1810 Argentinean Restaurant

You'll seldom encounter a restaurant review here because I rarely eat out. When I do, I tear apart the menu, ordering completely uninspired items, plain and flavorless so as to not aggravate my allergies. As a creative person, I really respect chefs and their choices about how to prepare a meal, so I would rather cook myself than order and criticize a dish because I was not able to enjoy it how it was intended to be eaten.

This weekend, my in-laws were insistent upon taking us out for a "nice birthday meal," the four of us each having celebrated our birthdays in the past few weeks. My nerves started to build, not wanting to offend them by turning down dinner or pre-eating and shoving food around my plate at a restaurant. Then I remembered a new place the man and I passed by in Pasadena last week, 1810.

In the space formerly occupied by Gaucho Grill, 1810 opened in January and introduced an inspired and quaint eatery to the series of chain restaurants that line Colorado Boulevard. Greeted by a friendly hostess, we entered the brick walled and candlelit dining room, finding it to be sparse but cozy. My husband and I immediately began to reminisce about our Argentinean adventure. The waitress overheard and told us the owners are originally from Buenos Aires, so we poured over the menu, anticipating an authentic experience.

And the meal did not disappoint. Against my better judgment, I ordered the "wine special" from the limited menu, a Malbec and empanada for $7 and was pleasantly surprised. The empanada (from a selection of four--ham and cheese, chicken, beef, or spinach and cheese) was flaky and flavorful and the wine warm and fruity, perking me up and easing my eating-out phobias.

The main course selections were simple and highlighted quality ingredients. What caught our attention immediately was the Parrillada Mixta, or mixed grill. Would it compare to our experience in Buenos Aires? Much to our excitement, the meats were brought to the table on a little grill. The quantity was not overwhelming, but the quality of the meats was impressive. A good value, the mixed grill easily fed 2-3 guests with a crispy half chicken, beef, blood sausage, and a few mystery meats that were a welcome surprise. If you're looking for a good steak, ordering from the grill menu is the way to go. The 10-ounce Churrasco was perfectly seasoned and cooked to order, served with side dishes of garlicky mashed potatoes, rice, salad, or vegetables. The menu is rounded out with several "kitchen" dishes, chicken and fish with sauces and pastas, but being the carnivores we are, we didn't bother with those.

1810's cuisine is refreshing for both seekers of a special experience and simple food lovers like myself. And save room for dessert, or at least a bite or two of flan con dulce de leche to share with your table.

1810 Argentinean Restaurant
121 W Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91105-1924
(626) 795-5658

open flames and pulley systems

This fun New York Times article on wood-fire grilling introduced me to an amazing new book--

From what I can gather (the book is not actually available yet, I believe the street date June 2), this may really be everything I'm looking for in a summer grilling cookbook. The New York Times article points out the fun bits, like recipes that call for a 1400-pound cow, but the chapters seem to also be filled with great recipes for the home cook, perhaps even a home cook without access to open wood fires.

Wouldn't that be great if someone could donate a copy of it to me? I promise to cook all of the recipes that I can, especially if a cow, pulley system, and field suitable for medium-sized fires are also provided.

daily burger, number seventeen.

Organic chicken burger with homemade (nut-free) pesto and Argentinean contraband sun dried tomatoes.

My kitchen, DTLA, CA., 2:47, May 16, 2009.

a little taste of argentina

I happened upon a little question & answer with Jonathan Gold regarding Argentinean food in Los Angeles. Check it out! It includes a few restaurant recommendations, though they don't seem to be very meat-centric. I wonder if the steak they do serve would be as excellent as it was in the Southern Hemisphere... I still can't get over that I managed to get all of my meats "sin salsa, sin aceite-- solo" (pretty much the only Spanish I spoke) in Argentina and I can't find a waiter here who knows what the grilled chicken special is marinated in or what the difference is between mixed greens and leaf lettuce.
I digress.

And speaking of Jonathan Gold, he will be making an appearance this weekend at LA Weekly's LA Weekend in a panel discussion called Carnivore! Will I be there? Heck yeah! Stay tuned. I'm a bit confused because one site says that tickets cost $18, but the official site says some sort of sponsorship has made it free, so here's hoping for free!

a circus of meats

I just had to expand on this experience--

I would equate the experience to Bourdain's Uruguay extravaganza. So unexpected! We spotted a small restaurant called Circus near Florida street (a very touristy area of Buenos Aires) while trekking with our backpacks from the bus station to our hostel. I noticed that it seemed to be filled with locals grabbing lunch-- tasty looking sausage in crusty rolls with fresh chimichurri sauce. The next night, we happened upon it again while on our nightly dinner hunt and decided to check it out.

What happened next was the most fun I've had eating in quite some time. The grillmaster dudes cooked everything up on a main grill and then brought a mini grill to our table for us to graze on. We had seen the mini grills at other restaurants and were wary of them... We thought that good meat could not come from this, that the meat would inevitably be overcooked and dry, and I suppose that would be the case if we were being served a high-end steak-- but quantity won out over quality here! Granted, the cuts of meat weren't great and we were wary of the chicken, but the crispy, greasy bits of pork, beef, and lamb (maybe?) were so satisfying it was like a buffet of meat junk food. My stomach paid for it the next day, but it was totally worth it (and that's saying a lot for me, I am usually overly cautious to avoid stomachaches).

estancia time!

