December. Again. This year, the months passed as if they were weeks, but it has been awesome. Busy. Productive. Fun.

I´m always in favor of New Year’s resolutions and defining my yearly goals to achieve, but before setting off on that exercise, I take a moment to reflect on the year that I have just lived. Save those memories and highlights.

This post is a ranking of what most impacted and inspired me in flavors, wines, meals, places, trips, books, and experiences. It was not easy to choose. Honestly, I feel so grateful every day to be able to make a living from my passion, work with my husband, and share that with with the world. There are so many options. However, after thinking about this for a while, of course, I came up with the finalists.

Three memorable meals in the US: 1) Rasika in Washington DC is by far the best contemporary Indian food that has tantalized my palate as of late. Best. Chaat. Ever. 2) Spoon Thai in Chicago. My brother took me here, and although they speak very broken English, I quickly learned that what’s spicy for Thai, is something I cannot hack (call the fire department my taste buds are ablaze…). I did have an epiphany though with their Tom Kha soup. 3) Hugo’s in Houston. If I lived in Houston, you’d have to peel me away from this place which serves authentic Oaxacan cuisine at brunch, from chilaquiles to mole. Two lethal margaritas on the rocks lead to a fuzzy afternoon and siesta.

Three memorable meals in South America: 1) Last year I celebrated my 34th birthday at Osaka in the W Santiago. It was a parade of one sexy sushi fusion roll after another, and tiraditos that melted in my mouth. Heaven. 2) One freezing cold June afternoon in Buenos Aires at Brasserie Petanque in San Telmo, I ate the best steak tartar in my life. This dish is why I will never be vegetarian in this lifetime. 3) Gardenia in Montevideo, Uruguay is a nuevo resto by a young chef couple from Spain & Brazil. Its fun, edgy gastronomy that rewrites the rules and pushes the envelope with its traditional yet innovative flavores and textures.

Best road trip: Crossing from Awasi in San Pedro de Atacama over the altiplano (by vehicle) to Purmamarca, in Northwestern Argentina. On our vuelta, we went through Salta and its stunning canyons and charming adobe towns of Cafayate, Colomé and Cachi. This landscape bewitched me and made me fall madly in love again with South America and it’s amazing diversity.

Best surprises: 1) My birthday present #34 from my husband. 2) Business trips to the States that coincided with seeing my entire family in Chicago, Pennsylvania, and Florida. At times, I miss having everybody so spread out and far away.

Biggest challenge: At the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, among the events, I had to prep and serve food  for 1,000  people at the famous “Party of the Senses.” This was in huge scale not only in food, but in navigating the mammoth industrial kitchen and managing a team of willing interns. I didn’t think too much, I just crushed it.

Favorite new cuisine discovered: Korean food is driving me crazy. I am addicted to it. Kimchi. Bulgogi. Kimbap. Ddeokbukki. Fortunately, Little Korea is only three blocks away in Patronato.

Best new cookbook: Only one? Darn, that’s hard. Ok… Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food. The queen of the organic/fresh food movement shares her easy techniques to transmute ingredients and respect their noble origin. I love it because Chile has the most amazing produce (like California) which needs little to no doctoring. AND, I just got a huge mortero, mortar-and-pestle made from volcanic rock for Christmas. Forget the food processor, now I can grind it all up in the Stone, which Waters suggests. Yay!

Three words to describe 2011: Growth. Believe. Enjoy.

Three words to describe the culinary scene in Chile: Effervescent. Blossoming. Diversifying.

Three most memorable wines consumed in 2011: This was pure agony…but I did it. Chateau Haut-Bailly 2005; Chateau Cos D’Estournel  2000; Polkura G + i 2008.

Best new discovery in Chilean wine: Miguel Torres Santa Digna Estelado made with the País grape.

Favorite new ingredient: Mapuche pepper from the Canelo, cinnamon, tree.

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www.gardeniamvd.com

I am at the end of what can only be described as one of those spectacular meals. You know … where you stop to take copious notes and numerous pictures (some call it food porn, I call it memories). The flavors, textures, sensations, all meld together into one warm, fuzzy, wine-induced meal full of love. I am quietly sitting here sipping on the last drops of a velvety, feminine Merlot from the boutique winery Casa Filgueira. I am not in Buenos Aires, nor Santiago, nor Lima, not even Sao Paulo. Nope, I am in the most unexpected, and perhaps most under-the-radar, up-and-coming foodie destination in South America: Montevideo, Uruguay.

