Steak Buenos Aires: Las Cholas

It’s no secret that some of the greatest dining and nightlife options in the city of Buenos Aires lay in the beautiful little barrio of Las Canitas. No matter what your tastes are, if you find yourself on Baez street and walk in either direction exploring some of the more vibrant cross streets, you’re sure to find a restaurant or bar that fits your specific tastes.  In the case of parillas, Las Canitas is chock-full of em, and in a select few you can find some great Buenos Aires Steak.

One such parilla is Las Cholas, found directly on the corner of Arce and Arevalo.  Now, if you’re looking for a high class parilla with an extensive wine list and bow tie clad waiters who are ready to shine your shoes while you wait for your meal, PLEASE, I repeat PLEASE do not go anywhere near this corner! If you’re looking to get a steak the size of your head, on a traditional Argentinian tabla, with sides galore for a reasonable price then do hoof it over to this place (Make sure to pick up some cash on the way though, as they do not accept credit cards). It’s also worth noting that while their beer selection is quite limited, they offer liters for the prices that most bars in the area charge for a single serve bottle.

Las Cholas offers three different ambientes (atmospheres) and diners can choose between a downstairs indoor experience (with drawing allowed on the tablecloths), the outdoor patio lining the front entrance, or the half indoor-half outdoor terraza (terrace) on the second floor.  No matter what you choose for seating, the food will be the same; however, I’m partial to the terraza as you can see your food being prepared on the grill (keep in mind this can cause a pretty steamy environment during the summertime though).  The value offered at Las Cholas is no secret among the locals, as it tends to get very busy especially on the weekends.  Make sure to get there earlier or later than the typical Argentine dinner time of 9:30-11 if you’d like to avoid a wait

Another reason for the success and popularity of this parilla is that it is part of a family of four. You can enjoy a nearly identical dinning experience at the owners’ three other locations: Las Cabras (on the corner of Fitz Roy and El Salvador in Palermo), the younger sibling Las Cabritas (Migueletes 840, on the other side of Canitas), and the newest addition La Cholita (Rodriguez Pena 1165 in Capital Federal). Their seating, signs, construction, and most notably their menus all share the same style and flair.

During my experience at Las Cholas, I ordered a Choripan Sandwich as an entrada (appetizer), seeing as the prices were so low and I expected portions to be small.  To my surprise I was greeted by en enormous butterfly cut chorizo with lettuce and tomato on a hearty bun, with all the usual accompaniments.  I was actually left quite full and worried about not being able to eat the main course. But when my Bife de chorizo (New York Strip Steak) arrived on a huge tabla surrounded by french fries, mashed sweet potatoes and peppers, my hunger was renewed.  I put on a display that I would rank in my top 10 eating performances of all time (neighboring tables looked quite disgusted). I topped all this food off with a liter of beer and my final bill almost shocked me as I had received a fair amount of food but it didn’t cost an arm and a leg.

In Conclusion, I’m not saying that this is the best steak in Buenos Aires, as I don’t think it’s possible for them to be measured up against some of the fantastic closed door steak restaurants in the city (which you would be crazy not to look into while visiting Buenos Aires), or some of the home cooked asados I’ve had the pleasure of trying.  That being said, as far as public parillas go, Las Cholas is pretty good.

 

Steak Buenos Aires: Las Cabras

           

             Las Cabras, located in the trendy, restaurant-packed neighborhood of Palermo Hollywood, comes highly rated on many of the tourist websites such as Trip Advisor, etc.  Here’s what I have to say about Las Cabras in short, it is by no means the best place to go for a steak in Buenos Aires, the service can be absolutely poor (and that’s compared to Buenos Aires standards) and most of the time it takes longer to get a table than it does to actually eat your meal.  Having said this I can’t knock the fact that you can get an entire meal- I mean so much food that you won’t want to eat for days- for a really great price.

            I first went to Las Cabras a couple years ago.  I was with a group of 10 hungry friend and we were looking for a good but cheap parrilla to get what we would consider an argentine steak. We arrived around nine thinking that we had arrived early; which for Argentine standards we had.   We were greeted with a long line of people the spanned what seemed like the entire block (this of course is a complete exaggeration but we were impatient and hungry).  We elected a representative to go in and see about wait times.  She reported back that the wait for such a large group would be at least an hour but with little deliberation we decided to wait it out because we were already here and the reviews were so good that we couldn’t miss it.  An hour and a half goes by and we’re still waiting.  Finally we got seated and we quickly placed our orders: beef and pinguinos (penguin shaped pitchers) of wine all around.  Commence waiting round 2.

  

            I ordered Bife de Chorizo and my friends followed suit minus the token vegetarian that we brought along.  She ordered a mess of grilled vegetables, which is rare for a parrilla in Argentina to offer such a wide selection of veggies so that was a major plus.  On that note they also stand out as a parrilla who offers salteña food.  When our meals arrived we were pleasantly surprise by the mass quantities of food that ‘bife de chorizo’ came with.  Not only did the beef come with rice, but it also came with french fries with a fried egg on top, a purée of squash and some grilled peppers.

 

            We finished our meals, which we enjoyed and then had to play the ‘can you get the waiters attention to ask for the check’ game – the waiter won rounds 1 through 6 but eventually we overcame and we paid and were on our merry way to gallivant around the city. In summation, while the food is plentiful and the prices are very cheap, it’s not a place that the food itself would bring me back to time and time again.  But, the atmosphere is lively and if you’re with a group of friends it’s a fun place to go and drink oodles of wine, hang out and have a cheap dinner.