Saturday, May 14, 2011

I love cafe









After being in New York for so many years, we know a thing or two about coffee shops, cafes or whatever you like to call them. Considering the lack of space in Manhattan, they tend to be small, very small or tiny.

Downtown
, where the charming ones we like are located, around Tribeca, Nolita and further east, we can find our favorite places to enjoy capuccinos and some sweets.

So, when a group of three friends decided to open the Argentine version of the kind of places we love (the Downtown cafe), it was very clear for us the way to go. Small? No problem, a few tables and chairs, a banquette, a couple of counters... We also had this idea of throwing a bit of London in the mix, especially because one of the owners spends part of the year in England with her polo player husband. And she adores London.

And then it was the color...Everything in the store under 3 feet high is painted red, everything above that is a shade of old parchment very shiny.

"I love cafe", that's the name of this magical place. Coffee to go and fresh food, good music, nice people in the heart of Recoleta. What's not to love?

Rodriguez Peña 1714
Buenos Aires

View from the Top





First there was the view. Then the apartment, in a nondescript building from the 70's. Nothing special about it, no old parquet or marble fireplaces this time...Just a boring and plain box...but what a view!. Overlooking Palermo park, the rose gardens, the Planetarium, the race tracks, the river...

The social area is on the 13th floor, upstairs the bedrooms and bathrooms, and then one more flight of stairs and voila!, you are in the barbecue room, the "quincho"...that sacred place where Argentines get together to enjoy the best beef in the World. Actually is more of a ritual, that ancestral thing of enjoying your family and friends around food and wine...You know, latin blood that is.

Eat, love, drink. And in this particular case, with a view to kill for.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

French touch it's done




Our mission has been accomplished, the owner moved in with her family and everything is under control.

The charm of these old apartments is undeniably argentine. We like of think of it as "parisian-meets-the pampas", an unique combination of Old World tradition blended with the unique lifestyle that you can only find in this part of the Americas.