Where did I have this gastronomic enlightenment in a city typically known for asado, asado y más asado?  Gardenia.

My day didn’t start out this good. After a meeting with fellow food writer Clara OCampo from El Gastronauta the night before, she raved about this stylish new spot breaking all the clichés with what Montevideanos love to eat: grilled meat, salad, a lot of potatoes, and most definitely nothing too spicy.

Enter Gardenia. In this newish restaurant, two foreign chefs both in their early 30s, armed with international culinary experience and a lot of ganas and passion, had come to Uruguay to innovate, educate, open, and dazzle the local palates.

I decided I would go at lunch. It was a beautiful, warm fall day so I took my time walking along the Rambla as the sun reflected off the bluish waters of the Rio de la Plata. From Pocitos, I trekked up a hill to an area coined as “World Trade Center” (why is there a World Trade Center in every Latin capital?). Clustered around a central plaza of tall office buildings, the upscale restaurants obviously catered to the lunch and dinner crowd. I entered following the sign towards what I thought was Gardenia. I surveyed the ambience. Not exactly what I would define as stylish, a bit ornate (dragons everywhere), but maybe that’s my taste.

Lunch was a mediocre glass of Tannat, an ok piece of lenguado (sole), a soggy salad, and when they served me macedonia as dessert, I just about lost it. Seriously, what a bad rec?! Well, it all became crystal clear when I got the bill. In fact, I nearly died. I was in Gardenia’s neighbors. I could hardly believe my stupidity in having wasted a meal on that place. Annoyed at myself, I stormed into Gardenia, next door, and immediately recognized my error. The space was luminous, spacious with high ceilings, jazz playing in the background and an instantly refined, warm vibe. S-h-i-t Liz.

Photo: www.gardeniamvd.com

Marina is certainly not alone in this project. Her husband, also the chef, Raúl Florenza, decided to expand the Gardenia brand, already successful in Marina’s hometown of Sao Paulo with three restaurants in Gabriel, Pinheiros, and Alphaville. Why Montevideo? Why Uruguay? When asked, they cited being tired of the big city Paulista life, a city of 18+ million people. They were looking for someplace close yet different, tranquilo, maybe have a family, a place to innovate. Ballsy? Making any international (business) move is, but I would say Uruguay was particularly daring. Uruguayans are particularly traditional when it comes to their food and opening their social circles to foreigners. After all, it’s a small country. All of Uruguay’s populations wouldn’t even make up 1/6 of Sao Paulo, to put it in numbers.

Marina and Raúl bring together a fascinating mix of cuisines: Mediterranean, Spanish, Brazilian, and make the most of the local, seasonal ingredients. Is it eclectic and adventuresome? Yes, enough to be constantly interesting, but not to provoke fear of the unknown in the diner. What most caught my attention were the details. There was a constant focus on contrasting, bright flavors, textures, temperatures and colors. A constant pushing and pulling so that with every forkful, spoonful, or sip (the wine, of course), there was a new layer to be discovered. Savory, thoughtful creations that provoked umami in my mouth. That’s right, my first intuitive impression I had of Marina and her caring, embracing nature showed up the food. And tack on near perfect service and great wines like Pizzorno or Casa Filgueira.

So where did I travel on this odyssey? Given I am wheat-free, we had to work around that but I started with crunchy, homemade sweet potato chips tossed with celery salt and the most perfect roasted garlic, paired with the Casa Filgueira Sauvignon Gris. Next, a bite of a sublime carpaccio with merluza negra, black hake, pounded paper thin and laced with minced green apple, chopped pistachios and parsley with a drizzle of peppery olive oil. OMG. Next was Raúl’s delicious, refined rendition of gazpacho. The soup was creamy, balanced, with perfect acidity and an addictive mouth feel as it was passed through a fine sieve. I uncovered a skinned cherry tomato cleverly nestled at the bottom of the bowl, a little mouth burst of the finest of fine brunoise veggies, which some cook had patiently stuffed into that tomato.

