Summer in South America verses a dreary December in Chicago? Buenos Aires won out this year. Four days of a much needed winter break spent in the city where Tango was born was the perfect prescription for cold weather blues. Our stay at the luxurious Park Tower hotel was luxury a la the days of “Dallas,” and located in what appears to be the financial district in the city, surrounded by buildings that look like they were built in the 1970s and remain unchanged. The Park Tower is adjacent to the Sheraton Convention Center which was a better landmark for the various cab drivers that were challenged to find our hotel and where a lot of conventions seem to take place. Our suite overlooked the city’s bustling center with cars and busses zipping about also resembling models from the late ‘70s, early ‘80s – truly throwback! Our friendly and helpful concierge informed us of the hot contemporary places to check out in the city including Palermo Soho, Palermo Hollywood and Palermo Viejo. These areas contained the cool restaurants and apparel shops such as Vincent y Miles and Awassi where I picked up some great sale frocks. For dinner, we hopped a cab over to the Puerto Madero area for some of the best Italian food I’ve ever had at Marcelo, a truly romantic spot that is a perfect destination situated right off the water.
The MALBA or Museo de Arte Lationo American de Buenos Aires was an exciting stop on our tour of the B.A. to see the work of Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez and his color installations. A not to miss exhibit, we ventured next to Bar 6, a hip, loft space swarming with Buenos Aires trendsetters and tastemakers for lunch. Highly recommend indulging in the lamb or seafood risotto- simply divine. It was then decided we couldn’t leave Buenos Aires without doing two things: taking in a tango show and getting a leather jacket custom-made. Senor Tango was a superb introduction to the country’s love of the dance with its Vegas-like production, svelte sexy dancers and Tom Jones-esque crooner and founder Fernando Soler. The dancers were electrifying and make you understand how the dance became so popular the world over. Shows go until one or two in the morning.
With some energy still left after the entertaining show, we wandered over to Palermo square and watched as Argentineans ate dinner well past any time an American restaurant would even be open serving food. A los Amigos is perfect for yummy lemon chicken and sports aficionados although lesson learned: know where your allegiance lies for futbol before professing support of any one team. Argentineans love their futbol teams!
And as if our time perusing the retail shops wasn’t enough, we paid a visit to Bettina Rizzi to get our own custom-made leather coats which can be done within 24 hours or if you’re like me and getting ready to jump back on the plane home, can be shipped to you back in the states. Before winding down our trip, we did stop at Milion for dinner to have delicious white salmon over cannellini beans with a glass of Malbec to accent the palate. All in all, a winter escape to remember in Buenos Aires.
The Recommendation List
Bar 6, Armenia 1676 (between El Salvador and Honduras), Buenos Aires http://www.barseis.com/
MALBA, Museo de Arte Latino Americano de Buenos Aires,
Avenida Figueroa Alcorta, 3415 Malba.org.ar
Bettina Rizzi, 929 Maipu St., Buenos Aires; leather tailor made in 4 hours
Marcelo, Alicia Moreau de Justo 1140, Buenos Aires
Milian, Parana 1048 Buenos Aires
A los Amigos, Av. Rafael Obligado/Costanera Norte
Park Tower, Av Leandro N. Alem 1193
Clothing stores: Vincent y Miles, Awassi
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