the meal, was cooked perfectly, which is all you can ask for from a parrilla.

All in all, then, this was a great food experience, and it is the perfect place to come to for a steak if you need one in Bariloche.

What I had:

1. Bread and beef paté (butter substitute): Very innovative touch, replacing the butter. Very Argentine, considering how much beef Argentines eat. Bread is dull and cold, though. 1.0/5.0
2. Trout in escabeche (pickling brine): Very typical regional cuisine. I’m not a big fan of pickling brine or cold cuts, but it actually tasted quite fresh, the meat was tender, and there was a good tangy, oiliness to the dish that really suited the fish. 3.0+/5.0
3. Martín Fierro (Ribeye with veggies and chimichurri)—The ribeye is perfectly cooked and incredibly succulent. It’s so thick you can’t even fit it in your mouth. It’s served with roasted red peppers, onions, and other veggies that really give a nice smoky freshness to the dish. This is especially nice because Argentines typically serve nothing with their meat, so this dish really has some added flavor you don’t get at most steakhouses. The potatoes are extraneous and dull, as is the chimichurri, but the overall dish is fantastic regardless. 4.0/5.0
4. Chocolate suicidio (Chocolate suicide—Chocolate brownie topped with chocolate ice cream and chocolate sauce): Finally a chocolate brownie with nuts in Argentina that is worth eating! This is a pretty standard American dish, but even by our standards, it was quite good, and every component added another layer of chocolate flavor that really made this a true chocolate suicide. The chocolate ice cream, as expected of Argentine ice cream, was rather smooth, creamy, and sweet, and the chocolate brownie was dense and rich. Again, standard, but good. 3.3/5.0

Ambience: 3.5/5.0
Service: 3.0/5.0
Taste: 3.5/5.0. 4.0/5.0 in terms of steak.
Value: 4.0/5.0
Overall Score: 3.6+/5.0

Villegas 347
Bariloche, Argentina

Argentina’s Bariloche has some of the best food in the country. Unfortunately, on my first day, that wasn’t the case, as can be seen by my review of Yuco, the first restaurant I went to. In fact, the meal was just so disappointing, for all the hype the restaurant had received, that I started to really crave a good old-fashioned Argentine parrilla, or steakhouses.  I just wanted a nice slice of meat, plain and simple, with none of the frills of all this fine dining garbage. So, against my better reason, I decided to head over for a second dinner that night, and this time, at just one of the normal cheap eats within the city itself.

Unfortunately, unlike the rest of Argentina, most of Bariloche’s cuisine doesn’t revolve around steakhouses, and I could only find one that was really recommended—El Boliche de Alberto. I headed there without a second thought, since, to my knowledge, just about any parrilla in Argentina would have excellent food, especially meat.

Boy was I wrong! This has got to be the first steakhouse I went to in Argentina that has cooked a steak badly—and that’s quite an insult, considering the cheap hole-in-the-wall steak stands (No, that’s not a typo. Argentina has mini steak joints just about everywhere!) have great meat. I had the sirloin rump steak, an Argentine specialty, and it wasn’t really succulent, nor did it have much flavor to it. And the food nightmare didn’t end there, either. The French Fries tasted like mush, and the empanadas were dull and flavorless. The one redeeming quality was the ice cream sundae, but really, I could’ve probably gotten a better sundae at a parlor.

And the restaurant only makes it worse with its fake, touristy gaudiness. It’s not that the ambience is all that bad—it’s much cleaner and spacious than the lower-end steakhouses, it’s a great place for groups, and you can be as loud as you want. And it does have a nice log cabin feel to it. But it’s still very much a tourist joint, and you’re reminded of that by flamboyance, the showiness of everything, from the humungous portions to the huge open bbq-pit area where you can see all the gigantic cuts of meat cooking, to the noise and music. Some might like it, and it’s definitely a great place to hang out with friends, but, having lived in the country, I can’t really get as much of a kick out of it.

All in all, El Boliche de Alberto fails as a steakhouse. I’d do a detailed review, but it’s really not necessary. The restaurant is a casual, overpopular, noisy steakhouse with low-quality food. Don’t go there expecting anything else. Go only for a cheap eat (and trust me, you will leave full).

Ambience: 1.0/5.0
Service: 2.5/5.0
Taste: 0.0/5.0
Value: 2.0/5.0. Very cheap compared to most places, but quality is still horrible.
Overall Score: 0.8/5.0

Sarmiento 765
Mendoza, Argentina

I was still in Mendoza with my friends Joe and Jeff. We had just had a memorable meal the night before at Francis Mallman’s 1884, but that was both pricy and far. This time we just wanted a peaceful, more casual, and more local meal within the actual city of Mendoza itself. We asked around, and all the recommendations seemd to point to this place, Azafrán.

Azafrán’s specialty, as with so many places in Mendoza, is the wine menu. Not only does it have quite possibly the best selection of all the restaurants within the city, but its philosophy is even that one should select a wine first and then attempt to match the meal to it, rather than the other way around. It should come as no surprise, then, that its wine did actually turn out to be better than its food.

Azafrán really was a mixed bag, having fantastic wine but suffering in some way in most other regards. The interior wasn’t much to speak of—just a very small, somewhat cramped restaurant, with a bit of a casual vibe. It really was notable in almost no way. The service was fine, but it didn’t really strike me as anything extraordinary (it’s what you would expect at a normal, casual place).