After, I savored one of my favorite Brazilian dishes ever, moqueca, a rich coconut sauce made with a touch of nutty dende (palm) oil with fish, shrimp, and seafood floating in the pinkish broth. Marina and Raúl insisted on bringing more “mini” courses. Sure, why not? The wine is flowing and company is good. How about oxtail braised in Tannat sauce with a sublime mashed potato purée? Gamey, meaty, tender, delicious. I was toast. I passed on the crème brulee made with mate. There are limitations to my stomach space. I decided my Merlot would be “dessert”.

Since my escapade in Gardenia in Montevideo, we caught up with Marina and Raúl in Santiago on a chilly, rainy Good Friday. We went to the markets and then came back to our apartment to cook together. Well cooking “together” really didn’t happen. With two totally creative restaurant chefs in the kitchen wanting to convert Chile’s bounty of produce and seafood, I stepped back and let them cook for me—again. A guest in my own kitchen, what a novelty. I even got to sit on the other side of our island to be entertained as Raúl seared, sauteed, fried, chopped, and delighted us. We ate and drank by course, for hours, and went on a different yet similar trip to the first one in Montevideo.

Passion, originality and details. Marina and Raúl get food and what makes a restaurant experience work. If you want to do something totally different your next time in Uruguay (or Sao Paulo), go to Gardenia and let them woo you. It’s worth the detour from Punta del Este, Carmelo, to see their way of conceiving food. Just be listos to go for a ride.

Photo: www.gardeniamvd.com

Gardenia is open from Mon-Fri 12-3:30pm; 8pm-midnight and Sat 1-4pm; 9pm-1am. Reservations highly recommended. Be sure to follow their wine recs too.  (598 2 628 8838)

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June 7, 2011. I wake up and peer through the heavy, draped, velvet curtains of our hotel room overlooking the roof tops of Palermo Viejo. Darn, it’s one of those icky winter days when the clouds descend and shroud the city in a bone-chilling fog. Thick, gray and dense fog. I grab my iPhone to check the Weather Channel (quite possibly my favorite app), to see how much I have to bundle up to head outside. The weather forecast reads, “Volcanic Ash.” Seriously. That’s the weather forecast? Uh oh.

We turn on the news. Apparently, the “fog” is not fog at all. It’s the fine, gray volcanic ash that spewed out from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano in southern Chile over the weekend, over a thousand kilometers away. The same ash that has buried much of Bariloche and the Patagonian provinces of Neuquén. The bad news? Buenos Aires airspace is closed until further notice and all planes are grounded.

“Control Liz, control. Do not have a meltdown.” We fly tomorrow to Salta in Argentina’s Northwest, or so we had planned. I resort to slightly delusional, self-calming measures. I convince myself it cannot be that bad. Not like Europe in April 2011 when thousands got stranded, including my own brother, in Paris for nearly a week. However, the gravity of the situation sets in as we take to the streets of Buenos Aires. As the sun rises, there’s a distinct brownish haze that distorts and reflects the sun’s rays. A thin layer of ash covers the cars. The normally busy skies of Buenos Aires have fallen silent. I will save you the rest of our travel saga, as I am sure you can guess what happened…

We got stuck in BA.

Not for an eternity, thankfully, but an extra 2 days. We did make it to Salta and back to Santiago on time. That morning our flight was cancelled over and over again, I was thankful that our wonderful hotel, Legado Mítico, had a great staff monitoring the flights online for us. Since, apparently, this issue could be recurring until the volcano calms down, these are two key sites for those of you traveling in Argentine air space. First, the news site that kept us up to date on the official committee meetings was www.infobae.com reporting on the air space that was opening or not. Then, for specific flight information, the official government website for Argentine airports including Ezeiza and Aeroparque, http://www.aa2000.com.ar, was infinitely more reliable. We learned that the airlines only updated, at best, a couple times per day with many times incorrect information. We discovered this after one bunk trip to Aeroparque to be told by LAN staff that “more info would be available in 4 hours”. Knowing that Argentines often say “maybe” when they really mean “we have no freaking clue,” we said, “screw this” and rebooked for the last flight to Salta the next afternoon. When you have the luck to get stuck and be forced to stay in a cool city like BA, who wants to waste time at the airport? We wanted to get down to more important things like enjoying our Buenos Aires querido.

