In Buenos Aires, it’s not hard to eat seasonally. Here’s a trusty guide on to how to eat with the seasons in Argentina. All you need to do is find your trusty verdulería, make friends with your produce dealer, and shop by the seasons, treating your body right with some Buenos Aires super food action.
Like clockwork, on March 21st, summer in Buenos Aires ended. Temperatures dropped and the breeze sent crisping leaves fluttering across the pavement. With the passing of summer go the rooftop asados, pool parties and days at the quinta. However, now that the clinging heat has dissipated, it’s the perfect time to indulge in an autumnal bike ride, and Buenos Aires is littered with fantastic cycling destinations, both in and out of the city. We round up some of the best places to go on two wheels, in Capital and beyond.
Swedish sommelier Arvid Rosengren clinched the coveted title of world’s best in the fifteenth A.S.I. Meilleur Sommelier du Monde competition in Mendoza last night. It was a double scoop for the New York-based somm, who had taken Europe’s top title in 2013. Competition in the 15-strong semifinal came from Argentina’s very own Paz Levinson, who was anointed Best Sommelier in the Americas in 2015, and Japan’s Hiroshi Ishida, Asia and Oceania’s top taster, also in 2015, as well as a string of candidates from Europe.
MENDOZA – Huddled together in small groups, mentors rub backs and mop their wards’ brows, sommeliers easily distinguished from other revellers at a cocktail party thanks to perfectly pressed black suits and aprons. The tension and nerves crackled like an Andean electric storm around the Park Hyatt Mendoza hotel as 60 competitors from around the world chewed down cuticles, waiting to find out whether they’d earned one of 15 coveted places in the Contest of the Best Sommelier of the World Argentina 2016 semifinal.
This is a sauce to be taken seriously. Surely the most popular condiment in the country, chimichurri is a succulent parsley, oregano, garlic and chili concoction beloved of all Argentines. It can be bright green or a murky brown, but the best chimichurri is chock full of chunky, herby goodness and bursting with flavor. You’ll want to get the grill going because chimichurri is perfect with an asado. Here’s how to get a tangy, garlicky flavor of Argentina in a sauce that’s so simple to make, you’ll wonder how you lived without it.
In part five of The Real Argentina’s somms series, we meet Paz Levinson, the second of two Argentine sommeliers competing in the A.S.I. Concours du Meilleur Sommelier du Monde 2016 (A.S.I. Contest of the Best Sommelier of the World). Currently ranked number one in both the Americas and Argentina, and the only Argentine to qualify as an Advanced Sommelier from the UK’s Court of Master Sommeliers, Paz will be going for a titles hat-trick at the world championship, which is being held in Mendoza for the first time on 15-20 April 2016.
One of two Argentine sommeliers who will compete in the A.S.I. Concours du Meilleur Sommelier du Monde (A.S.I. Contest of the Best Sommelier of the World), we meet Martín Bruno, sommelier at top Buenos Aires restaurant Tegui, in part four of The Real Argentina’s somms series. Martín spills the beans on how he’s been diligently preparing for this prestigious competition, which is being held in Mendoza for the first time on 15-20 April 2016.
As you slowly inch your way up the congested Avenida Corrientes — the wide avenue that cuts through the middle of the small neighborhood of Chacarita — it is hard to imagine that this ‘barrio’ derived its name for the quechua for ‘farm’. In the 18th century the area was used by the Jesuits as a vast farmland to feed the children and staff that attended their schools. Although the neighborhood bustles with activity, open green spaces are still the main theme of the zona’s personality, with the long Parque Los Andes and Chacarita Cemetery taking up nearly half of the hood. Chacarita is largely overlooked for its popular neighbors like Palermo Hollywood to the north or Villa Crespo to the south. Here is a list of favorites, both old and new, of the best of history, art, food and drink that Chacarita has to offer.