Elite Traveler September-October 2016

elite traveler SEPT/OCT 2016 119

Guests enjoy closed-door dining at Casa Felix

CLOSED DOORS, OPEN KITCHEN

CAFÉ SOCIETY

▲ For the past couple of years, all the talk in Buenos Aires’ burgeoning gastro scene has been about puerta cerrada or closed-door restaurants. The name is a bit of a misnomer as these eateries – even though sometimes located in private homes – are very much open to friends, people who come on recommendation and those who pre-book and introduce themselves. Many use a communal table and tasting menu, some go for haute cuisine while others are more informal. Wine lists might be epic or minimal. Just don’t expect facades and fanfares; it’s all about word of mouth. The key thing for visitors is to meet local people, sample food cooked by those in the know about produce and watch the cooking close up.

▲ Porteños love to talk about art and literature, Argentina’s economic woes and the trials and tribulations of their egos and ids – Buenos Aires is one of the world’s great psychoanalytical cities. It’s no wonder they need their cafés, which are found on almost every corner – from dusty old-timers' places downtown to Palermo’s craft coffee shops. Perfect pit stops while you’re flaneuring. Los 36 Billares Tourists are herded into Café Tortoni, but this capacious café and billiard hall is authentic old-school. Opened in 1894, it has a gleaming checkerboard floor, bow-tied waiters and Tiffany-style lamps over the pool and billiard tables. The café con leche is good; the pizzas are excellent. Avenida de Mayo 1271, +54 11 4122 1500, los36billares.com.ar Los Galgos A sepia-toned 1930s joint on a busy corner, recently reopened as a café-cum-cocktail bar committed to rediscovering forgotten local classics, such as El Pato, which mixes sweet and dry vermouth, Campari, gin, Cointreau and kirsch, invented back in 1954 by one of Argentina’s most famous bartenders, Salvatore 'Pichin' Policastro. New Full City Coffee House Colombian Victoria Angarita and Briton Allan Dorgan serve 100 percent Colombian coffee – including brews made with the rare guayatá bean – in an uncluttered space with wooden tables and vines climbing outside the walls. They also run Educafés, a school for baristas. Thames 1535, Palermo Viejo, +54 11 4556 1789, facebook.com/fullcitycoffeehouse Avenida Callao 501, +54 11 4371 3561, facebook.com/LosGalgosBarNotable

TAKE THREE/// THE BEST PUERTA CERRADAS

Try one of these restaurants if you want to try intimate dining

3 La Cocina Discreta La Cocina Discreta gained a loyal local following in the emerging barrio of Villa Crespo. Now, chef Alejandro Langer has moved his open kitchen into the margins of more mainstream Palermo Viejo. The food – ceviches, steaks, risottos – looks ultra-Latin American but is enlivened with Asian flavors. Guests are invited to sit where they choose, take a look in the kitchen as food is prepared and enjoy the local art on display. Cash only, Tue-Sat from 8pm, Ave Córdoba 6162, +54 11 6571 1002, contact@lacocinadiscreta.com

1 Aramburu Aramburu is number 28 on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2015 list. Behind an unprepossessing locked door in shabby San Telmo, Gonzalo Aramburu – a sometime colleague of Martín Berasategui in Spain and Joël Robuchon in Paris – concocts fun, molecular-influenced dishes. The tasting menu has 17 stages. Ask to be seated at the table that overlooks the kitchen. Tues-Sat from 8.30pm, Salta 1050, San Telmo, +54 11 4305 0439, reserva@

2 Casa Felix A branch of the supper club created by Argentine chef Diego Felix (formerly of San Francisco’s vegan temple Millennium) and American photojournalist Sanra Ritten. Now managed by chef Álvaro Zapata, his tasting menu beguiles: empanadas stuffed with mushrooms and pumpkin seeds, or apple guacamole. Cash only, Thurs-Sat evenings, address disclosed on reservation,

+ 54 9 11 4147 8100, reservascasafelix@ colectivofelix.com, colectivofelix.com/ buenos-aires/cenas

arambururesto.com.ar, arambururesto.com.ar