Welcome to 2011!
I know it's been a while since I last posted in Santiago de Chile, but
we had been at sea in Antarctica for some time and finally made our
way north (those of you on Will's TRAVEL DIARIES postings know what
we've been up to!)....
Montevideo has a gorgeous new Victorian market structure right at the
port (mercado del puerto) and it is chock full of places to eat,
especially the world famous parrillas or parrilladas that one finds
all over souther South America. It was hard to choose and we settled
into the counter seats at LA MAESTRANZA and just looked at a menu,
available only in Spanish, as if it were Chinese. We know lomo is
beef, but after that certain things just don't translate easily.
I asked the server for Sam's Sprite and a Chicken Cutlet Milanese with
fries which he adored. We ordered up a bottle of the Uruguayan
national beverage "medio y medio" made up of half sparkling and half
white wine. It is refreshing in summer (it was close to 85 degrees!)
and perfect with all the grilled meats which can tend to be a bit
greasy. CHORIZO was easy enough to figure out and it was super, not
too spicy, but just right. the plainer national sausage is called
SALCHICHA and was also divine. We were unsure what MOLLEJA was as the
server pointed to her throat...so we assumed cow's throat. It was a
bit fatty, yet tender and tasty, especially with the cilantro laden
chimichurri sauce at every place setting. We later discovered after
Will posted his journal that Molleja is sweetbreads....but these were
not as good as the cuts we get at home.
The highlight of the meal was the discovery of PAPAS FRITAS a la
PROVENZAL....these are fries pan fried and tossed with garlic, thyme,
rosemary, cilantro and other seasonings which you must decline the
ketchup for!
It was a fun experience, and we were to experience more in the next
several days as well...some good and some bad.
ALAN (now back home)