In all fairness, I think that I brought getting stuck in BA upon us. Prior to our trip, I had been moaning about how, once again, we were embarking on a flash trip to Buenos Aires. Another in-and-out of the city in a bang in only 3 days with virtually no free time to just estar, be, and soak up what makes Buenos Aires so delicious—its urban lifestyle: the restaurants, boutiques, cafés, arts, walking the beautiful neighborhoods and parks.

And so I got my wish. Two extra days in Buenos Aires.

We revisited some perennial favorite restaurants like lunching atSudestada in Palermo Hollywood with its attractive picture glass windows and spicy (if you ask for it) pan-Asian cuisine. I had the vegetable-pork rice noodles and to my surprise, I think I may have actually scalded my taste buds for the first time in Buenos Aires thanks to the Laotian chef. Another day, we lunched for hours on end and soaked up the daylight over a lush Fabre Montmayou Malbec, succulent steak tartare and duck confit at Petanque, a wonderful brasserie in San Telmo. Being in Argentina, I let my true carnivore self come alive so I delighted in forking into a bloody, tender bife ancho with a glass of the slinky Urraca blend (made by Walter Bressia in Mendoza), at the oh-so-local Don Julio parrilla.

We walked from our hub in Palermo Viejo deep into the neighboring Villa Crespo passing through Little Armenia, where bakeries filled with Middle Eastern treats and the aromas of fresh pita tinged the air.  We hit the “Murillo” leather district, where store after store, block after block, is filled with every imaginable leather item. Only in Buenos Aires could I envision dressing myself from head-to-toe in leather. We walked up to Almagro to take my husband to the classic café,Las Violetas, far from the throngs of tourists at Tortoni off Avenida de Mayo. We sat down to a perfectly frothy espresso, glazed medialunas and families delighting in the Saturday paper while digging into their sweet pastries. As we walked, I savored these old school barrios, so evocative what life in Buenos Aires is all about, not just the glitzy storefronts of Recoleta and sights that tourists see. Buenos Aires is a city of neighborhoods and hard working folks. The corner verduleria (vegetable stand), butcher, dry cleaner, pasta shop churning out tons of homemade pasta and artisans still working over marble slabs to fold ricotta-stuffed agnolotti. Of course, there is always the empanada joint, bakery, and quintessential porteño meeting point: the café.

While we did have some food land mines (note: don’t do Mexican of any sort in Buenos Aires, what was I thinking?!), we discovered some new gems. On Friday, we dined at the under-the-radar foodie spot, Las Pizarras. There are no menus, just pizarras (oversized blackboards), touting the fresh-from-the-market menu that rotates on a nearly daily basis. The chef, Rodrigo Castilla, is cooking up orders in the back. We dug into a perfectly executed shaved roasted beet root, butternut squash, and baby spinach salad drizzled with a mandarin dressing and a silky goat cheese mousse, paired with Lurton’s zingy Pinot Gris from the Uco Valley in Mendoza. For the main, I couldn’t resist the braised, pulled lamb shoulder made into a ragout and stuffed into roasted eggplant. My husband was tapped out on all the red meat and went for an earthy, mushroom risotto with sheep’s milk cheese, both paired with a bright, fruity Malbec from La Madrid. Homey, real food, satisfying flavors and a good price-quality ratio (something that is getting out of whack these days in BA, ojo). The next day, we lunched at a newish El Efímero Festín, a vegetarian and gluten-free (hoorah!) haven in Buenos Aires. Off a quieter block of Palermo, on Uriarte with Cabrera, the restaurant has retro décor and a young vibe. The emphasis is on fresh ingredients with a selection of main course salads, fish and vegetarian dishes using abundant quinoa and tofu. I loved that everything was marked as gluten free as I felt like between pasta, pizza, sandwiches, and medialunas, I was in a wheat land mine, constantly, clinging to steak and salad (and Malbec) fervently.

