Best steak in Buenos Aires?

[nyc123]

I will be in Buenos Aires next week and can't wait to eat some amazing meat. Where must I go? Thanks.

[mikoluvfood]

You must and i mean must...try the Ojo de Bife in 647 Dinner Club. I was really surprised to discover that the best meat in the city was not to be found in one of the highly touted Parilla's. 647 looks great which in my experience means at best average food...and at times terrible food. I only found 647 through an Argentine friend who gave me the recomendation, the concierge in my Hotel kept trying to send me to places that could only be described as tourist traps. My last night was spent eating the best steak of my life and i am not exagerating...so try and let me know on the blog how it was.

[Chew on That]

I personally LOVED a restaurant called La Cabrera in Palermo Soho. It's been written up in the New York Times too.

I ordered the the bifo de lomo with pepper concasse....so tender and delicious! Highly recommended.

[mandyjmoore]

I second the recommendation of La Cabrera. It's one of my favorite meals ever, and I've had a lot of meals in a lot of places. The food was excellent. I'd had steak for lunch so I had rabbit for dinner and my husband had steak. The meals are all served with wonderful little bowls of veggies and starches, almost like tapas. I think there must have been 8 or 10 of them.

I also like that it let us check out another neighborhood. We had a late dinner so were really tired but the nightlife seemed to be really excellent. The place also seemed to have very few tourists, which is also nice. Also nice is that we really chowed down for around US$60 if I'm remembering correctly.

We also ate at Cabana Las Lilas, which is a bit of a tourst mecca. I was underwhelmed (surprise, surprise) but it definitely wasn't bad.

[Chew on That]

I'm glad to see someone agree with my recommendation! :)

[lanersg]

I'll third the recommendation. The black sausage with dates and walnuts was amazing. By the way, servings of meat are really large here, you might want to split an order.

[bronwen]

The wonderful thing about the city is that - all the steak is great and it's so inexpensive that you can order it anywhere and be pleasantly (or not) surprised. Some of the steaks at little cafes we ate at were terrific. One thing I found out was that the potatoes are marvelous, their french fries are awesome.

[Bradford]

My wife and I are serious carnivores, but we must be about the only people in the universe who are not enamored of Argentine beef. We spent five weeks in the spring in Argentina and Paraguay, with more than a week in Buenos Aires. We had a few good steaks, yes, but most were tough, gristly and vastly overcooked, even though we ordered them rare. A major part of the problem was a countrywide farmers' strike that cut off the flow of beef to the cities. It We often ended up ordering seafood, the best of which was at a small restaurant south of Mendoza in Tupungato at the base of the Andes.

[Brealicious]

Hi Bradford - Can you tell me the name of the restaurant in Tupungato? My husband and I will be there for a few days in January.

Many thanks!

[foreignmuck]

Don Julio in Palermo is fantastic too.

[Casa SaltShaker]

I second the recommendation for Don Julio. When friends visit, it's the first parrilla we take them to.

[foodie08]

We went to Cabinas Las Lilas in Puerto Maduro - inasmuch as it has touristy elements; it is widely regarded as a classic. We were pleased.

[paulista1950]

La Cabana. A classic now owned by Oriental Express.It's soooooo good!

[bronwen]

I second La Cabana, we split a large steak and with veggies and apps it was plenty. Another place sort of opposite Recoleta Cemetary is La Chicrita (the outside has a cowhide design so you can't miss it). We had a fantastic lunch there.

[Marco1]

I give my vote 100% to 647 Dinner Club. The meat we ate there was of an incredible quality. I am not normally blown away by lamb and so only tasted a mouthful from my girlfriends plate, it was exquisite. My own plate was the Rib Eye which came perfectly cooked and full of flavour.

[Cebca]

Personally, i found La Cabrera overrated. Lots of bells and whistles, but it draws the attention away from the meat, which is good but about average as far as Argentina goes. Also, they cut their steak and cook it in chunks, which means you get less delicious gradation of done-ness.

I will third the recommendation for Don Julio - it was my favorite place to go when i was in BA (for 9 months). But the best steak I had the whole time I was there was at El Trapiche - the atmosphere isnt as nice as these other places, its more bright light, AR cafeteria-ey, but the meat was delicious and wow . . . so perfectly cooked. Just wow. Great friendly service too.

