Tag: Buenos Aires

Tiempo para la parilla!

Argentina is known for many things, not least of which is its beef. And there’s nowhere better to eat your Argentinian beef than at a parilla, or grill, as we English speakers call it.

Luckily for us, our hotel is only a few blocks away from one of the best parillas in town, La Dorita. This unpretentious grill is muy autentico, with a bewildering array of available cuts of beef all grilled up to perfection. It attracts people from all walks of life – we saw families, stylish hipsters, seniors, businesspeople…anyone and everybody.

Here’s Ed with his bife de chorizo, not to be confused with Mexican sausage, but rather the Argentinian term for sirloin. Now THAT’S a hunk of meat!

And here’s Carrie with her half portion of bife de lomo, or what we call tenderloin. Can you believe that’s a half portion?!?

But one of our favorite things at La Dorita wasn’t even the food, as delicious as it was. It was this steaklover’s take on The Last Supper. It was hanging on the wall next to us. Oh yes.

Why break bread when you can chow bife and drink malbec with 12 of your closest pals?

Museum Day!

It started off as a rainy day in Buenos Aires this morning, so we figured it would be a perfect time to check out Malba (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires). 


First of all, the building is beautiful.  Once we walked inside, it was exhilarating – big, bright and definitely bustling.  The art was VERY modern – lots of bright colors of course, and all different sorts of mediums.  We tried to take some pics, but kinda got busted by an undercover museum employee!  We made sure to say lo siento and put the camera away, but we caught a few snaps:


The guy walking towards us in this picture is who busted us … oops.

This was one of the temporary exhibits, “Mercado”.  It was really small, but so inspiring!  Just using simple imagery displaying foods from the market – the green you see above are a whole bunch of heads of lettuce!  The giant broccoli to the left was cool too – very pop – and made all of tile.  There were also intricately carved melons that were gorgeous too – and a very modern display of a giant pile of dirty dishes.  It was way better than we’re making it sound …


Another highlight was an exhibition of Felix Gonzales-Torres‘ work. It was shocking because throughout the exhibition, there were giant stacks of prints that people were just picking up and taking.  We watched for awhile, and then finally we asked if we really could take some. Yes, it was true, we could!  We absolutely fell in love with two prints – two simple, stark white sheets of paper with tiny black type.  One simply reads “Somewhere better than this place” and the other reads “Nowhere better than this place”.  The art spoke to us because we both are always thinking, planning and dreaming of the next place we’ll travel to, but we are always proclaiming to others how much we love our Long Beach “hometown” and how content we are to be in the LBC forever.  We can’t wait to get them framed and displayed once we get back!


After Malba, we headed over to San Telmo, one of the oldest & “most authentic” neighborhoods in the city. We saw tango in the streets and lots of street vendors and performers, but it was crazy crowded.  We decided we’d tackle San Telmo later this week without carrying art prints among the sea of people in the streets!

Dining in Style – Casa Cruz, Palermo Hollywood

Tonight we had the privilege of dining in one of Argentina’s finest restaurants – Casa Cruz – in one of the coolest neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, Palermo Hollywood. It was close enough to walk to, and we had a great time just exploring the neighborhood a little bit. We were highly anticipating this meal, as it was mentioned in EVERY travel book and blog we read about Buenos Aires. It definitely delivered! Thank goodness for the exchange rate, it was incredible what all we ordered and how reasonably priced the experience was for the best of the best!

We wish we had better pictures, but Casa Cruz is just one of those places that just can’t be captured on camera. We walked through giant 16 ft. brass doors upon entering, and lounged on gorgeous silver sofas with cocktails in hand while we waited for our table.


This is a shot we stole from the web of their monstrous wine wall – this photo only shows a fraction of it! The Argentinans are SERIOUS about their wine – and it’s true – Argentinian wine is incredible! We stuck with the local varieties – Carrie chose a Torrontés, a very bold and fruity white, and Ed had a Malbec, Argentina’s signature red. We decided to put ourselves out there and try an unusual and exotic dish – so Carrie chose the rabbit & Ed chose the grilled octopus. Our waiter was impressed, he said we chose the two best items on the menu! The dining experience was one of the best we’d ever had – amazing service, beautiful food, and tons of variety.

Again, we regret not taking many pics, but here we are enjoying the evening!

It’s pouring rain tonight, so we are relaxing and trying to knock out our jet lag by getting in an early bedtime. Buenas Noches!

We’ve arrived in Buenos Aires!!!

After a very long trip (two 6 and a half hour flights and a detour at a slummy hotel for one night), we are finally here at Hotel Home in beautiful Buenos Aires, Argentina! We look forward to some amazing times and will have lots and lots to write about in the coming days.

We did want to share just a few images from our journey and our first moments here.

Here’s us on the plane:

Ed had a beer on the plane, of which the slogan is (in Spanish) “It is what it is”. Truth in advertising, we guess, especially since the beer was about the quality of Natural Light!:

We arrived and checked into our temporary first night digs, a shady “Embassy Suites” that has no relation to the Embassy Suites we know at home. We only stayed here overnight because our arrival into the city was after the front desk at Hotel Home closed at 11pm. It’s here that we really became aware of those little differences one notices when traveling abroad.

Check this toilet for example:

We spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to flush the darn thing! Finally, we found that the flush button was inexplicably hidden in the shower. Why? We don’t know!

After being flummoxed with the toilet, we decided it was time to get some food. We ate at a nice little restaurant down the street and enjoyed a nice bottle of wine. Perfect way to settle in.

Now we’re checked into Hotel Home, a BEAUTIFUL boutique hotel where we’ll stay for the duration of our visit. Let the adventures begin!