¡La Fabrica del Taco!

Found: Amazing tacos just a short 3-hour* drive from my house to Palermo Viejo.

*Assuming there are no protests being held between here and there

La Fabrica del Taco serves by far the best Mexican food that I've tried in Argentina. The decor is Mexican kitsch and the lighting is jaundice yellow...it just adds to the charm. Sure, I could spy on our table through a small keyhole from a stall in the ladies' room. So what? Better to keep an eye on all that guacamole.

And the drinks are refreshing - we tried la limonada and la michelada. Reasonably priced considering the neighborhood: Guacamole with nachos and salsa (which included mango among its delicious ingredients) was AR$21.

Mild, medium, and hot sauces are free...guess which are which:

Cheeky, aren't they? Tacos are on the small side - I had a vegetarian taco with cheese ($15) and Guille had two of these multiple-meat tacos ($13 ea) that came with a fresh slice of pineapple.

Road trip, anyone? ¡Andale Andale Arríba Arríba!

A Buenos Aires Engagement

Guille & I spent a lovely, unseasonably warm weekend in Buenos Aires to celebrate our 4th year anniversary. To my surprise, we returned home as fiances. :)

The weather was perfect for a celebration drink at Milion. The prices are a little ridiculous for Argentina, but anything goes in this town where metropolitan chic and the third world collide. Our drinks were around 25 pesos each but it was fun and the atmosphere is unique.

The Bar

A REAL Cosmo and a little bling

For real Frozen Mojito


And since we were throwing caution to the wind, we had a late dinner at Cafe San Juan - it looks like a normal bodega but the food will surprise you. Our helpful innkeeper recommended it as a local secret and made our reservations. There are 2 dinner seatings on weekends at (around) 8 and 11.

(Fotos de Guia Oleo)

The server presented the chalk board menus at our table and it was a little weird deciding so fast, but there were only a few veggie options so that helped. We shared a tapa dish and an entree, as we heard that the portions were large (and pricey) along with a half bottle of wine. I assume that the menu changes daily - we had bruschetta with sun-dried tomatoes and brie (SO much brie!) and crepes with goat cheese and basil in a creamy tomato sauce. Seriously, it was amazingly delicious and plenty for two. So much that I declined dessert, GASP!


I also have a confession to make - to satisfy my craving for real mac and cheese we popped into Hard Rock Cafe for merienda. And I don't regret it! (Though that probably added to my inability to stomach dessert later that night.)


Since it was sunny, we wondered over to Puerto Madero for a stroll along the river. There's not much else to do since it's an over-planned and under-populated upscale neighborhood but it made for a great walk and we did find Tea Connection, where we enjoyed a couple pots of tea - Indian Chai and Sweet Vanilla, to be exact. And had some time for ring pics.

Yay! What a wonderful weekend!

Buenos Aires Mini Guide

I'm not an expert on Buenos Aires, but I have been a tourist in BA a few times now. Julia wrote a series of posts about her trip with a lot of helpful info. I thought I might also post my list of favorites.

The must-dos:
Catch a tango show
Eat stake (If you're not a veggie)
Eat empanadas
Eat alfajores
Drink Malbec
Try mate (tea)
Visit museums
Ride the Subte

Visit these neighborhoods:

Downtown (Avenue 9 de Julio, Casa Rosada, Plaza de Mayo, Florida Street)


La Boca (Walk down the caminito, visit the small museum mentioned below, and get out--it's not a neighborhood for a leisurely stroll)


When you're in La Boca, it's worth it to visit La Boca's Fine Arts Museum "Benito Quinquela Martin" museum (the views from the rooftop garden are great) and it's the studio of one of Argentina's most famous artists.

Palermo (Palermo Soho has nice boutiques)



Recoleta (Evita's grave is in Recoleta Cemetery)



San Telmo flea market (Sundays)


My favorite places to eat include:

Cafe Tortoni for churros and a cortado (coffee) or a submarino (hot chocolate).

(Foto de CafeTortoni.com.ar)

Filo for gourmet pizzas and delicious pasta. We eat here every trip.

El Cuartito for more pizza, of course! This is a classic restaurant and you really must try it - photo courtesy of Julia.

Buenos Tours has many great posts on off-the-beaten-path places to visit.

In case you're learning Spanish - There's a podcast called Coffeebreak Spanish and the first 30 episodes focus on the phrases that you need for tourist travel.

Here is a rough guide to menus:

Salchichon, Chorizo (grilled), Morcilla (blood) - types of sausage

There are different cuts of beef: If a la parilla (on the grill) you can get these cuts for steak - vacio, entrecot - or you can get ribs (costilla). Other cuts/types of meat come in small bites in picadas, along with cheeses, peanuts and such. You could also order lomo, which is a medallion of meat that you can get with different sauces, and it usually comes as a dish with potatoes - or you could get a lomo sandwich, which is flattened meat. There are also milanesas which are very thin steaks, breaded and fried. You can get these as pollo or carne and they're great with fries (says gui).

When ordering pasta, you pick the type of pasta and also the type of sauce (salsa), sold separately. So you could get noquis or tallarines (spaghetti) with salsa rosa/tuco (tomato sauce), crema (seriously just cream, not alfredo), mixta (a combo of both), or bolognesa, etc.

Ensaladas don't always come with lettuce (lechuga) but it's yummy to get a carrot, beet, corn salad or something like that.

Agua sin gas typically comes in bottles, instead of being just tap water.
Soda or Agua con gas = sparkling water
Gaseosa = soft drinks (coca, esprite, fanta naranja, paso de los torros (grapefruit-yum), quatro (also grapefruit), etc)
Exprimido = freshly squeezed juice
Liquado = smoothie (you choose with agua or leche)
If you want draft beer, ask for a chopp