I Spoke Too Soon

Since this is our fifth year in Buenos Aires and the third straight year in the same apartment, you'd think we'd know our way around by now. But there's still so much to learn, and I don't mean just the language.

In my last post I wrote about how bored we've become of the heavy, dull food of Buenos Aires. It's time to eat my words, or better yet, eat at some new places we've found in the last few days. Even more surprising is that these places are within a few blocks of our apartment.

First is L'epi, a real boulangerie, or French bakery shop, on Montevideo just past Vicente Lopez. In a few short days we've become steady customers and friends with the staff of this great little shop. Their croissant aux amandes (almond croissants) are divine. We've already said our goodbyes and promised that next year we will come back to buy bread and croissants and anything else that comes out of their ovens.

Then there's a place I mentioned last week, be Frika. The typical meal there is two "tini mini" hamburgers, a cup of thick-cut French fries, and a glass of beer. Their 15 varieties of burgers would be a great find in any city.

On Saturday we had dinner at La Olla de Felix. The rumor is that Felix is an ex-chef of the Ritz Hotel in Paris who came to Buenos Aires 15 years ago to be on his own. The result is a small, elegant French bistro seating around 30 people. The menu, handwritten on a whiteboard leaning against a side wall, is based on whatever fresh ingredients Felix has found that day. Terri and I both had the scalloped slices of tenderloin served in a simple sauce and accompanied by pureed squash. For dessert we split a tarte tatin: to call it simply apple pie with vanilla ice cream seems somewhat demeaning and mundane. We told Felix to look for us in a year or so.

Combined with our old favorites such as Tandoor (Indian food) and Dashi (sushi), these new additions mean that maybe eating in Buenos Aires is not so dull after all.

If you're still not hungry, look at a snap of one of our favorite foods in Buenos Aires, the choripan. ("Choripan" is a combination of "chorizo" and "pan", or sausage and bread.)

Besides all these great new food finds, the weather the last few days has been glorious: highs in the 60s to low 70s with bright sun, blue skies, and gentle breezes. How could we not be sorry to leave and eager to come back?

Tomorrow night we fly back to Fort Worth, where the big excitement is the opening of the big new H.E.B. in Burleson on Friday. (No, I am not being facetious.)

Until then, I'm still adding snaps at Flickr.