Campo de Fiori

I've been going to this place for years. Its an Italian restaurant. There are two that I know of - one on Venezuela and San Jose, the other is in Las Canitas. The former is quite a large place and has much more ambiance. Apparently it is an old brick warehouse that was converted into a restaurant years ago. More or less on the other side of 9 de Julio from San Telmo, this is not a great neighborhood. But that adds to the flavor IMO. Most of the waiters are Italian old-timers that look like they just stepped off the set of Godfather Part I. The branch in Las Canitas has more of an artsyfartsy feel as do many other places in that zone. Its also much smaller (maybe 20 tables) than the other location. However the food IMO is better in the Las Canitas location even though the menus are identical.

The lasanga with campesina sauce is outstanding. Campesina is a tomato based sauce that has various peppers and spices and is quite spicy by Argentine standards. There are maybe 20+ pastas and 10+ sauces. Another great sauce is panna e funghi (excuse my spelling) which is a mushroom cream / wine sauce. Its very thin and light. Somehow they carmelize the mushrooms right into the sauce.

Normally a meal with 1/2 bottle standard wine costs me about p35 which is par for the course. I know thats only US$12 which is less than the hourly wage for a Jiffy Lube boy in the USA, but this is not the USA.