April 15, 2025 Breakfast - Piatelli. Lunch - Parador Posta de las Cabras. Dinner - Restaurant Magnolia, Mendoza
I woke around 7:30 and ate a moderate breakfast of fruit and yogurt with maple syrup and granola with orange juice, plus Westphalian ham and loom and a cup of tea with a sticky bun and a media Luna with orange and mango marmalade. Elaine and I tasted the Torrontes to make sure it was the amazing wine we tasted when we arrived four days ago. It was.
We then paid our bills. Suzette and I bought two Torrontes and one Pinot Noir and packed the car and at 9:30 drove to two geologically interesting sites, The semi amphitheater and the giant’s throat where we hiked into gorges in the narrow deep cuts in the uplifted sheer cliffs and rocks opened by erosion.
At 1:00 we arrived at Parador Postal de las Cabras at the half way mark, a rural rustic restaurant with simple good food and lots of desserts.
We took a table in the shade and Suzette ordered a liter bottle of coke. While Billy investigated the area and especially the parillia grill and horno where beef asado and empanadas were being cooked, we ordered two empanadas, 1/4 chicken cooked in an oven, French fries, and a stuffed Bell pepper (pimiento Relleno).
We were served three ramekins with a basket of bread. One with criollo sauce (cubed tomate, onion, pimiento in olive oil and vinegar), a celery flavored Mayo, and Aji purée salsa.
After about 45 minutes our waitress apologized as she brought Elaine’s leg quarter baked chicken and bowl of fried potatoes and Suzette and my stuffed baked bell pepper.
Billy joined us and ate chicken and fried potatoes and Suzette and I split the stuffed pepper that was cooked until the pepper fell open at the touch and some potatoes.
After lunch we proceeded to the Salta airport, arriving at 3:30 and waited for our 6:30 flight to Mendoza. While we waited I was able to see Aston Villa beat Paris Saint Germain 3 to 2 in a Champions’ League competition.
When we arrived at 8:30 at Mendoza we took a taxi to our hotel that turned out to be a boutique hotel.
We were hungry. The proprietress recommended Restaurant Magnolia, about 5 blocks from the hotel. When we arrived we found a modern two story building on one of the main boulevards with an open kitchen.
As soon as we were seated our waiter took our drink order. Suzette ordered red vermouth, Billy and Elaine ordered water, and I was served a Fuentes white and red vermouth blend that was too strong for me that I traded in for a glass of Cabernet Franc.
After we ordered, Billy - sweetbreads, Elaine - mushroom risotto, Suzette - an entire battered and fried skinned eggplant, and I ordered a sautéed duck breast on a pile of orange flavored hummus sprinkled with glacéd Ginger and a small pile of highly caramelized onions, Elaine - Mushroom Risotto made with the mushroom liquid.
All of our dishes were beautifully presented and highly creative. I had the feeling were were in the Napa Valley, where the food matched the quality of the wine, except we were in a huge town with all the grades of restaurants and bars besides this high-end restaurant, as we found out as we walked to and from Magnolia, which stuck out as an oasis of quality in a landscape of shoddy mediocrity.
Billy’s sweetbreads with a teriyaki sauce were especially delicious, the sweet breads were cut thinly and battered and sautéed. They were the most tender I have tasted since Mother’s and Scandia in L. A. In the 70’s.
Besides Billy’s amazingly tender sweetbreads I was amazed how Elaine’s rissoto was dominated and made with mushroom broth with a heavy shitake flavor. I was amazed how they skinned an entire eggplant and breaded it and fried it so it stayed intact for Suzette’s dish.
And I was amazed by the cubes of freshly glacéd ginger and incredibly caramelized onions that must have been cooked for over an hour and the orange flavored hummus that I had never tasted before.
This food was made by chefs of great skill and creativity. This was hands down the best meal of the trip.
Billy and Elaine shared a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and Suzette and I shared a glass of Cabernet Franc. Both wines were good.
When we left the restaurant at 10:45 it was starting to fill up with customers for the usual dinner crowd. Argentinians eat late.
We walked back go the hotel and fell into bed.
The landscapes we are seeing are breathtaking. For example, as we flew from Salta to Mendoza, looking out the window of the plane I saw the sun set behind the Andes from the airplane flying at about 35,000 feet with the usual carpet of clouds about 15,000 feet below us and the Andes lined up above the clouds with the golden glow of sunset behind them. It looked like another world because it was another world, a world dominated by the Andes.
Bon Appetit
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