Parrillas and pulperías

On my first full day in Buenos Aires, my friend Ian was determined to give me as traditional a time as possible. Of course, this meant finding somewhere to eat so we piled in the car and set off for the little town of Mercedes, about an hour or so from where I am staying in Ituzaingo, which is already 45 minutes from Buenos Aires itself.

As we got into town, Ian started looking for an old guy to ask where the best parrilla was. A parrilla meaning a grill, so it is a place where all the food is barbecued. A few circles round the small town and we found one.

The place had about a dozen or so tables, and it was about half full. A few empty metal plates with  some meaty remnants on lay on an adjacent table. I was already hungry.

I left the ordering up to Ian. We each got a small bottle of local wine, San Felipe which you drink mixed with soda. On its own the wine is not too bad, but the soda does cut some of the harshness and makes a slightly more refreshing drink out of it. The wine arrived with a plate of pickles - aubgergines, peppers, carrots (I think) and onions. 

Next up was a pile of fries "provencal" also very traditional which came with a sprinkling of garlic and parsley.

Finally, what we had been waiting for. The meat. It came with two big ribs with chunks of meat on - called tiro de asado. Then a big chunk of flank complete with a layering of fat and skin, called vacio. Completing the meaty feast were two big sausages - a chorizo and a morcilla, or blood sausage. The chorizo and the vacio were my favourites - the vacio looked like it would be fairly tough but was perfectly done, the inch thick flank just fell apart and you just had this wonderful layering of smoky grilled flavour and fat. Definite win! 

It was all delicious and far to much for the two of us, though Ian assured me this was quite normal for Argentina. We did order a salad but I suppose the waiter either didn't hear us or assumed we were joking.

I apologize for the somewhat blurry picture, I can only assume the meat was making my hand shake.

Dessert also arrived. I am not even sure why we ordered it. We got another bottle of San Felipe to share, a couple of coffees and we staggered out into the late afternoon sun. The total cost was around P 250, or $ 50. 

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We decided to make our way right away to the pulperia  which roughly translates as a general store. This is what is was since the 1850s when it opened, serving the local gauchos. For most of the 20th century it was owned by one Roberto "Cacho" Di Caterina, and thus it became known as Cacho's pulperia. The place mentions a few times that he was the last pulpero, and now that he is dead I suppose there are no more, though his granddaughter and her husband seem to be running the place so I am not quite sure how that works. 

We went in and sat down. In the centre of the room were a couple of old guitarreros, and another one stadning up with a drum that had an animal (cow) skin on that muffled the sound. 

We stayed at the bar for quite a while surveying the wines and spirits on offer.

We decided more wine was out of the quesiton, so settled on a Legui which is a sweet burnt liqueur made from rum, sugar and herbal tea. As you can see from the picture, they have a lot of salamis hanging up and as Mercedes is famous for its salamis and peaches, I couldn't resist. The Leguis were going down very nicely, so the board of cold cuts came out at a very welcome time: the salami, a cured ham and some local cheese - fontina I believe - plus some bread. By the time we left sometimes in the evening, we had had ten Leguis, plus the cold cuts, for a total of P 150, or $ 30. 

This is the corner of the bar where the bottles and indeed the whole corner itself have remained untouched for a century.

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