Sunday, April 26, 2009

I Want to Open a "Closed Door"

We are leaving Buenos Aires today, after a month, for Western Argentina (Mendoza), and our last night here was one of the best: we went to a puerta cerrada "closed door" restaurant.
These restaurants are a relatively (5-10 years?) new phenomenon in Buenos Aires, and they seem to be very popular among foreigners like us. They are basically a restaurant in someone's home. When you make the reservation, they give you the address and you show up at a certain time to eat and drink in someone's home. So fun!
We went to Casa Felix last night, run by a 1/2 Argentino (male chef), 1/2 American couple (female hostess). He was born to a vegetarian family here in Buenos Aires (such a rarity) and cooks mostly vegetarian food, which was perfect for me. There were 4 vegetarian courses and the main course was fish. This couple has a perfect life, it seems. They open their beautiful house 3 nights a week to 12 guests. They have traveled and continue to travel throughout Latin America, to learn about different foods and culinary traditions. They can close their informal restaurant whenever they like to travel. They have an incredible back garden where they grow regional herbs and spices. I want to be them, but first I have to learn to be an amazing chef. The food was so memorable and different and perfectly executed. The evening was very social and we talked to other guests from the U.S. (Americans outnumbered everybody else), the U.K., Argentina and Malaysia and we went to a traditional tango club afterward with some new friends we had met.

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