Argentinian cuisine can be somewhat forgotten in the vast world of Southern American cuisine. Why seek out a place for Argentinian food when I could take a culinary road trip from Colombia to Brazil? Hell just a few couple hundred miles north and we’ve hit Mexico!
1810 in Pasadena answered this question: beef.
Argentina is widely known for it’s delicious cuts of meat, particularly “churrasco” or BBQ. While not saucey and sticky like the name might suggest, the meat is grilled over an open flame and still delicious. One of the more highly recommended cuts on the menu was the entraña, which is a thin cut, low on fat, high on flavor, skirt steak.
1810 opens your meal like any other restaurant, with bread. But wait, this is not just your everyday run of the mill bread. Well, the bread actually is pretty ordinary, but lo and behold, this bread comes with chimichurri. Chimichurri is a terrific mix of parsley, olive oil, garlic and salt. Argentinians began using this to spice up their already delicious meat.
For the main course, I went with a classic and ordered flat iron steak. While delicious in flavor and flawless in quality, I would recommend ordering it to be cooked one step below what you would normally order. I ordered medium and got much closer to well-done than medium.
To end the night, flan was a must. However, to put another Argentinian twist on this hispanic classic, 1810 adds an Argentinian favorite, dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is a Spanish twist on caramel sauce, where by instead of just browning sugar and adding vanilla, dulce de leche adds the leche: milk. Adding milk creates a much more creamy and rich texture as opposed to conventional caramel.
All told, the meal for two cost roughly $100, a rather great deal for a complete meal.
As far as its short and simple name sake, 1810 keeps it simple and sticks to its roots. 1810 is the first year that Argentina was able to breakaway from the Spanish monarchy. During this time the Spanish monarch was removed from power by the French army headed by Napoleon. Once the settlers in Argentina found out they said “out with the old, and in with the us” and began their path toward independence. By May 25th, only 12 days after word reached Buenos Aires of Spain’s demise, the new government that runs Argentina today was established.
To celebrate Argentinian independence, 1810 cooks up even more Argentinian delicacies.
Normal Food is for Chumps 