Best Pizza: Fugazzeta
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| Possibly my favorite thing in this world, I had a little bit of a fugazzeta addiction while in Argentina. |
Dough. Mozzarella. Olive oil. Sauteed onions.
Sooooooo delicious, easily the tastiest thing I had never tried when I arrived in Argentina. And there was one pizza place that had the best of the best...
Best Pizza Restaurant (overall): El Cuartito
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| El Cuartito, Talcahuano 937 |
The best pizzería, built in 1934. Their fugazetta was the best I encountered, although a little more expensive than other places, it was worth every peso.
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| Look at how wonderful this slice looks. |
Best Pizza (quick/cheap): El Güerrin
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| Corrientes 1368 |
Another old pizzeria. It may not be as amazing as El Cuartito, but its pizza is still delicious at a great price ($1.25 USD for a slice of mozzarella). I frequented this location many times with two of my good American friends, Jason and Chris. For a cheaper and quicker option, you could stand and eat the pizza at the counter.
My usual order here: two slices of cheese pizza, one piece of fainá, and a sifón de soda (carbonated water).
http://www.pizzeria-guerrin.com.ar/
Best Empanadas: Chez Juanito
This little restaurant has a nice chill vibe, and their empanadas are delicious! My favorite: Espinca a la crema (Cream and spinach).
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| José Antonio Cabrera 5083 |
Best Panadería: Chantilly
There must be thousands of bakeries in Buenos Aires, but this one is my favorite for its good prices, cool staff, and delicious cheese and onion empanadas. I have probably had about 200 empanadas from this place. Mostly because of its convenient location two blocks from the university.
Best Vegetarian Restaurant (traditional): Artemisia
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| Delicious! |
http://www.artemisianatural.com.ar/
Delicious variety of fresh, healthy, natural vegetarian food. I only went there three times but I wish I went more.
Best Vegetarian Restaurant (all-you-can-eat/Chinese): Spring Restaurante
Oooooooooh you so delicious!! This "tenedor libre" restaurant is full of so many varieties of meatless or fake meat dishes... I hardly know what to do when I get inside.
Oh wait, yes I do. Eat plates and plates of the fried, saucey fake-meat and loads of other veggies.
http://www.springrestaurante.com.ar/
Best Café: Café Tortoni
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| Enjoying a cafe con leche. |
Although this café, founded in 1858, is a bit of a tourist trap, I thought they had the best coffee of all that I tried (except for Starbucks... haha). Great coffee, delicious dessert, beautiful building, and its located next to the Tango Museum.
Best Soda: Paso de Los Toros Light
Paso de Los Toros, which means "the passing of the bulls", demands that you trample thirst. This grapefruit flavored 'gaseosa' was an integral part of my Argentine diet. Oh, and Light means no calories. (Diet Coke is called Coca-Cola Light in most parts of the world, including Argentina).
Best Alfajor: Milka Mousse 3x
After many a tested alfajor (two cookies with something sweet, usually dulce de leche or chocolate, between the two), I've decided that my absolute favorite, even more than the fancier brands, is Milka's Mousse 3x.
Best Ice Cream: Chungo
Others might choose the classy and more expensive Persicco as their favorite "heladería", while others may prefer the ever ubiquitous Freddo. I thought Chungo had the best helado. In general, I'm not a big fan of ice cream. But Argentine ice cream is so creamy and rich that I had a hard time turning it down.
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| http://www.chungo.com/ |
Best Colectivo: the 140
So glorious, colectivo 140! Thank you for being there for me through thick and thin, day and night.
The 140 stands above all the rest for numerous reasons. Its air-conditioning made the heat during the summer bearable. It is quite spacious, has many seats, and is newer in design with all 140s looking the same. It floors are "super bajo". It has a convenient stop two blocks from my house. It mostly runs down or one street over from Córdoba, making its path easy to remember and navigate. And with running down Córdoba, it has taken me to many of the places I've needed to go.
Lo mejor!
Best Gesture: the one Argentines use when cheering for their team/country/whatever
Although Argentines use many interesting gestures not seen in the States, I would say the throw your arm repeatedly in unison is the best.
Best Americans to being studying abroad with you for one year: Chris and Jason
Jason: green jacket. Chris: William & Mary shirt.
I couldn't have been more fortunate having these two guys stick around with me for the entire year in Buenos Aires. Not only are they great guys, but they were serious about learning Spanish. Their Spanish was always at a higher level than mine, so I got to leech off of them. Stupid Chris spoke so well that Argentines would often go on and on complimenting him and then talk about how terrible mine was. Stupid, stupid Chris.
Favorite moment: All-you-can-eat buffet in Rosario where we ate a silly amount of food
Best Argentine to have as your first Spanish teacher: Emiliano
Emi!! My teacher for Beginner's Spanish in Fall 2009 at the University of Colorado Denver, he inspired me to come down to study in Argentina. Well, it was either him, or the fear that I would try to learn Spanish in a classroom full of Americans who had no desire to really try to learn the language (most were there because it is a requirement).
Either way, Emi made me learn a lot very quickly in that first class, and he moved back to Argentina shortly after. We got to hang out a bit down there, and he even showed me and some friends around his home city of Mar del Plata. Te quiero, amigo!
Favorite moment: Walking with Emi through Mar del Plata wearing my ridiculous American flag swimsuit. Poor guy...
Best Argentine to have pick you up at the airport after having gone tango dancing all night: Christian
Favorite moment: Walking down the street with Christian while the other Americans continually question everything (When are we gonna eat? How far are we?)
Best Argentine to take care of you for a year (program director): Raul
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| Raul, his daughter Sol, and I at a football match between River Plate and San Lorenzo. |
Anyone lucky enough to meet Raul struggles to find the words to describe how great of a guy he is. Extremely knowledgeable and passionate about his country, he taught us a great deal of Argentina. Being away from our country for so long, he made us feel like we were part of his family. Maybe the only thing better than Raul is his amazing wife and children. Thank you for everything!!
Favorite moments: being with him and his family on New Years Eve and "destroy the cheese."
Best Hostmom: Elina!!
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| Elina and I at the San Telmo fair |
Save the best for last: Elina. Where do I begin with how lucky I was to have her as a hostmom? Her beautiful home is located in an awesome neighborhood: Palermo Soho. My favorite part of her house was her beautiful garden out back.
How about the amazing food? Never again will I eat that well. Amazing, delicious, vegetarian food. Argentine, Arabic, Italian, Mexican food... and many times just her own creations. My favorite though was her Mexican food (she lived there for 9 years).
She was a great resource for me to understand a little of what was going on in Argentina and the quilombo that is their politics (she's a professor and wrote a book on the last president, Nestor Kirchner).
Easily, though, when I think of Argentina I will think of Elina. Always very concerned and involved in my life, and invited me to spend Christmas with her and her family. Mostly though, Elina was an inspiration to me. With all that she accomplished as a professor, an artist, and an amazing cook, she made me feel thoroughly lazy with all she can do in a day, but also motivated to do more myself. Te quiero, Elina! Gracias por todo
Post from CU Denver student Daniel Smafield
Source: http://smafield.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-favorite-things-of-argentina.html
