A tale of two dinners

Our first night in Buenos Aires, we didn't head out the door to dinner until about 10 p.m. We went to Piegari Piazza, a block and a half from our apartment. We shared a delicious pizza and a mixed green salad, with an olive oil-balsamic vinegar dressing that our waitress (who was assigned to us because she spoke some English) mixed up fresh at our table. After all the talk of Buenos Aires being the home of good, cheap eats, we were surprised that the pizza and salad prices weren't much less than what we find at home at our favorite "gourmet" pizza place, Tutta Bella. However, what made the total bill a bargain was the nice bottle of Malbec wine that cost $10 US.

Tonight, we decided that beef was what's for dinner and headed to Las Cholas (again, a block and a half away) at the unfashionably early hour of 8:15 p.m. We had three good reasons for this:

1. We were hungry.
   
2. The Video Poker King advised us to plan on hitting this popular place early (before 9:40) or late (after midnight). 
   
3. On our little post-Piazza walkabout at nearly midnight, we indeed discovered first hand that this place was packed to the gills. Inside tables, sidewalk tables...all overflowing. On a Monday night. Crazy!

So, we got right in tonight, and the crowds soon followed. We dined happily on a huge tenderloin steak (bife lomo) with a side of fries (which we shared based on the waitress' advice) and a side of clay oven roasted vegetables (potatoes, sweet potatoes, yucca, corn, mushrooms and onion), along with two bottles each of Quilmes Stout beer. All for 76 pesos, or less than $25 US. We also appreciated that our steak and fries were served on a wooden cutting board, and that our places were set with smaller, round cutting board in lieu of plates. A nice rustic, practical touch.

Side note: We've been asked what kind of exchange rate we got. At the bank outside the airport, we got 3.40 peso to the dollar. In Microcentre today, we spotted several signs in shop windows promoting a rate of 3.60 or 3.70 pesos to the dollar for purchases.

Back to our regularly scheduled program: We were saddened to see on tonight's post-dinner walkabout that the Piazza was totally devoid of customers. This was shocking, since other restaurants were hopping (even if their outdoor tables were too damp for outdoor dining), and we had lovely food and service last night. A little Google search revealed that the Piazza is a small chain (Uruguay, Paraguay and Mexico, too) and has received some mixed reviews. Pity.