[HarryFood1970]

My vote goes for gourmet meat to 647 Dinner Club for excelent meat cooked perfectly.One of the few places in the city that understands the cooking point of the meat.

[nyc123]

Back from my trip to BA... ate lots of good steaks based on all of the recs I received. Can't pick a "best" steak, for there many delicious ones. La Cabrera was delicious, best value, and fun hip scene. At La Brigada, I had one of the largest steaks I have ever scene, and there was a great homey feeing. We had a 3 hour layover at the local airport so we took a cab to Las Lilas, gorged ourselves...lot's of fun. Also visted 647 and had the ojo do bife, it was well charred and tasty, but hardly the best steak in BA. I also had a fried fish dish there which was far better than the steak.

[sidwich]

Strangely enough, the best steak that I had in Buenos Aires was at the old bar around the corner from the hotel I was staying at, the Hippo on Defensa in San Telmo. Runner-up was Densnivel also on Defensa.

I wasn't all that impressed by La Cabrera and did not have a chance to get to La Brigada (darn!).

[BatesNYC]

I am in Buenos Aires now and eating my way through the Chow Hound suggestions. Out of the top restaurants of the city so far i have eaten in,i really enjoyed 647 Dinner Club where i missed the steak and went straight for a super tasty pork loin. At the other end of the scale of the luxury market i ate in Sarkis which serves great Armenian food. I will keep you guys informed!

[erichensley]

The best steak that I've had in Buenos Aires wasn't at a fancy restaurant. It was a place called El Desnivel in San Telmo. The restaurant can be described as "rough around the edges" but the lomo I had was fantastic. The only downside is that I think tourist guide around must point to this place because half of the patrons seemed to be British.

I have attached a photo of the beefy wonder I had.

[werdna23]

I was looking for a site listing the best steakhouses in Buenos Aires when I came across this link and this thread from erichensley. I so strongly disagreed with his review that I went out of my way to sign up to this site torespond. El Desnivel is DEFINITELY not a good steakhouse. I ate there for lunch today and I was extremely disappointed. I had the Beef de Chorizo Mariposa and it was bland and slightly gamey. Since I was staying around the corner I thought I'd give this place a try since it had such good reviews from many sources, including locals. It is unfortunately disapointing and a slightly dirty place to be honest. I also had some sort of fly stuck to the side of my plate when it arrived. I only finished half of my steak... it was too tough to eat the rest. The only good dish I had was the patates florentine which I quickly finished.

I'm quite a big steak connaisseur, and since I'm in Buenos Aires for a little over a month, I thought I'd try as many of the top steak places as possible. 2 days ago I tried La Cabrera. I thought this was a great steakhouse but not the very best I've been to. I had the rib eye steak and it was cooked almost perfectly. My advice would be to order theindividual size as the size for 2 includes a very thick cut which in my opinion compromises the charring consistency of the meat. The sides weren't anything special but I only really care about the meat.

Since I'm temporarily staying in San Telmo, yesterday I went to a random restaurant which also happened to be a Parilla. The restaurant's name was Gran Parrilla Del Plata on Chile 594 esq. I resisted but ordered a steak again, and again a rib eye. I've got to say I was pleasantly surprised. The meat was amazing and I'd say better than La Cabrera. It was so good that I'm going back again tomorrow.

Over the course of my stay here in Buenos Aires I will try as many steak houses as possible and report back to this site, so expect to hear back from my in due course.

My benchmark is still Peter Luger's in Brooklyn, NY and I have yet to find a steakhouse as good as this one. I live in London, England and I would often find an excuse to fly over to NY for the weekend just to have some Peter Luger's!

Cheers

[stpaulbreadman]

What makes the best steak? Obviously the quality and flavor of the beef has to be excellent. I think that at most of the well known places the beef is probably very comparable. The other elements of how well cooked and salted the food is may be just as important. I haven't been to all the places mentioned on the list but will mention another small old unfancy parrilla that just serves up perfectly cook bife de chorizo and other cuts. Parilla Iguazu - corner of sucre and figeroa alcorta two restarants away from Sucre. (which is excellent in a very different way). I look forward to trying some of the others on the thread. Also a comment. It's interesting to me that the beef here is very full flavored but not at all gamey in the way a lot of grass fed meat in the states is. What do you supose makes the difference? (or are we getting grain finished meat in all these parellas).

