Buenos Aires Forever

Yesterday, I ate at Buenos Aires Forever on Ashland, specializing in -- you guessed it -- Argentine food. My prior visit had been for takeout soon after they opened. At that time, it was an uber-casual place with a walk-up counter and a few pizza joint-style tables. On this visit, I see that they've spruced the place up with table clothes, soft pendant-style lighting, and Argentine-themed pictures. Now, if only they'd put some curtains or window treatments on the windows in the front, it would be a very cozy place. It is owned by an Argentine couple in about their '50s who, I assume, hail from BA. The husband-half appears to do the majority of the cooking.

The menu is small, but heavy on empanadas, the mixed grill typical of this cuisine and a few beef offerings (nothing premium like filet, mostly vacio (flap meat) or similar cuts) and sandwiches. After being seated, the owner asked me if we've been to other Argentine places. When I told him I had, he became very talkative about his restaurant and his food. He told me that he makes the sausage on the menu in house - he's clearly proud of it as he gave my dining companion a link gratis after she expressed how much she likes sausage. I asked him how business was, and he said it was picking up, a lot of people from the neighborhood and from the local Argentine community. He claimed that they will have live music on Fridays, and that they will be changing up the menu in the next week or two. I think they're trying to ratchet things up to attract more eat-in customers. When I was there, we occupied the only table until some Argentine friends of the owners arrived.

We ordered empanadas to start (one, corn and one, chicken) which I thought were really nice and light. When I saw that they were fried, thinking of the discussion on this board as to whether certain areas of the globe bake or fry their empanadas, I asked him whether baked or fried empanadas were traditional in Argentina. He said fried was more popular. These also had a light, tender short crust. The filling was flavorful. The chimichurri that accompanied them would certainly keep dracula away - it was also spicy.

For an entree, I ordered the Milanesa sandwich -- which is breaded beef, ham, and cheese on bread. In other words, the best and worst of Atkins. The beef was the type of cut where you had to fight with the meat but it was also flavorful and well-seasoned. I had to take half home. My friend loved the house-made sausage which she said was tender-skinned and juicy with a hint of heat in the way of red pepper on the back-end. This particular experience wasn't the best rendition I've had of this type of food, although I thought the empanadas were as good, if not better, than those I've had anywhere else in the city. As they are relatively new, I get the distinct feeling that they are trying to find their stride and work out the bugs. But more than that, the food is caringly and attentively prepared. These are owners who want to see their customers happy and to introduce more customers to their native land's cuisine. An expanded menu would help - I look forward to seeing it in the coming weeks. But as someone who craves empanadas almost as regularly as anything else, I think that it is a welcome addition to the neighborhood.

Buenos Aires Forever
939 N. Ashland Avenue (between Chicago & Division)
Chicago
(773) 486-8081
BYOB welcome/encouraged

Great report, I've seen BAF a couple of times driving by but now I will definitelyhave to stop in.

Great! One thing I get from my heritage is a horror of meats that have had the 'fight" (good phrase) knocked out of them.

So, it's likely from the info presented here that my mother's empanadas hail from Mendoza (or the provinces; I think her best friend is from Cordoba and BA and also bakes them - not clarifying the matter but making the division clearer) and the BA ones are fried. I'll have to remember to ask which was which to clear that up, finally.

Can't wait to try them - anybody who makes their own sausage is worth trying in my book! Maybe I'll do a round trip from Hot Dougs!

Not sure that geographic generalizations can be made about fried vs. baked within Argentina. I had empanadas in BA and elsewhere both ways. The people at El Mercado and Penguin are, I think, from BA and both bake their empanadas. I also can't generalize about Cuban empanadas, as I have seen both kinds from folks from Havana. The only thing I know is that baked take longer to cook but keep better under a heat lamp, while fried cook to order much faster.

Well, despite the promise above I didn't actually get there until last week.

My reaction-- like a lot of South American places, it's fine if you want exactly what they serve, but most outsiders might find the menu awfully limited (both in number of items and the plainness of the items themselves).

I probably liked the empanadas best:



I think these were beef, ham and cheese, and corn, but they could be out of order. The crust was a little institutional-sturdy, but fresh enough, and I really liked the corn one. The kids only ate the ham and cheese one, though.

I ordered a flap steak (which came with fries and, consequently, just isn't an interesting enough picture to be posted) and the sausages in sandwich form:



The chimmichurri was orange and a bit spicy, okay in itself but I really missed the more usual (in my experience) garlic and parsley tang when it came to putting it on the beef. The sausages seemed reheated, the texture was not that snappy. Flavor was all right, very fatty.

The meal ended with alfajores, soft cookies with dulce de leche and coconut. Those were a hit. (I actually just ordered them for the kids but the waitress brought me one, too, on the house.)



A larger party would probably want to try one of the platters with a wider variety of foods on it, and might find something that would wow them more. Buenos Aires Forever was worth a try but if I'm in that area I'm more likely to hit Rudy's Taste again. On the other hand, if you live close by and want an cheap steak fix, this might be just the place for you.

My take on this place was that it was good but somewhat inconsistent. However, I understand that it had an ownership change this summer; sounds like for the worse.

LAZ wrote:My take on this place was that it was good but somewhat inconsistent. However, I understand that it had an ownership change this summer; sounds like for the worse.

I heard about the ownership change as well - I understand (and maybe I'm wrong) that the new Argentinean owners are younger -- and perhaps more inexperienced? But I should try it again, although it is tough with Rudy's down the street (which I quite like) and the new Habana Libre on Chicago (which, in my one visit, I also liked).

My partner, brother and sister-in-law went there for dinner on Saturday night.

We got there at 10:00 p.m. and the place was absolutely empty.

We soon found out why -- our food was quite bad.

The meat is not Argentinian -- nor is it grass fed. What it is was gristly and poorly cooked (over-cooked in all four instances).

I'm sorry to post such a negative report, but I want to warn others not to make the same mistake we did.

aschie30 wrote:... and a few beef offerings (nothing premium like filet, mostly vacio (flap meat) or similar cuts) and sandwiches.

Vacio? Empty?

DougMose wrote:We got there at 10:00 p.m. and the place was absolutely empty.

We soon found out why -- our food was quite bad.

Doug-

While I haven't been since the prior owners owned BAF, so I'll leave the food comments to others, but do you think that, in the interest of fairness, the place might have been "empty" at 10:00 p.m. because it was 10:00 p.m.?

I say this also because I live down the street and I drove by at 9:15ish on Saturday and there were several customers in there. (Far from empty.)

Aschie30 --

You're right, the emptiness of the restaurant may have been due to the 10:00 p.m. time ... on the other hand, 10:00 isn't very late for a restaurant in Chicago on a Saturday night.

(And Argentinians do like to eat quite late -- you'd think some might have shown up on Saturday.)

anyway -- I wish our meal had been better.

Drove by today. Closed, paper on the windows.

nicinchic wrote:Drove by today. Closed, paper on the windows.

Seriously? Nooo. I wanted to try this place to reminisce about my Buenos Aires trip with friends. That is too sad!

Believe me, you wouldn't have wanted to reminisce in that place. You would have been sad if you went there. I know, see my BsAs posts, this place was not in the same league, comparable or even close.