During our extended stay, we hung out at one of my favorite hotels in the city, Legado Mítico. If you have ever longed to step into someone else’s shoes, here you can channel Evita or other legendary Argentines. The location is superb in the heart of Palermo Viejo, Buenos Aires’ food-and-fashion quarter, although it sits quietly tucked away from the action on a block lined with jacaranda and rosewood trees. The project of Salteño Javier Figueroa, with another luxe outpost in Salta, the 11 rooms pays homage to a cultural figure from Argentina, from Jorge Luis Borges and Che Guevara to Eva Perón, each with its one décor. We camped out in La Mecenas, dedicated to writer Victoria Ocampo. The room was tastefully filled with her books, photos, and memorabilia as if we were staying at her home. And that was just it. Legado Mítico made us feel totally at home. It didn’t matter that we were “stuck”. We were taken care of. And on Saturday at 7pm, we finally touched down in Salta to pick up the rest of our journey.

Isn’t an unplanned detour sometimes just what we need in life?

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Francis Mallmann. If you don’t know his name, take note. He’s South America’s most famous “celebrity chef” with restaurants in Mendoza, Buenos Aires, and outside José Ignacio in Uruguay. He’s well known yet low profile. A seemingly chilled out, laid back guy who prefers to be in the Argentine or Uruguayan countryside than amist all the fanfare. He may be a cooking icon in these latitudes but he’s not opening a restaurant on the strip in Vegas, nor in New York, nor anywhere in the US. Perhaps he shares more in common with kindred spirits in Texas who proclaim love and dedication to the sacred art of barbecuing. That’s right, he likes to play with fire – seven of them to be exact – as is portrayed in his book Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way. Mallmann is truly the “man” when it comes to the art of cooking over fire.

Born in Patagonia and trained in France’s top restaurants, the fact that he abandoned the fine dining scene is a testament to his love for the elemental fire-driven cuisine that is such an integral part of Argentina’s food culture. His style is refreshingly simple.  Stripped down. “Barbaric,” in his words and ultimately driven by the top-notch, whole food ingredients we are so blessed to have in this corner of the world: grass fed meat & game, trout from Patagonian streams, calamari and brotola (a white fish similar to grouper in Uruguay), along with ethereal seasonal produce. While flavor influences may nod to the European ancestry from Spain and Italy, his attempt to achieve the pinnacle of flavors through the use of fire, whether the massive heat of a bonfire, the slow steady warmth of dying embers, cooking in a mud oven, over a spit, in a disc or cast iron skillet, to name a few, pay homage and keep alive the ancient traditions in the region.

Mallmann’s world is one to you have to experience first hand to truly understand. For those of you in the US, if you cannot jump on a plane to Argentina or Uruguay in the near future, I suggest getting his book and finding an afternoon to pop open a Torrontes or Malbec and read it. Its photography is as compelling as the writing and recipes. While some of the outdoor cooking ideas are projects that you may logistically not want to undertake (barbecuing half a cow? Hmm…), you can take away inspiration, ideas, and a kinship towards charcoal grilling and the social unity around grilled meat that is so embedded in South American culture. It’s the social ritual around the preparation, not just blazing something out back on a gas grill for dinner.

Try some of the signature Mallmann dishes like Whole Boneless Ribeye with Chimichuri; Salt-Crusted Striped Bass; Whole Roasted Andean Pumpkin with Mint and Goat Cheese Salad; Killer tapenade and chimichurri recipes; and desserts such as Dulce de Leche Pancakes.

Want to come experience Mallman first hand? We dine in his flagship restaurant on many of our journeys in Mendoza.  We also visit  Garzón, Mallman’s gourmet outpost 30 minutes from the chic beach resort of José Ignacio east of Punta del Este in Uruguay. More than a restaurant, his style of cooking is evocative of a lifestyle; a way of being. That’s right, grilling the Argentine way.

Join us on the Age of Argentina where we’ll be dining one evening in Francis Mallman’s flagship restaurant in Mendoza, 1884 in the historic Escorihuela winery.

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These days, Uruguay seems to be on everyone’s lips. Last weekend The Wall Street Journal declared Colonia and Carmelo a “great escape”. Celebrity Chef Bobby Flay also took refuge from the harsh northern winter in Uruguay during their summer season. What is it about the place? It’s decidedly under-the-radar, a rural bucolic country, not unlike Switzerland where cows outnumber people 4 to 1. The country´s low key, laid back vibe is a breath of fresh air.

So in all the press hoopla over Carmelo, Colonia, and the ever glitzy Punta del Este, what about the capital, Montevideo?