[foodieBruce]

We found El Establo as the best steak house in BA. Small place up the main street in San Telmo. You couls cut the Bife de lomo with a fork. Also, the most reasonable prices. la Brigata was a close second, somewhat more expensive. Desnivel was also quite good.

[lolabella]

Yes! We're in BA right now, and on our first night we were trying to get to Parilla Lezama but they were closed for the summer, so we stumbled upon Del Establo. (Defensa 1463) I was weary because I hadn't read about it in any guides, but it was fantastic! We have had a lot of steaks since, but this was by far the tastiest. And the service was great - a perfect first night, and we might end our trip there too.

[dietndesire]

Overall, steak quality is very good in BA though I don't think their best is as good as the best I have had elsewhere. That said, it is dirt cheap, obviously. La Cabrera was good, get the lomo di bife for a smaller more traditional(to a new yorker) cut. Still not small.
Forget Las Lilas in Puerto Mad.
And the previous poster who said it is absolutely spot on when saying that grassfed beef in Argetina(ok, s america) is far superior to grassfed beef(overall) in the USA.
That nasty gamey, grassy flavor is all too often so overpowering. No, it is not the different flavor that is supposed to come from grass fed, it is just rubbish.
Actually, much grass fed beef you can purchase in the USA that has this poor quality is from Aussieland and NZ. I am hardly saying that all grass fed beef from there or even domestically is terrible, just way, way, way too much of it.
After you find the overabundance of good and better quality beef in Arg, for so little, it is even more upsetting.
Now, I guess I need to try Don Julio.

[Oldiemeister]

Although I am travelling to Bs.As. for more than 30 years,and have tried many, many parillas, I only made it to the 647 Dinner Club in San Telmo last year. It really was a memorable experience. I prefer, though, another steak restaurant, the Happening, on Costanera Norte, alongside the river, near the city airport Aeroparque Jorge Newberry (there is another one in Puerto Madero, which is not nearly as good...better avoid it). At the Happening, they have excellent steaks, not too many tourists, a very good service, nice and different antipasti and a good wine selection. Las Lilas, though, even has a better wine selection, but sometimes there are too many bus tourists and then the service sucks. Also, I do not like that they only work with one credit card (I think it is MC). Btw: Las Lilas actually belongs to the Brazilian restaurant group Rubaiyat (The Rubaiyat at Alameda Santos in São Paulo is definitely my first restaurant choice for meat worldwide) and not to the Swift Armour group, who only purchased the meat brand Cabana Las Lilas some years ago, as one post somewhere else on this site suggested. Other places I can recommed include Don Julio, Ramona (for Costela), Hereford (also on Costanera Norte) and La Cabaña. But in general, you can get a good Bife de Chorizo almost everywhere, even at smaller restaurants and even in some of the tourists traps. Bom appetite!

[mrnyc]

we loved LA CABANA. wonderful food and staff.

[beckypoostchi]

La Cabrera in Palermo Soho was by far the best place we visited for meat. The Morcilla and the Sweetbeads were amazing. The steaks were legendary. I had a very disappointing meal at 647, and at 10.30pm there were still only 4 tables in the whole restaurant on a Friday night. Cabana Las Lilas was horribly overpriced, but a great setting on the marina. The steaks were very average

[vinhotinto75]

I'm not sure if they are still around, but I ate a fantastic steak and meal at a restaurant out near the Universidad de Buenos Aires called Aquellos Años about 5 years ago. Nice atmosphere and staff on top of it for incredible prices.

[bigmac52]

El Establo on Paraguay / San Martin.

Try the Bife de Lomo, Brochette de Lomo or Medallion de Bife.

All are excellent washed down with a San Thelmo win ( 1/2 bottles available )

Bigmac52

[micreynolds]

Just flew back from B.A. two days ago. La Cabera was cheap and was very touristy. But delicious and the amount of food they give you was ridiculous. Try Campo Bravo in Las Camintas, it was great. Also, La Cabana Las Lilas was fantastic, however it was WAY overpriced. Many of the locals we spoke with said the place was a ripoff, however with the exchange rate being so favorable, we didn't mind shelling out the extra cash.