We spent several days in Mendoza, the lovely Argentinean wine country. It was the most relaxing part of our adventure, we really took advantage of the European cafe culture-- long lunches of pizza and empanadas (ok, usually chicken for me) with lots of wine outside at tables with umbrellas followed by siesta time, a practice we just must adopt! Mendoza was also where we visited an estancia of sorts. Come to find out, most of the ranches that are open for visiting were much more about these guys--

But alas, after a very long and dark "sunset" horseback ride at the base of the Andes (don't get me wrong, it was pretty incredible), we were fed an overwhelming meal prepared by this guy--

I must say, I am very grateful for the experience! The dudes on the ranch were really cool and the meat abundant, but it really was not very tasty. Perhaps this was because every time the meat tray came around, we got what was left on the board, which was, at best, grayish mystery meat (retired horsemeat?!) and at worst, some sort of tough, gnarly pig skin. Eek.

I guess I was hoping for something more like this--

...but the only places these were spotted were in windows at restaurants in Buenos Aires, enticing tourists to try their "authentic" Argentinean cuisine. Aah, well. I suppose I'll have to wait for that until I get my job for the travel channel!

bests and worsts

Okay, just got back from argentina and since I don't know what time zone I'm in yet, I thought I would post a few pictures. There were definitely meat highlights and low lights, so that's what I'll start with!

Just a sampling of the best...no grey steaks here!

at la chacra, buenos aires.

the worst...(and yes, i believe i was served one of these once. for sure, the worst meat i've even since my return to carnivorism)

and the, well...

what arrived on the table when I whined to my man, "I'm starving! I want parrilla!"

time to eat a cow or two

this lady is taking a break!
there will be much to say in a few weeks when she is home from buenos aires, but thinks it appropriate to take a bit of time to let things... marinate? cure? as she is a bit disillusioned with the foodie blog-o-sphere.
anyhoo, i guess there are a few things to look forward to:
1. firsthand south american beef experiences
2. a visit to a real estancia
3. improved blog picture quality!

argentinean eats

my mission for the week is to do some further research on what we may be consuming on our argentinean adventure next week. i know that we should expect to survive off beef and wine (sounds great to me!), but i am interested in finding more information on how specifically the beef will be prepared.


to my relief, they seem to prefer a simple, fresh preparation to highlight the meat itself (i was afraid of finding countless recipes containing mixed nuts or something that would make me paranoid to consume anything).


honestly, i can't help thinking of that episode of no reservations (click for clip) where the meat was cooked like this--

(image source: christopherjlester.typepad.com)
which is frankly a bit intimidating!

but the meat is traditionally prepared (in reasonable portions!) on an asado -or grill- over charcoal, either seasoned with salt or a simple marinade and often served with a chimichuri sauce--

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons minced red bell pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano leaves
1/4 teaspoon hot red-pepper flakes
1 fresh bay leaf (optional), finely chopped
(recipe from www.epicurious.com)

oh, and chorizo is a big deal, too! wonder how it compares to my chorizo? might have to finish that off this week in anticipation...

beef from the southern hemisphere

Of course, we all know that Argentineans produce and eat more beef than anyone in the world. Wikipedia said that Argentina produces annually about two 240-gram steaks per person worldwide and has six steaks more standing on its pastures and Argentineans eat 68 kg-- yes, that's almost 150 lbs-- a year per capita, but my upcoming trip to Buenos Aires has prompted me to do some research on such statistics. Maybe I'm a skeptic, but my dad has always said 67% of statistics are made up on the spot, so... that's my excuse.

Is there some sort of cow overpopulation problem? Does everyone keel over from heart disease at the age of 38? Are they lazy about their food choices? Or is the meat just better and healthier in places that, well, aren't America?

Okay, let's tackle that one question at a time.

Maybe there is a bit of an overpopulation problem. Since the 16th century, cows have been enjoying and populating the land. Argentineans began exporting their vast quantities of beef in the late 19th century, and then, well, supply and demand, etc.

Well, according to the interweb at nationmaster.com, about 2,000 people die from heart disease each year in Argentina, putting them around pretty high at number 14 on the list, but no where near the U.S., where heart disease kills nearly 24,000 per year.

Are they lazy with their food choices? Nah, I'm definitely an advocate of eating what is of quality locally. Why import Australian lamb when you've got the best beef in your back yard? And there's lots of other wonderful things to consume in Argentina, like wine! But seriously, from what I've read, the food is very similar to that of continental Europe- Italian and Mediterranean influenced with lots of fresh, tasty options, like, um, sausage, empanadas, and yerba mate! And you know they must have lots of that great Chilean produce that fills our markets all winter.

So, that leaves me with the question-- is the meat really better and healthier there? Possibly. They have also banned the use of rBST hormones in cattle and use very limited amounts of antibiotics (unlike the U.S.). Their cows are grass fed instead of corn fed like Americans, er, American cows, which make them naturally lower in fat but somehow more flavorful. Grass-fed beef is also less likely to be contaminated! The cows hang out in picturesque pastures like this happy fella...


(image source: www.wikipedia.org)

So, will it be tastier?
I'll report back in April!