Gabriela Kogan - Miramar in Balvanera

In a big, dense urban environment like Buenos Aires, it's easy to never leave your codigo postal. Most neighborhoods are pretty self-sufficient and I really like picking up the paper from "my" newstand, buying smokes from "my" kiosco, and generally doing business with all the hardware stores, supermercados, cafés, verdurarías, pizzarías, etc. that are all in easy walking distance from my apartment.

But that's a trap. A nice comfy trap but a trap all the same. There's a big wide city out there and even after you think you really know it, Buenos Aires will always surprise you.

But if I'm gonna leave my comfy zipcode I'm gonna need a good reason! Bars, cafés, and restaurants are good bait for me. But restaurant recommendations can be so subjective. If you're lucky, though, you'll find a pal that not only knows more restaurants than you ...but also loves the same things and the same places that you do.

I have such a pal in Gabriela Kogan whose book "The Authentic Bars, Restaurants, and Cafés of Buenos Aires" I've written about here before. The book is magical and seemingly omniscient regarding subject of these boliches large and small that are the caretakers of the city's soul and character.

With the restaurant trade down 25% according to Saturday's El Clarín, I'm feeling a little patriotic spreading my trade around. And if that's a component of this quest ...why not concentrate on the places that I love dearest? The ones that I would yearn for the most should they disappear.

Do you have a copy of this book? Lemme know.

Would you like to nosh at one of these joints with me next time? Lemme know that too!

"At first sight, Miramar looks like a typical local bodegón, one of the last few left, with a rotisería (deli), accessed through another door in the corner. But once you are inside, the options on the menu and what you see on the impeccably white-tableclothed tables wil still surprise you. Apart from the famous cold cuts and prepared nibbles, the special character of the place lives in the choice of snails, frogs, partridges, oysters, rabbit, and anchovies amoun other exquisite local delicacies."