Greening Austin Daily

Restaurant Review Friday – Buenos Aires Cafe, East

2nd April, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

I tried out Buenos Aires Cafe‘s new East location a few weeks ago.   I thought it was a really cute restaurant, and the food was reasonably priced for a semi fancy atmosphere.  The waiters were all very professional and there was live music and impromptu salsa dancing – very saucy! I had the small spinach salad ($5.99), which the menu described as “A refreshing blend of organic baby spinach, feta cheese, organic Fuji apples and spicy roasted pecans tossed in our homemade sweet and tangy vinaigrette.” It was nice and fresh. Then I had two empanadas, the verdura (spinach, ricotta, parmesan cheese and onions- $2.59) and the tuna (tuna, tomato, red pepper, onion, green and black olives – $ 2.59). I loved the verdura empanada.

My husband had the gnocchi quartet ($12.99), which the menu describes as “our homemade pumpkin-cinnamon, sweet potato-chipotle, cilantro-jalapeno, and potato-herb gnocchi tossed with roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and haricots verts and olive oil, finished with specialty sauces and fresh parmesan.”  It was really delicious and my husband said it was the best gnocchi he had ever had.

For dessert we had the “Dark and Spicy Chocolate Crème Brulee” – “dark chocolate and spicy pasilla and cayenne peppers” – it was reeeeally good, both rich and spicy.

It’s a nice local business to support too! Their website says “At Buenos Aires Café we are committed to serving the highest quality food, prepared with love and care from the hands that make it. We use only the freshest ingredients available and make an effort to support local farmers and market whenever possible. We hand pick all the vegetables and fruits used at our restaurants. Our greens are organic and dressed with our signature dressings prepared on site daily. We do not use trans fat oils, only pure olive oil and canola oil. The meats served are also organic. Both the pork and beef cuts are naturally raised, hormone free and certified organic. To give back to the community is part of our mission and commitment. Buenos Aires Cafe recycles all the cardboard boxes, we make weekly trips to the Ecology Action of Texas. We give all of our vegetable scraps for composting to our next door neighbor Clay Worksin exchange for herbs.” Very cool!

I had some awesome  pics of our food but now I can’t find them on my computer – dang you, technology!