Situated on the ocean-like Río de la Plata, Montevideo is the southernmost capital in South America and home to nearly 1.5 million habitants, over 50% of the country’s total population.  Founded as a port in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala as a strategic move amidst the Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, the bay was an ideal natural port for cargo.

So what’s Montevideo’s vibe? I personally feel it’s undervalued and overshadowed to a certain extent by nearby Buenos Aires. Or, everybody heads for the beaches and glazes over this fascinating city. First of all, it is NOT a smaller version of BA.  The city has its own unique personality, history and feel. Since it’s the cultural cradle of Uruguay, in my humble opinion, it merits at least a couple days of exploration into its charismatic neighborhoods, especially if you want to unpeel some layers of Uruguayan culture.

That means going deeper than the immediate area around port and the Old City. Go for a walk at sunset along the rambla on the River in the afternoon. Sit down to sip a mate and take some time to savor the present momento, as Uruguayan’s so often do. Wander through the tree-lined streets in shady neighborhoods like Pocitos. Go shopping for antiques on the weekend in huge junk markets like Tristán Navaja. It’s a city, for me at least, that smells of burning Wood and seared meat. A slight ocean scent on days when the River is brackish and more salty. It’s got a slow beat and lifestyle that grows on you, if you let yourself go and just be.

Let’s go on a brief tour of Montevideo’s barrios.

La Rambla

 La Rambla refers to the stretch of coastal highway that snakes along the beaches of Montevideo from Carrasco down to the port. The road covers over 22 kilometers and its name changes several times as one travels it: Rambla Sur, Rambla Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rambla Armenia, and many others. This grand ocean road is scenic, intrinsic to understanding this port city and country whose population predominantly resides along the coast. La Rambla passes popular sandy white beaches like Pocitos in the city, to open water and sand in the posh neighborhood of Carrasco. There are cafés, restaurants, marinas, yachts, fishing spots, and many benches to take in the coast and watch the fabulous sunsets — with a ubiquitous, mate tea.

Ciudad Vieja (Old City)

Only a few years ago, this colonial, central area of the city was almost totally abandoned.  However the alcalde, mayor, saw the opportunity to revamp the center and today the Ciudad Vieja is an emerging neighborhood. Gourmet restaurants feature young chefs and owners, like La Pasionaria.  Art galleries and museums, boutiques, and even new hotels are coming back to the area. Old City is, in essence, a bit of a time warp to another era in the early 1900s when the Río de la Plata was living a heyday.

Begin your exploration in the must-eat destination of the Mercado del Puerto at classics like El Palenque with all artisan-sourced ingredients. Here, meat in all its glorious forms (steak, innards, sausage, morcilla, lamb, pork, prosciutto) is the order of the day. Want to eat like a local? Order a juicy bife ancho rare and top it with the addictive salsa criolla. For those eating, literally, everything, try the mixed parrilla, with a little bite of all things delicious including the sweet blood sauage, a local delicacy.

After that big lunch, you need to walk. Stroll along the pedestrian walkway, Paseo Sarandí, which will take you through the heart of this neighborhood. A bustle of activity in the week, look up to admire some of Uruguay’s most beautiful colonial buildings.  Stop off in the Plaza de la Constitución with the imposing Metropolitan Cathedral across the plaza. On Saturdays, there’s a colorful street market hawking everything from mate gourds to local art. If you haven’t tried the chivito, Uruguay’s most famous triple-decker sandwich, stop by the Montevideo institution La Pasiva on the corner of J. Carlos Goméz. Continue past the cabildo, old town hall, which has a museum dedicated to municipal history and the storing of the municipal archives. If you’re a modern art lover, make time to visit the Joaquín Torres García museum, one of Uruguay’s best known artists, who is known as the founder of constructive universalism in the early 1900s.

Most impressive is the Puerta de la Ciudadela, literally meaning Citadel Door, the gateway to the Plaza Independencia, one of the many large, open spaces in the city. Be sure to catch a show at the Solis Theater, Uruguay´s oldest theater built in 1856 or take a tour of the space.  With stately columns that are distinctly European, it’s just undergone a restoration.

