Grilled meats, great wine, and plenty of dulce de leche for dessert characterize Argentine cuisine and the best Argentine restaurants in New York City. Here are our picks for the best places to taste churrasco, empanadas, and other classics, plus innovations such as dulce de leche French toast and yerba mate cocktails.
In North Williamsburg, New York City’s trendiest diners can’t get enough of El Almacen. Here, authentic Argentine fare, including churrasco and grilled octopus with potato salad, is always in style. Creative touches, such as brunch’s dulce de leche French toast with berries and caramelized bananas, help diners feel at home.
When Ismael Alba couldn’t find a New York restaurant that captured his native Argentina, he opened his own. At Buenos Aires, a whopping 18 meat entrées, plus small plates such as empanadas filled with hand-cut meat and tuna, are available to enjoy alongside Argentine wines and music. The distinctive décor, which includes cowhide seating and black-and-white photos of the restaurant’s namesake city, sets the scene.
On Porteño’s New Argentine menu, foodies will discover innovative dishes they won’t find elsewhere, but that still tastes like home. Located by the High Line in Manhattan’s trendy Chelsea neighborhood, the restaurant offers an intimate setting in which to enjoy classic dishes as well as more inventive fare. For lunch, expect omelets with chorizo, veggies, and Argentine Parmesan. Dinner features heartier dishes such as rigatoni with Argentine sausage in a spicy tomato sauce and pancakes with dulce de leche. For dessert, try the mate ice cream.
Since 2006, Libertador has been sharing the grilled meats that made Argentina famous with New York eaters. Visit this Cobble Hill haunt (Libertador is also located on the Upper East Side) with a group in order to sample the fan-favorite mixed grill for two, Argentine sausages, and Argentine meatballs. The homemade hot Malbec wine, however, is something that diners won’t want to share.
A historic neighborhood in Buenos Aires serves as the inspiration behind this Lower East Side spot, where empanadas stuffed with hand-cut roast beef, egg, and fresh chimichurri are washed down with cocktails featuring chilled yerba mate. Also available at Balvanera, where the staff sports leather-trimmed aprons from Argentine designers Fuga, is house-made chorizo and a beverage program developed by Argentine Wine Consultant Sebastian Koncurat.
In ultra-trendy Williamsburg, Cafe Argentino has managed to maintain a following for nearly 10 years. Steak, such as the churrasco, ancho, and steak Milanesa, is the specialty at this North Side spot, though the Argentine blood sausage, crispy beef sweetbreads, and other meat plates are worth trying too.
For more than 20 years, Chimichurri Grill has been a star of New York City’s famous Theater District. The family-owned restaurant continues to be a sure bet for filet mignon with Argentine blue cheese sauce, handmade ravioli, rice pudding with homemade vanilla wafers, and more classics.
