One of the three great legendary bodegones of Buenos Aires,
The other two being La Dorita and Barcelona Asturias.
When we were at La Dorita, they were off their game ...
So if you want to say TWO great legendary bodegones,
I won't argue with you.
Of the two giants, Restaurant Manolo has by far the most creative kitchen.
Barcelona Asturias - and when it is on - La Dorita - feature a comprehensive menu of standard Argentine dishes.
What makes those food houses great is that their versions of the standards are legendary.
Manolo, in contrast features dishes you are not going to see anywhere else.
Their kitchen does things its own way.
Manolo's own way is absolutely amazing.
* * *
There are two house rules for Manolo.
RULE ONE.
If you are not an omnivore, stay home.
Manolo is going to serve you your meat.
Manolo is going to serve you your vegetables.
Manolo is going to serve you your dairy and your glutens.
They are going to cook the food the way they think it ought to be cooked.
The waiters will be nice - but there really is no room here for people who want their own private microcosmos of dishes that exclude 2/3 of the ingredients of the world.
You want fish. They think sauteed parma ham should be on that fish in vast quantities. They will put on the sauteed parma ham in vast quantities.
The fish will taste amazing.
But you have to be willing to accept whatever the cook wants to put on or with your food.
RULE TWO.
This is a MAN's restaurant.
Every square inch of the wall is covered in soccer paraphernalia.
Many many tables are all male.
The staff is all male.
We are not talking man-bags and man-buns here.
We are talking Argentine Macho to the Nth degree.
You can bring your girlfriend or your wife.
But she is coming along as the guest of a real man.
It helps a whole lot in this place if you know deep in your heart
What is wrong with the Boca Juniors this year and
Why they don't have a chance against River Plate.
* * *
So what do real cooks serve real men?
I had a drink I have only seen in Manolo - a Ferroviario.
(That is railway for non-Spanish speakers.)
This is a standard Fernet and Cola.
(Fernet is the Argentine Pernod. Cola is the usual accompaniment.)
The Ferroviario makes it stronger and entirely less civilized by adding vermouth to the mix.
The drink tastes medicinal and foul.
I absolutely love it.
Do you want a drink that tastes good?
Don't put Fernet in your glass.
If you are doing Fernet anyway,
You want something that will slap you around and command your attention.
A Ferroviario will do just that.
My main dish was an Irish steak with a queso fresco sauce, sauteed pancetta, and sauteed scallions.
On the side was a superb Hubbard squash.
THIS
WAS MAGNIFICENT EATING.
A meal fit for a champion.
I have had vast amounts of steak steak steak steak and steak in Argentina.
Steaks get sauced up or garnished very rarely.
An Irish steak is not the greatest cut of steak in Buenos Aires.
But with these additions, it was die and go to heaven time.
The house loves sauteed pancetta.
So do I.
I have been inhaling queso fresco in my Buenos Aires apartment.
I can now vouch for the fact it makes a first rate sauce.
And Argentine hard squashes are simply out of this world.
Nothing that grows in New England can possibly compete.
Note that an Irish steak is intentionally served with a ton of gristle on the outside.
That gristle tastes absolutely sensational.
It was the high taste point of the dish.
But use your head and don't go overboard on said gristle.
With the cheese sauce, the steak and the ham,
You are getting a lot of "rich" food.
If you are already Lionel Messi, so ahead and eat it all.
Wimps like me had to lay off the fat and the gristle a little.
It was still an amazing meal.
* * *
Dessert was a Sambayon Marsala.
Zabaglione is one of the finest desserts on the planet ... bar none.
I used to make an excellent version.
Zabaglione depends very heavily on how good the Marsala wine is that goes into the dessert.
I can promise you - with the full information that is available to me from a lifetime of eating and drinking that -
Manolo's marsala is much much better than Samuel C.'s marsala.
Manolo's Sambayon is to die for.
* * *
So I am going to lay it on the line for you straight.
If you are in Buenos Aires,
Go to Manolo.
If you just won't eat this, and just won't eat that and just won't eat the other thing ...
You don't belong at Manolo.
If you don't want to be in a room that hearkens back to the day when men were men and women looked at them adoringly,
You can still go to Manolo but you will be on foreign territory.
If you DO go,
and you let the kitchen do what it wants to do ...
You will eat the meal of a lifetime.
* * *
I am willing to look at a lot of pictures of guys in football uniforms,
If that is what it takes to eat a meal I will never forget. read more