Don’t miss some of the nightlife and cafés that make this area a classic. Tango the night away at spots like Bar Fun Fun with the locals, or eat up a fainá at classic pizzerias like Bar Tasende off of Ciudadela.  The old world charm, architecture, and beat are truly a micro sample of Uruguay’s history, which is inevitably moving into the future.

For those of you wanting to go deeper into Montevideo’s history, I recommend taking a historical tour of the city and visiting the old neighborhood of El Prado, located along Millán Avenue, with gorgeous parks and stately mansions. A good excuse to head there is the restaurant named Malandrino, a gourmet restaurant started by Pablo Botta. Try the lamb wrapped in phyllo dough filled with arugula and Camembert roasted in the oven till crisp with homemade gnocchi. With a hearty Tannat like Amat from classic wineries like Carrau, you cannot go wrong in this historical corner.

 

Palermo

 Until the early twentieth century, Italian immigrants arrived in droves to settle the farmlands of Uruguay.  Palermo, which takes its name from the same Sicilian city in Italy, is where most of these people began their new lives.  Now, the area is known as the most bohemian and artistic in Montevideo.

To really understand the culture and history of this area, you must first understand the term Candombe.  This word refers to the Afro-Uruguayan rhythm music that permeates the area, day and night and particularly during carnival.  In the eighteenth century, the Port of Montevideo received many slaves from Africa.  After freedom was granted there were large, public celebrations where the freed slaves shared some of their traditional music and dance from their homeland. These are the roots of contemporary Candombe. Today you can witness the Candombe predominantly during carnival, the longest in South America, where drum groups practice for the Desfile de llamadas, where a small group of drummers “call” other drummers to join them with their music and beats.

Walk along Calle Carlos Gardel (named after the great Tango master) that originates from the Rambla Sur. It feels like you are walking in the nineteenth century.  Alongside the huge houses stand colorful murals celebrating the drum history in the area.

Our barrio adventure continues tomorrow, with Part II.

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Punta.

That is, Punta del Este.  Just call it “Punta” to be cool and in the know like all the Argentines, Uruguayans, Chileans, Brazilians, and international jetsetters who flock there each summer from December to February.

It’s the glamour puss coast where the elite come to play with their toys: shiny yachts, Miami-style luxury high-rises overlooking the azure sea, manicured gardens with European-style mansions, and hot, bronzed beauties gracing the sands. Akin to the St. Tropez on the (real) Riviera and the Hamptons in the States, while you can chill with supermodels like Naomi Campbell in José Ignacio or stock up on Gucci, Punta is really all about the beach. Amen.

The golden, fine, sandy beaches, stretching for nearly 40 miles, are the draw. Turquoise waters, some rocks for scenic texture, beautiful homes clinging to the shores, and the green pastures in the background form a vivid beach mosaic. I was seduced by the allure of its beaches (and nearby wineries). One summer I had to get away from the frigid waters of the south Pacific Chilean coast. The thought of swimming in the ocean with no rip tides or limb-numbing temperatures was really becoming foreign to me (Viña del Mar’s ocean is like swimming in Half Moon Bay near San Francisco).

As an American girlfriend told me, “Liz, it’s very east coast style beach”.

“Ahh, east coast like the Jersey shore of my youth?”

“Yes, and,” she continued, “there are lots of awesome restaurants, beautiful people, sand dunes, cute villages.” Add in one boutique hotel and I was in–and to celebrate my birthday in late January I may add.

So after hitting the wine country to drink some Tannat, we headed for several days of R&R in Punta Piedras, between the now very chic fishing village of José Ignacio and La Barra. We slumbered in Posada de Piedra, the most exquisitely decorated boutique hotel we’ve stayed in for ages. We felt like we were crashing with wealthy friends with an oceanside estate tucked away among green pastures and aromatic eucalyptus trees, with the glimmer of the sea in the distance. Only 3 minutes away to being oceanside.

The days in Punta were how I like to spend my vacations: wake up (late, no 6am alarm please); have thick-as-tar coffee and medialunas with dulce de leche in the sun; head for the beach; find a cute lunch spot with grilled fish and cold beer; take long siesta on beach (reapply SPF); come home recover from sun (add tan-enhancing lotion as necessary); dress up and head out for cocktails and dinner. Repeat next day.

