Mucho Sangre Please

Our little band of Merry Prankster Piso Compartistas (minus Barbara, the new girl from Belgium) stormed out of our flat and down Defensa onto the famed Des Nivel parrilla here in San Telmo only to have to queue up just outside the front door, all eyes now starring intently on the young grill master working his magic over the many different types of raw meats neatly laid out in shiny metal bowls for the waiting patrons, patiently waiting to be fed. The couple in front of us from Dallas, there on a recommendation of a friend, son and daughter-in-law just back from their honeymoon in Rio. It is Romain's last night in Buenos Aires before shipping back off to Paris and red meat is the consensus.

Des Nivel is the obvious choice as it is a true one of a kind, known throughout BA as one of the best if not THE best parrilla rilla; not only for its choice servings of all types of grilled meats but more for its circus-like atmosphere and minimal decor, not because all the guide books send droves of protein deprived first-worlders here on a regular basis, and not for its top notch waitstaff which are more like but more so because it also receives a slammin' dose of locals; from rock stars to actors to politicos to mafioso-gangstas (which are actually difficult to tell apart from the politicos at times). Once seated the table decision is almost unanimous - Bife de Lomo para TODO (minus Julia, the reigning princess of the house and a stout vegetarian who orders a simple salad). I supplement our order with a couple of plates of grilled provolone cheese, a few chorizo sausages and two heaping plates of perfectly cooked French fries (Dave and Mei - this is where we went meat crazy on your last official day in BA).

But the thing for me that is most impressive about this parrilla is how rare they can serve a steak and now how rare I can eat their red meat. I order my steak 'al punto' which is something like the Argentine equivalent of medium. When I finish a Des Nivel steak cooked 'al punto' my plate is full of bloody beef juice and my brain is swimming in delicious Argentine cow blood. But... this time was different. After we finished our steaks, Romain and Ed just had not had quite enough of the delicious carnivorous flesh. "One more Bife de Lomo?" Ed asks for... "con MUCHO SANGRE!" he adds - with a LOT OF BLOOD which is the correct way to order your steak rare. OK - most of you back home would have a hard time probably even looking at the beautiful piece of steak that shortly thereafter arrived on our table let alone to possible eat it. But let me tell you, I'm quickly learning the ways of the world and how to eat a basically RAW steak! Ed agreed that never in his life had he ever eaten any thing so raw before but ohh what a joy the blood-red meat was, melting like butter in our mouths, savoring every moment of the bloodfest.

Afterwards, we arrived late at La Cigalle on 25 de Mayo, which is a French bar with every Tuesday being French night and Pastisse drinks are only three pesos. Instead of queuing up around the block which would have taken forever to get in, we headed off on a zig zagging path to some Rose of something place nearby and proceeded to dance the night away at one of the most bizarre and surreal bars I've been to so far in BA - old world mafiosos, young cool french kids from Paris, all with their shirt collars turned up, Lee dancing with one of the owners girlfriends and Arnaud ordering rounds of Cointreau; lighting them on fire, pressing them to his palm and then waving them all around with a brazen look of fire in his eyes. It was a good send off for Romain and just one more beautiful and memorable night here in South America.