For our last full day in Buenos Aires we had no plans. We started our day slow with runs and just hanging out in the AirBNB. We knew there were a few great museums in the city that we could check out, but we needed some food first. Michael found a parrilla called La Brigada that touts having meat so tender that they cut through it with a spoon. It’s a heavy way to start a day, but it was almost 1pm and we were super hungry, so we went for it. We split a mozzarella app, steak and a young boar sausage, and added in a salad for good measure. And true to their word, when they brought out the steak and the sausage, they split each in two with a spoon to serve to the two of us. I thought this was probably going to be hokey, but it was super impressive. The entire place was great – reminded Michael of a Smith and Wolenskis – a little bit boys clubby – they had us sitting in the area with all of the sports memorabilia.
After the meal, we took a little time to walk it off and then followed that up with naps. Later that evening, we had a wine tasting at El Querandi a tango restaurant. It was supposed to be in English, so I was a little nervous when the sommelier started projecting something on a screen. Leandro, the sommelier, then broke into incredible English and spent an hour and a half talking about the three wine regions in Argentina, the history of wine in Argentina and some very detailed explanations of the science of wine and wine making. It was incredible. We have done a bunch of wine tasting and this was by far the best presentation we’ve ever been a part of. He talked varieties, he talked skin thickness, he talked about the Jesuits that brought the vines to the area, he talked in great detaile about his time spent in the US and his time spent in South Africa where he first got involved in wins. I found that especially interesting that Leandro would grow up in Argentina but not get interested in wines until going to Africa.
I was bummed to have missed the Tango show – although I did get to see some of the dancers as they were coming on and off stage. Something for next time!
