While I love my hood, I tend to stay away from anything remotely close to the Bedford L stop due to the insane amount of foot traffic. But when the Infatuation dropped 8.2 rating on this place I had to check it out. It's one of those places that I've walked past a million times but never think to go into. I figured since it's kind of an old stand by, that it should be easy enough to walk-in without a reservation. Apparently I was wrong. I walked in at 7pm on a Friday and the only seats left were at the bar, otherwise it was an hour plus wait. Luckily I love eating at the bar and Paige didn't mind either, so we were set.
Despite being a huge meat lover, I am embarrassed to say that I haven't been to Argentina yet but I know that if you don't eat meat, you're SOL there. If the food in Argentina is anything like what was on the menu here, I would definitely be a fan. Everything sounded awesome and we had a really hard time narrowing it down without being a total glutton. We netted out with the hamachi ceviche ($15), ham and cheese empandas ($10) and to be adventurous we got the parrillada ($56) which is basically translation for everything BBQ. And of course we got a delicious bottle of Malbec wine. In a similar vein to dining in Argentina, the prices here were shockingly affordable for the location and type of food. The hamachi ceviche was lovely and a refreshing way to start the meal - thinly sliced pieces of yellowtail with yuzu, shishito peppers, sea salt and truffle oil. Also fantastic was the empanadas - they were super cheesey and gooey with a perfect crunch on the outside. They were dangerously addictive and I could have easily had 5 more of them. But if I did, then I wouldn't have been able to leave room of the insane amount of meat that was to come. Even though we had asked the waitress what was in the parrillada, I'll be honest and say that I didn't hear a single thing she said. And after eating it, I kinda of wished I paid more attention. Not that it wasn't a great plate of meat but there were definitely types of meat in there that I could have done without - I'm looking at you blood sausage and sweet breads. But it was our fault for not paying more attention to the waitress. However, if you like different types of meat, this is your dish. It came with short rib, ribeye, chorizo, blood sausage, sweet breads, roasted peppers and truffle fries - and it's definitely a dish for 2 people. My favorite meat by far was the ribeye - it was cooked just right and was pretty moist and tender. The short rib was my 2nd favorite but it had a bit more bone than I would normally have liked. The chorizo was your typical chorizo and a much better alternative to the blood sausage. I've just never been a blood sausage person but I gave it a shot - the texture was just too mushy and it had that mineral-y taste that I just don't like about anything blood related. Same thing with the sweet breads - I gave it a try but it's just not really my thing unless it's really deep fried, which they weren't. The fries were a nice touch although they were a bit dry. It was way too much food and we couldn't really finish the whole thing. Having tried all the different meats, if I were to come back next time, I would just order either the skirt steak or ribeye on its own, which is what most people did at the restaurant.
We ended the night with churros ($8) which were nice and warm and served with a yummy dulce de leche and chocolate dipping sauce. The churros themselves could have used a bit more sugar and cinnamon to it but it's probably best that they didn't for my health.
I left this place feeling like it was a really solid neighborhood meat joint and was sad that I hadn't been to it sooner. While I wouldn't say that it's the best place to get a steak in NYC, it's a very solid and extremely reasonably priced place to chow down on some red meat. I can only envision that it's similar to what a dinner would be like in Argentina - a dark, cozy restaurant that serves delicious red wine and quality red meat for a fraction of what you would pay at a traditional steak place in the city center. Total bill: $116/pp with tax, tip and lots of red wine
Photo Credit: Yelp
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