Mmm...

Parrilla: A very typical Argentine culinary experience that basically consists of lots and lots of different kinds of meat usually served on little grills at your table. To be eaten with ensalada, papas fritas, and some fabulous Argentine vino tinto.
If you didn't already know that, you may want to take a minute right now to add "Travel to South America" to your To Do list, or to the post-it notes stuck all around the edge of your computer.
Dale? Continuamos.

Tonight was a very big night for Will. He experienced his very first Argentine parrilla, meaning he is now a full member of the community. As for me, it was my first parrilla with actual Argentines there to guide us and dar consejos, so I had a lot of fun as well.
We had about 5 kinds of steak, chorizo (sausage), mollejas (sweetbreads), and morcilla (blood sausage.) We skipped chinchulines (intestines) tonight - we are after all Yanquis. We'll get there.
I was scared before we even got there of the blood sausage, mostly because well - it sounds utterly disgusting. It was actually pretty good - Will compared it to eating black beans. My favorite was the chorizo, probably because it reminded me of the sausages we used to get at Eastern European Christmas markets when I was living in Budapest.
We were too busy eating 78% of the body parts of a cow to notice the name of the restaurant where we ate, but it was at Costa Rica y Humboldt in Palermo.
Anyway, I'm very tired from the sordid events of last night (Halloween in Buenos Aires - no details are necessary or recommended) and from the food coma eating the parrilla has put me in...
I think Anthony Bourdain said it best in the Argentina episode of No Reservations, when while eating faina (basically a tortilla made of chickpea flour, that can be topped with cheese or whatever), he remarked: "I think a drunk person invented this."
I think that somewhat accurately describes a lot of the food in Buenos Aires; not that it's messy or made without care, but that the focus seems to be on simple, satisfying, high quality ingredients presented without a lot of fuss - the flavor of the food doesn't get lost in the pretension of the dish the way it often seems to at home. Or something.
Okay, I'm going to bed. Chauuu!