"Dispatches from the Pampas"...Day 6...Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The people here eat dinner late so, last night, I don't leave for my restaurant until close to 9:00PM. A short cab ride, and I arrive at La Cabrera. La Cabrera is, probably, the most famous steakhouse in Buenos Aires...it's touristy, but you can't beat the quality of the steaks there. There's a pretty big line when I arrive, but I work my way to the host and get my name in for a table...it looks like a 45 minute wait. There's a little bar/cafe across the street, so I wander over there and order a glass of Malbec. Every now and then, I go back to the host to see where I am on the list. A few times, I hear the manager of La Cabrera apologizing (in English) for the long wait but, as he explains, they don't want to rush people...they want diners to enjoy the full La Cabrera "experience".
My 45 minute wait turns into 90 minutes but, a little after 10:30PM, the host waves at me from across the street...and I'm in. I get a great waiter and a menu in English. I order a glass of Malbec and look over the menu. I know what I want...Sweetbreads ( the only "organ" meat that I actually like) done "crujiente" (crispy), a big Ribeye done "rare plus", some potatoes...and a bottle of Catena Malbec. Back home, when I order a steak at, say, Morton's or Capital Grill, I ask for "rare plus"...that's nice and rare, but not raw. In Argentina, though, people like their steaks "well done". I did a lot of research on how to order a rare plus steak here. "vuelta y vuelta" is really rare and "bien jugoso" is medium rare...so, at La Cabrera, I take out a piece of paper and draw two lines...one for "vuelta y vuelta" and one for "bien jugoso"...then I point to the space between the lines. That's how I want my steak cooked.
The Sweetbreads come, and they are excellent. They are served with a warm sauce of onions, green peppers and vinegar. The Ribeye is a little on the medium rare side, but it is a great piece of meat...it has a slightly "gamey" flavor, and you can cut it with a fork. I ask for two sauces...the traditional "chmichurri" and "salsa criolla" (peppers, onions and tomatoes with vinegar and olive oil. Washed down with the Malbec, it's a great meal. For dessert, I get a big plate of ice cream and a bowl of "dulce de leche", which is milk and sugar boiled down to a thick syrup.
As I am polishing off the last of the ice cream, the manager stops by my table and sits for awhile. We talk a little politics, a little sports, a little cooking. He ends up giving me a card with his private phone number. If I ever come back to La Cabrera, he tells me, I should call him first, and he will make sure that I have a table whenever I want.
After dinner, I walk back to the little bar/cafe across the street for a beer. They bring me a one liter bottle of...Miller Genuine Draft...in an ice bucket! Hey, beer is beer. Finally, around 1:00AM or so, I cab back to the hotel...off to bed.

Tuesday morning, I wake up around 8:30AM. I head outside for a cigar...and it's raining. It will rain all day. After my smoke, I have coffee and a full breakfast. There's not much sense walking around in the rain, so I spend a few hours in my room...reading, posting to the blog, checking emails, etc. Later, in the afternoon, I take a cab down to the Port and the offices of "Buquebus", the company that operates the ferry between Buenos Aires and different stops in Uruguay. When ordering my tickets over the Internet back home, I messed up...and now I have two duplicate tickets. I find a nice young lady who speaks pretty good English. We fill out some paperwork, and she tells me that I'll hear something back via email. I ask her if I'll get a refund, and her reply is "perhaps"...whatever that means.
Then I cab back to the hotel for a nice three-hour nap. When I wake up around 7:00PM, it's almost time for an early dinner. I'm going to another steakhouse, "Gran Parilla del Plata"...less "touristy" than La Cabrera...and great steaks. I get to the restaurant around 8:30PM, and the place is almost empty...no problem getting a table. Dinner is big...Jack on the rocks (double), Arugula/Parmesan Salad, a 16 oz. Filet (perfectly cooked), Creamed Spinach, a bottle of Zuccardi Malbe, a shot of Fernet Branca, three scoops of Dulce de Leche Ice Cream with berries, a shot of Limoncillo (on the house!), and a liter of Quilmes beer. After all of that, I've got to walk some of it off...so I walk around for almost an hour...stopping here and there for a beer (small bottles).
Finally, back to the hotel...and bed.

Since I will be driving out of Buenos Aires on Thursday and heading 600 miles or so to Mendoza, I have spent a lot of time observing the traffic. My conclusion? Well...it's a bit worse than, say, New York City...but not as bad as, say, Paris. I can do this...I have to do this. Confidence is critical in this endeavor because...

Doubt = fear
Fear = weakness
Weakness = failure

One last item of note. Before I left home, I conducted a little "experiment". I filled a bathroom sink with water, let it rest for fifteen minutes, then opened up the drain. In each case, the rotation of the draining water was counter-clockwise. Now, south of the equator, I have conducted the same "experiment". In each case, the rotation of the draining water was clockwise. So...this appears to be proof of something known as the "Coriolus Effect". The most important thing is letting the water "rest" so that there are no other factors affecting the rotation. This "experiment" does not work with, say, a toilet because, in that case, the direction and placement of the incoming water "spout" becomes the dominant factor affecting the rotation of the draining water.