Futbol & Food
They take their futbol (soccer) very serious here, in fact so serious extreme measure are taken to keep the peace. There are high fences with barbed wire that separate the home team (River) fans from the visiting team (Tigre) fans. As you enter the stadium you are frisked. The chanting by the fans begins early with them taunting each other from across the stadium. No alcohol is allowed but everyone brings their own banners to hang and fireworks are allowed, imagine that no beer but they allow explosives, Hmmm. The frenzy gets louder and louder the closer it gets to game time.
Quickly the Tigre’s scored, and again and again. By half time the score was 5 to 0, not much of a game if you are a River fan, which we were pretending to be but amazing to watch the people. I would definitely recommend that you experience an Argentinean futbol game. After the game the home team is not allowed to leave until 30 minutes after the game so the visitors can get the heck out of dodge. These guys are serious about their futbol!
After the game we went to our first “closed door” restaurant. A closed door restaurant is where a chef cooks for a small number of people (6 to 8 in this case) in their home. You do not find out the address of the restaurant until they accept your reservation.
Our closed door restaurant was hosted by Dan and Henry www.casasaltshaker.com. Dan was a chef in NY and moved down to BA and decided to stay. Their apartment was cozy and we immediately felt at home. We had an absolutely excellent 6 course Peruvian fusion meal paired with wines for $50 per person.
Our Menu
We started with a peach juice aperitif and then moved to the dining room to start our dining experience:
- Rocotos Rellenos Con Pure’ de Papas y Puerros
- Wine – Chandon Demi-Sec
- Minestra Incaica
- Wine – Colome’ Torrontes 2009
- Lasagna de Aji de Gallina
- Wine – Alta Vista Premium Bonarda 2008
- Huatia Sulcana, Polenta Grasa
- Wine – Alta Vista “Atemporal” 2007
- Cheesecake de Maracuya’
- Wine – Weinert “Cosecha de Otono” 2008
There were 5 other people who joined us for dinner, Joe and George (Georgina) from Australia, George was teaching English in BA, Guardo who was from Sweden and is taking a Spanish class in BA and Laura and Patrick who moved to BA 4 years ago with their children, trying to escape the Los Angeles life style, Laura was born in Mendoza. It was great to have an evening of good conversation with great people who know the city. We got tons of suggestions on where to eat and go for the rest of our trip.
As we left we headed to a milonga that was suggested, Salon Cunning in Palermo. A milonga is a dance hall for people who want to hone their tango skills. For those of you in Greensboro, kinda like Green’s Supper Club on steroids….well maybe not steroids, more like too much Café con Leche. It was amazing to watch the dancing and people, all mismatched but serious about their dance steps.
It was obvious by the end of the night that Argentineans are serious about their futbol and their tango. What an evening!