Taking over the spot that was El Tejano originally, if I understand things correctly, Ronald, who…read moreruns this place, was the chef for Larry, who owns El Tejano (now, as far as I know, only to be found at El Alamo's two bars... the original on Uruguay and a new one on Córdoba). He either bought the place out, or just took over the lease when El Tejano left. He's given it a slight Dutch twist, when it comes to some of his sauces and spicing, and adding in menu items like bitterballen.
With three of us at the counter on Sunday afternoon (normally he only opens at night Tuesday-Saturday, but occasionally he's in the mood to open Sunday lunch, and posts it on his Instagram account), and a sampler platter for two on offer, we asked if he could up the sampler to a tabla for three, and he was happy to oblige. This is a whopping sampler of meat - especially for the easy price of 400 pesos/person, a mere $7.25. For that, each person gets a fried empanada filled with his smoked pulled pork held together with Indonesian spicy peanut sauce - yum! - a smoked chorizo - more yum! - smoked and barbecued bondiola, pork shoulder - oh come on now, how many times can I say yum! - and two smoked ribs smothered in your choice of spicy or not "Lekker sauce", which is a slightly fruity, spicy blend that's delicious, though we found the ribs themselves a bit dry. The two smoked meats in the middle are livened up even more by your choice of his own housemade spicy mustard (we all want bottles of the stuff), or his Mortal hot sauce, which is a jalapeño sauce with a kick and flavor similar to Sriracha.
Although not on the day's menu, he brought us out a couple of extras to sample - some smoked lomito, pork loin, that he's experimenting with. We liked it a lot - he asked what we thought it might go with - my thought was a sandwich with smoked cheese and kimchi (he's a friend of, and proponent of, Kimchi Buenos Aires, who I buy kimchi from when I don't make it myself. (Delivered to your door usually next day, and very reasonable, with a choice of styles!) He also brought us some plain and spicy curry bitterballen - a new one for all of us - a sort of squishy meatball (basically ground meat mixed with bechamel and spices and then breaded and fried) - both, well, more yum! Overall assessment? Some of the best smoked meat in Buenos Aires right now. (Before someone asks, simpers, or protests - let's see, I'd go to Lekker for the empanada, chorizo, and/or bondiola, and to El Tejano for the brisket, ribs, and chicken. I haven't encountered anywhere else in town that tops either of them in the smoked meat world.)