As for the food, it was solid all around but it was just very good cuisine with a few exceptional dishes and some flops. The meat, as in most Argentine restaurants, was extremely well cooked, and for once there were some interesting flavor combinations to accentuate the flavor of the beef. Most places just tend to serve the beef without anything but some vegetables, so it’s nice to see more complexity to the dishes. Sometimes, the flavors really didn’t combine too well, though.

Overall, Azafrán is just an all-around good restaurant, with great wine. It’s a little casual, with nothing really outstanding, but for the price it’s a rather fine meal, especially if you want to stay within Mendoza city.

What I had, on my first try:

1. Bread: so fluffy, and in so many varieties.
2. Potato and sausage omelette: The weak link in the meal, without a doubt. Not very bad, but hardly what I’d consider a great start. Flavors just seemed weak and clashing. I’ve had much, much better in Spain. 1.5/5.0
3. 14 oz. sirloin with a sweet, fruity topping and mashed potatoes: The meat was cooked excellently, and the fruit sauce actually complemented it quite well, surprisingly. It was very simple, and the flavors were nice. 3.8/5.0
4. Chocolate parfait with raspberry sauce: Can’t say much, other than that it was a solid, enjoyable dessert. 3.5/5.0

What I had, on my second try:

1. Bread: same
2. Empanada Trio: In general, dough is very good. Filling, though, is very hit or miss. Much better empanadas are readily available in Argentina. 2.5/5.0
   • Sweetbread—Fantastic. A tad spicy and greasy, and very meaty. Satisfying combo overall
   • Caramelized onion, ground beef, and cheese: Good, but too salty, greasy, and boring. Feels common, probably from the taste of the ground beef, which is a horrible type of meat for an empanada—makes it too greasy and ruins the texture with a graininess. Every component is heavy and oily on its own, but together they make a mess.
   • Beef and onion: somewhere in between the other two. Great taste, but still ground beef.
3. Smoked deer (cold cut) and cheese platter—Smoky, gamy, and lean. A bit like ham, but without the grease. Great, balanced taste because of the lower fat content. Spiced cheese on the plate is a bit bland, but it’s decent. The dish is just boring. 1.5-2.0/5.0
4. Gnocchi with tomato, onion, vegetables—Fantastic dish. Very little sauce—too little for my taste. The tomatoes are also a bit bitter. Overall, though, the balance is great, and the flavors are strong and nice. The gnocchi is so fresh that it’s probably homemade (homemade pasta is very common throughout Argentina, b/c of the large Italian population). The salty, light gravy-like sauce only enhances the flavor. 4.0
5. Black cherry mille-feuille and vanilla ice cream with cookies: Another fantastic dish. Tasty, simple, sweet, and chocolaty. Well-done, very light, creative, and uses my favorite dessert, ice cream, very effectively. Rather unique too—even though it’s just ice cream and cookies, the black cherry mille-feuille is a nice, elegant touch. 4.2/5.0

Ambience: 2.0/5.0
Service: 3.0/5.0
Taste: 3.5/5.0
Wine List: 4.4/5.0
Value: 4.0/5.0
Overall Score: 3.7/5.0

In terms of Argentine cuisine, you really can’t do much better than the meat, which you can find fresh and cheap throughout the city. Very few steakhouses, however, have the reputation of La Cabrera, which is both a tourist haven and one of Buenos Aires’s best culinary deals. La Cabrera is THE legendary steakhouse, the one that is supposedly not just the best in the city, but a historic landmark that any tourist must try. Needless to say, I had to try it out, and it was in fact my first expedition into Argentina’s culinary scene.

[provided by and posted with permission of La Cabera]

La Cabrera is oriented more towards the tourist, like a lot of the finer dining in the city (finer dining here should be interpreted very loosely. This verges on the casual). You can readily find Americans throughout the restaurant, which has a very charming, friendly, yet somewhat touristy vibe to it.  So if you want a true Argentine experience, you really won’t find it here. Still, the restaurant was charming and the service so friendly that you feel rather comfortable, especially if you can’t speak the language. And there are lots of nice little touches that add to experience. The meal even ends with complementary lollipops, presented on a large rack, hearkening back to your youth. And as far as higher-end dining goes, this is quite the casual place, avoiding formalities to create an inviting atmosphere. The service is slow, but rather friendly and very accommodating to foreigners.

La Cabrera, however, also delivers on the food. As far as value goes, it’s quite possibly the best deal in town for a premium steakhouse, offering all of Argentina’s best cuts of meat for much lower than you’d find in some of the pricier tourist areas, like Puerto Madero. 500g of perfectly cooked Kobe beef, for instance, goes for about 80 pesos, or $23.The portions are so huge, moreover, that you’ll be hard pressed to finish them. In fact, just 3 entrees fed myself and 3 of my friends, all of whom have large appetites.

As for the food, I can’t say that La Cabrera is quite as legendary as all the myths say, but it is nonetheless quite good. The meat was always cooked extremely well, better than at most places, and the sides were fantastic. The ribeye probably can’t be beaten, either. Though it was slightly overhyped, it is still a must for the price, even if it’s not the best meal I had in Argentina.

Suggestions:

Hits: Ojo de Bife (Ribeye, specialty of the house), Scrambled eggs with sausage, dulce de leche pancacke, chorizo, complementary limoncello and lollipops, bread, wine list, and service. Note that the ribeye was perhaps the best in all of Buenos Aires, which is an extraordinary feat considering how stiff the competition is in Argentina, since ribeye is one of the nation’s favorite cuts.

Misses: Stuffed tenderloin, chocolate volcano, Kobe beef
Service: 4.0/5.0
Ambience: 3.5/5.0
Taste: 4.0/5.0
Value: 4.3/5.0
Overall Score: 4.0/5.0