La Cantina Francesa — Gourmet Fast Food

La Cantina Francesa is a buffet-style eatery in Microcentro which manages to serve up fast and easy lunches without compromising on quality. Many restaurants, bars and cafes downtown struggle to find the right balance between serving up decent food, and getting it out quickly for busy office types and travelers on the go. Argentina’s dining [...]

Porteño of the Week

Ester Vanda Marini Owner, Arte Naturale/author/massage therapist Age: 43 -San Telmo Q: You’re Italian. How did you end up in Buenos Aires? I came when I was traveling around South America around five years ago. I wanted to see Chile. I passed through the dessert and was in Chiloe and I had an Italian friend [...]

Nonna Bianca—Grandma’s Gelato in San Telmo

For ice cream in San Telmo, near the Plaza Dorrego area, skip the fancy Freddo chain on the corner of Defensa and Estados Unidos and head just a few yards down the block to grandma’s authentic alternative, Nonna Bianca, specializing in homemade Italian-style gelato. With its outdoor benches and homey wooden interior you’ll feel like [...]

Celetto–Argentine Fare with a Tuscan Twist

If you have been to visit the dead at Recoleta Cemetery, you will probably have been beckoned, cajoled or dragged into one of the many overpriced eateries that skirt its perimeter. This need not be the case. A short walk west you will find Celetto, a charming and understated Argentine ristorantino with more charm in [...]

Filo – Colorful Italian Restaurant in Microcentro

Filo is a restaurant that serves up a bit of sensory overload to diners along with real Italian food. Bright colors, modern artwork and hip music are the hallmarks of bar and restaurant designer Mario Salcedo (creator of Buenos Aires hotspots such as Pizza Piola, Dada and El Unico), and Filo is one of his most [...]

Coffee Culture – A Guide to Ordering

Italian coffee culture has spread throughout the world in the last twenty years or so, replacing the previously ubiquitous instant coffee and watery percolator fare with macchiatos and café lattes, but thanks to the country’s Italian immigrants, Argentines have long enjoyed Italian-style coffee — albeit with a few local twists. Coffee drinking is a refined, [...]

Bar Uriarte –Italian and Mediterranean Cuisine with a Serving of Palermo Cool

Editor’s note: Bar Uriarte closed in April 2010. Bar Uriarte typifies the modern Palermo Viejo dining experience. The restaurant is owned by the same folks who El Dazon and Sucre, two other hot spots popular with the fashion crowd. At night it’s a bustling trendy place to have dinner, during the day it’s relaxing place [...]

Pizza Piola — Italian-Style Pizza in a Recoleta Ambience

Piola is among the group of restaurants in Buenos Aires that makes genuine Italian-style pizza and that’s not surprising considering the small international chain is Italian.  Here, pizza is not just a quick and cheap way to eat, but a fork-and-knife fine dining experience.  From the street, the place doesn’t appear to be much, but [...]