Buenos Aires - Day 5

We slept in late and didn’t get out to lunch till 3:00pm. Decided to head over to San Telmo today. We wanted to go to Abril, but couldn’t find it for the longest time… Then when finally there, Eva remembered that she had already tried the place and food was soso. So we headed over to the other restaurant we had in mind, Nacional. It was a dump, clearly not the La Nacional we were thinking of. Walked around and found a parilla place. We went in and sat dawn half-heartledly - it felt like something was off about this place, we weren't feeling it. Well, maybe not every single food outing has to be magical. It was already 3:30pm, kind of late to be searching for yet another restaurant and we were cranky as hell. Decisions, decisions... good thing Eva realized just then that she'd had dinner there too back in May and it was the worst parilla ever (if a parilla in BsAs can be bad). Pheeew, relieved to have a good reason to be picky, we got up and left.

After walking a number of blocks in the area, we found it. On the corner of Avenida Defensa, there was Chez - the most delightful French restaurant. Although it was empty when we peeped inside, there was just something about the place that called out to us - nothing is accidental, not even small things like that. We found Chez or it found us and we were about to make a memory that will be with us each time we think of Buenos Aires. Just a simple, absolutely magical afternoon. You know how sometimes everything aligns, your senses are heightened and the best of feelings are just magically frozen in that particular place and time? Where something stirs you up inside and gives you a whole new perspective on things. Yes, it was just a lunch, but nevertheless, one of our best times in BsAs. We felt as if we had stopped time for a little while, capturing a fleeting moment.

The restaurant's decor was beautiful, with the littlest touches completing the warm french country ambiance. A vase of overflowing bouquet of calla lilies sitting on top of a large wooden antique chest in the center of the room. The randomly placed items like an antique tray of perfectly golden freshly baked pound cake and the beautifully bound french cookbooks.

The long windows were open letting the fresh early summer air in and the sun rays were courting the fresh flowers in the vase and our smiling faces. As we were looking at the menu, already having ordered our champagne, we were wondering why we haven't read about this heavenly place before. As it turned out, the restaurant had only been open for 10 days! Food was out of this world, French Nuevo with local influences, of course. We still haven't forgotten the taste of this divine meal - from the pate, salmon tartar and the most delicious beef loin with pimiento sauce to the dreamy dessert, all this accompanied by plenty of champagne... Roll your eyes as you may, but the little things in life are what matters most. Makes one celebrate life - with all senses and an open soul. We counted our blessings as we completed our meal with Belgium waffles topped with dulce de leche. We were told we had to wait 15 minutes for them to prepare it. When the dessert arrived, we could tell the cream was freshly whipped and the waffles just toasted and generously topped with the best dulce de leche we've had in BsAs. We made funny noises while devouring our little piece of heaven, while the wait staff watched in silence, witnessing our little ritual. While we were waiting for our coffee to arrive, I sneaked outside to smoke a cigarette and while leaning against the front door of Chez, the sun shining on me and making it difficult to see much around me, I closed my eyes and just let myself be. There was no yesterday, no tomorrow... just now, on a small street corner in San Telmo on an early Argentine summer afternoon.

After Chez we leisurely walked the streets of San Telmo and stumbled upon this charming antique shop and bought a few beautiful antique cocktail rings. We then headed back for our lesson at 7pm, then back to the apartment to change. It was a hard time getting dressed for the evening, nothing seemed to fit right after our huge decadent meal... Eva even said "Well, I don't think I fit into anything tonight, I might have to stay in!" After much debate, we decided to go out anyway, even with our little extra dulce du leche curves. You can imagine the surprise on my face, when I heard a man in a suit making loud smooching sounds at me while I was dancing at La Confiteria Ideal. I swear he looked like a monkey in a mating ritual. Eva was supposed to meet Eduardo (the taxi dancer) there to get her video, but we never connected. Maybe it's because we hadn't set an official "appointment".

The place was full of tourists, it wasn't a good milonga night. At the entrance I saw an immaculately dressed older gentlemen, standing next to the door and surveying the place with a stern look, so taking him for the maitre d' or some sort of organizer for the night, I asked for a table. "Yo soy bailarin, senorita!", he said to me stunned that I had talked him for a member of the wait staff. Ok, one dancer lost for the cause already, there was no way he was going to ask me to dance later.

It turned out to be a nice night after all, despite all the tourists, and the relatively slow night for Ideal. Eva bumped into Damian, who was the first person to cabeceo her at Practica X in May. Funny meeting him so randomly again. They danced most of the night together. She was happy that he could see what a beautiful dancer she has become. We were pleased to see our dear Tango Pilgrim. Funny to finally meet so far away from home, yet given our shared passion, not so strange at all. We danced a song together and I enjoyed his warm embrace. After that Carlos, my local bailarin mistaken for a waiter, started to look in my direction. It couldn't be, not possible, this was a major faux pas after all. He gave me the cabeceo! I was happy to accept to make it up to him. As he was taking me in his arms, he was frank enough to say that he invited me to dance because he had just watched me and in his opinion I was a 'linda bailarina'. He was such a lovely dancer. We kept dancing throughout the whole evening. Never two tandas in a row - he would escort me back to the table, and after a tanda or two he would look for me and cabeceo again. The cutest thing. Carlos said he was happy I was there, as there were not many good bailarinas, only tourists that night at Ideal. Ironical - it was my fifth night in BsAs. Eva kept dancing with Damian, they had a great time too. He was very nice and polite to us.

Turns out you may be at the absolutely wrong place according to the BsAs milonga schedule of the ones in the know and still have a wonderful time... It's really circumstantial. And we were at Confiterial Ideal after all - the venue itself was enough to make our evening. There was a dance floor, the beautiful Ideal hall around us and tango music - what else does one need (yes, a good partner, but we were lucky in that respect too - we didn't found many, only a couple, but they surely counted). And as the night was slow and the floor was pretty empty after the performance, as the milonga was winding down it was just Eva and Damian, then Carlos and I on the dance floor of Confiterial Ideal. It was almost surreal - we had the place to ourselves. In the end, as the waiters were starting to clean up and the last song came on, one of the performers from earlier, a Venezuelan guy, asked me to dance. I sensed a smell of coffee and cigarettes as he held me tight against his chest. Somehow it was enchanting, his breath carried the night's mood... He danced beautifully, his lead was so confident, mmmmm...

As usual, the birds cheered for our home coming...