Armenia 1447 (between Gorriti and Jose A. Cabrera), Palermo Viejo

Following on from my recent review of the Buller Brewing Company bar in Recoleta, here comes the hotly awaited (by me!) second post in my Great Buenos Aires Beer Hunt series: my visit to the fairly new Antares Cerveza Pub in Palermo Viejo.

As you can see from the (possibly sight damaging) photo to the right, I also happened to go along to Antares on St Patrick’s Day, always an excellent excuse for beer drinking. A little bit more about such Irish shenanigans will follow the main event, as ever, the beer… (didn’t you know that beer is the new wine?)

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[5th - 11th March 2007]

For your information, I’m writing this week’s Buenos Aires blog roundup slowly in between itching the many mosquito bites that have ravaged my poor body. Unfortunately we have a bit of a mosquito invasion here in the city of Buenos Aires at the moment, although at least it looks (correct me if I’m wrong) like there is no risk of Dengue here in the city (unlike in parts of Buenos Aires province, and further north in Misiones). Still, the bites don’t half itch a lot, so apologies if my itching-triggered lack of concentration causes any errors in this roundup…

Buenos Aires Blog Posts of the Week

• This week’s top posts are about three new things that I’m pretty certain I will love. First up, Robert points out that a cafe has just opened up on the ground floor of the Palacio Barolo, a building that fascinates pretty much everyone, including Robert and I. It looks beautiful in Robert’s pictures, and despite the hefty, touristy prices (9 pesos for a cafe con leche with 3 medialunas!!!), I will definitely be checking it out in the near future
• Secondly, Dan from Saltshaker has been privy to a sneak preview of the food at an authentic Indian restaurant that will apparently be opening in Barrio Norte (Laprida and Charcas) later this month. It will be called Tandoor, and hopefully will provide the quality Indian food many of us expats have been missing since arriving in Buenos Aires
• Thirdly, Disco Shawn (still my vote for top blogger pseudonym of the year), introduces us to the Chilean indie musician Javiera Mena, who will be playing in Buenos Aires this Friday, March 16th at Club Niceto in Palermo Hollywood, during their indie music night Compass. From the tracks linked to in that blog post, her stuff sounds pretty good (I like my “cute, keyboard-driven pop goodness”, as Shawn describes it), so I will probably try to make my way to Compass this Friday

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[26th February - 4th March 2007]

Well, here we are at week number 13 of my (late as usual) Buenos Aires blog roundup. 13, lucky for some? Well, if you like blogs and Buenos Aires, this may indeed be your lucky day! I can’t believe it’s been a quarter of a year already since I started to write these roundups. I guess time flies when you are reading blogs all the time rather than doing any real work…

Buenos Aires Blog Posts of the Week

• He doesn’t post very often these days (I know - pot… kettle… black), but when El Expatriado springs into action, you sure know you will be in for some interesting and/or useful reading. And very useful indeed (for those laptop users among us) is this list of free Wi-Fi hotspots in Buenos Aires
• Yanqui Mike put in a sterling effort with his post commemorating the 150th anniversary of the death of Almirante Guillermo Brown (Bill to his mates) this Saturday, which saw a contingent come from County Mayo in the Republic of Ireland to lay wreaths on his grave in Recoleta cemetery (you can’t miss Brown’s, it’s the big Irish-green column with a ship on top). I would have liked to be there, as not only is Brown also one of my favorite figures in Argentine history (see Mike’s post to understand why), but also my mum is from that part of Ireland, and I spent a good few summer holidays growing up in and around Mayo… so I guess I feel an extra association with Brown… not that I’m thinking of running off and founding another country’s navy any time soon
• Robert proves that around every corner in Buenos Aires there are still interesting discoveries to be made. This time he made a visit to the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista, just off Av. de Mayo, and happened upon a beautiful cloister where soldiers from both sides were buried during the (unsuccessful) British invasions of Buenos Aires during 1806 and 1807. Shame the church authorities wouldn’t let him in to take some better pics

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Humboldt 2005 (on the corner of Nicaragua), Palermo Hollywood

[Also has another branch in Las Canitas, on Baez 260]

It seems that when I get the chance to review restaurants on this blog, it more than likely will be a pizza restaurant, like Morelia. This is almost entirely down to the fact that I am so poor at the moment that I can’t afford to try the Cabana Las Lilas restaurants of this world. But fortunately, I also happen to like pizza a lot, and if you do too, then Buenos Aires is a great place to be. So far I have proclaimed that Guerrin is the best pizza I’ve tasted in Buenos Aires, but also given decent marks to Banchero in La Boca and Piola in Recoleta, and each has all it’s different styles and attractions. However, there is one dramatically different style of pizza here that I had yet to review, until now…

Pizza a la Parrilla

In short, pizza a la parrilla means pizza cooked on a grill. A parrilla is the traditional Argentine grill that is usually used for cooking basically an entire cow’s worth of meat, either outside at a gathering of family and/or friends, or in one of the many parrilla restaurants that are so common in Buenos Aires and the rest of Argentina. But in this case, at Morelia and other similar pizzerias, it is a wafer-thin pizza crust that is placed on the parrilla/grill, topped, and warmed through in a matter of moments. The idea was introduced to me in this post by Saltshaker (which also happens to include a review of Morelia), and since then I have definitely acquired a taste for this delicious style of pizza. And Morelia in Palermo Hollywood is certainly a great place to try it…

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[19th - 25th February 2007: Express Edition!]

A dear hello to all Buenos Aires blog readers. You are my friends, bless your little cotton socks. But recently I have not been writing you very much, and for this I beg your forgiveness… please give me one more chance! I’ve been a bit snowed under in work and life for a while, but I’m hoping things will change soon, and then normal service will be resumed. Only better. And with added vitamins and minerals. Promise.
But for now, I’m afraid you’re going to have to make do with this weeks’ compact, efficient Buenos Aires blog roundup: express edition:

Buenos Aires Blog Posts of the Week

• Argentina’s travel blog is doing my job for me with a couple of excellent reviews of tourist attractions in Buenos Aires: Cafe Tortoni, the cafe in a city of cafes, and also of the Barrio Chino area of Belgrano
• Karine posted up some pictures and info on Galerias Pacifico, the lovely old shopping mall on Florida street in the Microcentro
• After a successful pilot event, Diva says she will be organizing a full-scale international bloggers meeting in Buenos Aires in a few months time. Thanks for the invite Diva!
• Ken had some time off his spanish lessons and took the opportunity to visit Buenos Aires Zoo in Palermo
• Goodairs notes the opening of yet another restaurant de puertas cerradas in Buenos Aires. Soon, you will be able to knock on any door in the city and have a decent chance of finding a restaurant behind it. However, if you knock on mine, you’ll have to make do with fideos con salsa filete

Short and sweet this week. I just have so little time right now that I think I might have to stop writing now, even if it is in the middle of