We jumped around between José Ignacio with its gorgeous lighthouse and wild, rolling waves; La Barra’s chill family-oriented ambience, and Manantiales Bikini beach scene where massages and pick-up volleyball seemed to be happening simultaneously all the time. When not lounging, people were surfing, jogging, walking, biking, leisure at its best during the day. At night, make reservations for dining, that was the entertainment. However, as popular, crowded, and exclusive as Punta can supposedly be, even in the height of the season, we never thought it was overwhelming. At least where we were in Punta, farther out from the city scene, there was space, sand, relaxation, and enough people to feel like it was summer.

For all of you Punta-bound readers this summer, I’d like to share a teeny preview of our upcoming Eat Wine Guide (Uruguay) slated to debut in 2010. This list is by no means exhaustive and does not cover all the great eats, especially in places like José Ignacio or Punta proper (the idea is buy the new guide!). And if you haven’t been yet, seriously, what are you waiting for? I wish I had discovered its cool beachy vibe years ago. Oh well, I am now back to being an east coast beach goer. Remember though, the action is from December-February to get the real Punta experience.

Cactus & Pescados (Manantiales):

Just across the road from Mar de Verdes, for a more restaurant-y lunch, arrive early to stalk out your spot on their sunny terrace overlooking Bikini Beach and the Emeralds coastline stretching up towards La Barra. Locals swarm here at lunch time to savor the local brótola, a flaky whitefish similar to grouper, brillantly seared and served in creamy sauces with tiny  shrimp and mussels. They also serve up finger-linking good chipirones, tiny fried squid, served with a tangy pimiento homemade mayo. Perfect washed down by a cold beer. Slather on the SPF, tanning on the terrace is not optional.

Medialunas Calentitas (La Barra):

Believe me when I tell you to get there early or be prepared for a never-ending line. Crowds form at Punta’s most popular bakery for, what else?!, dozens of sticky sweet medialunas, a type of local croissant. Order a frothy cortado, espresso cut with steamed whole milk and cop-a-squat at the picnic tables. Or take them to go, for the beach or your deck, naturally.

Mar de Verdes (Manantiales):

Yummm! An unassuming whitewashed snack shack on the corner of Route 10 at Bikini Beach in the heart of decor-conscious Manantiales (super cute!). They serve up  cappuccinos,  sweet treats, and energizing zumos, fresh-squeezed juices like carrot-orange-fresh ginger. Stock up on delicious ciabatta sandwiches like roasted eggplant with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes and arugula or the local sandwich with the works, chivito (steak, cheese, bacon, tomato, egg, roasted peppers, tomato, onion, lettuce, mayo). All the fixin’s for a perfect picnic on the beach.

El Abrazo (Manantiales):

On top of a hill amid a eucalyptus grove, this young couple, Lucía Sosa Dias and Federico Gasparri, constructed this minimalist gem to run a cool yet homey restaurant on the first floor and their home upstairs. Owners of the hipster café, El Beso, in Ciudad Vieja in Montevideo, the only way to sum up their offering is: summery, fresh, creative, and attentive. Unlike most of the meat-heavy menus in Uruguay, here the star ingredients are born from the sea in dishes like ceviche, crab, local fish like brótola or mero, in addition to braised meats. Start with a daiquiri made with fresh fruit and watch the sunset on their oriental style terrace where they build a bon fire every night. Romantic, intimate, be sure to leave room for the dark chocolate “volcano”. Local phone: (042) 774 140, be sure to get good directions. Not on the main road.

Parador La Huella (José Ignacio):

I LOVE this place, in fact, it may be my favorite hang out in Punta/José Ignacio. The location is primo, nestled among the sand dunes and million dollar homes of José Ignacio. Once a rustic fishing village now discovered by the jet set crowd, every day and night there is a scene happening at La Huella. First, don’t think about coming without a reservation–several days in advance. You will want to ensure yourself a piece of this cool, sleek al fresco beach club with the waves crashing nearby. Settle into the cushy couches and order a clericó, sangría-type drink, or killer vodkatini. Tasty sushi and simple, fresh gourmet fare rule. The owners recently launched this year project 2, Parador La Caracola, part of a private island club on Laguna Garzón, La Caracola, only accessible by boat. Sweet!

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