April 14, 2025 Lunch -Ampi Dinner - Toscano
We ate breakfast on the patio of the hotel today. I tried not to overeat. We each ordered an omelet with mushrooms, cheese, ham, and arugula. I also ate a yogurt with honeydew melon cubes and a sticky bun with Earl Grey tea and finally an orange juice.
Suzette and I then drove to Bodega Esteco. We liked their wines but decided to return on our way back to Piatelli to buy, which did not happen. The second winery we visited was Nanni that makes natural wines. They were too light for our taste, so we went on to Porvenir where there was an assistant who spoke good English and knew every nuanced detail of each wine.
He made the wines come alive to us and we bought three wines and a bottle of olive oil. Porvenir is the only producer of olive oil in Cafayute and the oil was pressed and bottled last week, so incredibly fresh.
At 1:30 we drove to the square to Restaurante Ampi that Vaklentina, the concierge, recommended. We ordered the lunch for two for. 28,000 pesos that included four empanadas, two tamales and four Montanitas that turned out to be a slice of cheese, some tomato coulis, a leaf of arugula and shredded cheese on top of a dry biscuit, a very unexciting dish and a glass of wine. Valentina had recommended the fried empanadas and although we asked for them I do not think they were included.
In all the meal was disappointing for the price. But we are learning.
We drove home after lunch and rested until 6:45. I watched the dramatic sunset on the Andes while we waited for Billy and Elaine.
The mountain range to the east after sunset and bodega
Billy and Elaine went on a hike to a gorge with a guide who works in a restaurant named Toscano on the plaza and they wanted to go there for dinner.
When we arrived I saw a client eating a lovely brochette of beef and vegetables, which Elaine ordered. Billy said Andre the guide recommended the Eye of Bife, so we each ordered that cooked to jugaso (juicy), which turned out to be barely seared.
We had the same problem with the wine Andre sudggested a Tierra Colorado blend of Malbec, Tannat, and Cabernet Sauvignon. I had tried two similar blends and did not like them but I went along with the suggestion. It was like most Meritages, heavy and not very fruity.
I should have ordered a glass of Malbec but went along.
My steak was undercooked and grizzly with a large intrusion of silver skin that I cut out. The steak was served with country fries and a few eggplant cubes, two sautéed bell pepper cubes and two tomatoes Provençale that were nice. The best side was a criollo sauce, fresh chopped tomato, onion, and pimiento. After I sent the undercooked section that was free of silver skin back and had it cooked to medium the steak was much better.
Suzette and I shared a water with gas, which we are liking more and more as we eat more and different foods.
After dinner walked down the block to an ice cream shop that had just raised prices and I got two scoops for 3500 pesos. One was a Malbec sherbet that was terrible and the other was a scoop of Cayote con Nuez that was much worse that the ice cream I ate yesterday on the other side of the square.
At 9:30 we drove home.
The assistant at Provenir told us today the government allowed citizens to buy dollars. I checked the exchange rate and he was correct. The official exchange rate was devalued by 10% against the dollar.
Bon Appetit
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