This post may contain affiliate links wherein I earn a small commission if you purchase or subscribe to a product from one of my links (at no extra cost to you!). Read my full Privacy Policy here.
I’ve said this before, and I’ll continue to say that my favorite way to experience a culture or destination when traveling is through what’s on my plate. But I’m not always on the road and when I’m home, I’m still seeking out the best foodie spots I can! Impact-Site-Verification: 62adef67-2d8e-43f8-bcc3-4ce9a655996e
Home is currently in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is such a multicultural place to be. Living in a highly-populated area has its ups and downs, but the biggest benefit to me is that it offers unique and varied food options that are pretty much endless.
A Challenge Was Born
At the start of 2023, I decided I wanted to challenge myself more than usual to find unique local eats but I wasn’t quite sure how I wanted to organize my quest. Then I thought, why not an alphabet challenge? I would pick one cuisine from each letter of the alphabet to try, whether from a specific country, region of a country, state, province, or even a city.
I knew going into this that some letters would be tough. But alas – my game, my rules. I can come up with creative solutions to make them work! Looking at you, “X.” I think I’ve got a pretty good list built out to make my way through so many cuisines, but I will be asking for help along the way too. I love input on what other people would like to see!
Supporting Local
I wanted this to be a challenge where I support local businesses. I wasn’t going to be cooking this stuff at home because let’s be honest, I am not a great chef. In my house, I’m the sous – and that’s as good as it’s going to get. I’d rather give my money to small businesses in the Bay Area to help keep their food culture alive and well so they can keep sharing it with others. And lord knows after the past few years, they need all the help they can get.
Education
A challenge like this is also a great opportunity for a little education. Before I visit each restaurant, I plan to research traditional or popular dishes to order, and also learn about about the origins of the cuisine. Spoiler alert, so many dishes are borrowed and adapted from other cultures!
So what do you think? Will I make it from A to Z? Let’s begin…
“A” is for Argentine Cuisine
For the letter “A,” I chose the country and cuisine of Argentina. Argentina was never really one of those destinations that I longed to visit, until one fateful episode of Somebody Feel Phil where he explored and indulged in the food of Argentina’s capital city, Buenos Aires. Images of grilled asado cooked over open flame, savory empanadas, and indulgent dulce de leche moved Argentina up higher on my foodie bucket list!
A Bit About Argentine Cuisine
As is the case with many cuisines, Argentine cuisine has been largely shaped by those of other cultures. South American cuisine has a heavy European influence, particularly from the Spanish as they conquered and colonized the continent. There is also a large Italian immigrant community and Italian influence in Argentine cuisine is also prevalent.
Before the Spanish came, there were indigenous peoples and you can still find traces of indigenous influence in the cuisine that was brought over from Europe, including humita – corn dough cooked tamale-style.
Some popular Argentine cuisine dishes to try include:
- Empanadas
- Asado (open flame-grilled meat)
- Chimichurri
- Choripan (chorizo sandwiches)
- Dulce de leche
- Alfajores (shortbread cookies typically with a dulce de leche filling)
Argentine Cuisine in the Bay Area
There are surprisingly a lot of options for Argentine food in the San Francisco Bay Area, especially if you are looking for empanadas and alfajores cookies. While I’d love to try them all some day (story of my life!), in order for me to make it from A to Z, I do have to limit myself.
If I do try more Argentine cuisine in the Bay Area, I’ll be sure to add them here to this list! At the end of this post, I’ll list out eateries on my wish list if you’re interested in checking them out too.
Brava Garden Eatery
724 Main St, Pleasanton, CA 94566
https://www.bravagardeneatery.com/
For my first foray in this alphabet challenge, I chose to sample the Argentine cuisine at Brava Garden Eatery in Pleasanton. Why Brava? Well, it’s an easy drive for us and I was happy to find a nice sit down restaurant for lunch.
Brava is family-owned by a couple who hail from two walks of life – she from Argentina, and he from Italy, which is why you’ll also find some delicious looking Italian dishes on the menu here as well.
In terms of ambiance and location, Brava has a cute spot right on Main Street in Downtown Pleasanton. They also have a lively (and loud) garden patio out back which makes it a great spot for eating on a day with beautiful weather.
Choripan
Focusing solely on the Argentine dishes at Brava, we started with the choripan, which is an Argentine sausage sandwich. Choripan gets its name from the two main ingredients in this dish: chorizo (“chori”) and bread (“pan,” the Spanish word for bread). Think of this like the Argentine version of an American hot dog, often served at sporting events!
I really loved all the elements of Brava’s choripan. The chorizo was super smoky and had an excellent flavor. It was also a lot softer to the bite compared with a firmer Spanish chorizo. The bread was also very soft and made an excellent vessel for the sausage.
Here, the condiment of choice for the choripan was an herbaceous and tangy chimichurri, which added to the great flavors of the sandwich. It was actually our favorite thing we ate here!
Empanadas
Empanadas – described as the “working man’s lunch” – are a staple in Argentine culture where fillings typically vary by region. In fact, you’ll also find variations of empanadas in many other South American cuisines.
If you really think about it, there are even more cultures around the world that have their own version of hand-held meat pies – the Cornish pasty, Indian samosas, Jamaican patties, Italian calzones, and even Asian dumplings. I mean, how can you not love savory meats and veggies enclosed in bread?
Empanadas are thought to have originated in Northeastern Spain in the region of Galicia and brought over to Argentina by Spanish immigrants. In Argentina, the shape of the empanada and closing fold often dictates what the filling will be.
At Brava, we chose the trio that included one each of chicken, cheese, and beef so we could try them all. The ground chicken was the best of the three in terms of flavor profile, followed by the cheese which had four different types of cheese: mozzarella, ricotta, blue cheese, and parmesan. The beef was good, but not as flavorful as the chicken. Along with the empanadas, we had chimichurri and red pepper sauce for dipping.
Papas Bravas
If you know anything about Spanish cuisine, you’d know that patatas bravas is one of the most popular tapas dishes. Seeing as how a lot of Argentine cuisine is adapted from the Spaniards, it makes sense that papas bravas would be on the menu.
Note: Papas and patatas both translate to potato, but papas is more common in Latin American countries.
We ordered this to accompany our choripan and empanadas and I thought flavors were good and the potatoes had a nice creamy texture (even though we would have preferred them to be a little more crispy like other patatas bravas dishes we’ve had).
The chorizo in this dish was more reminiscent of Spanish chorizo – firmer and more of a reddish color. It was delicious sausage nonetheless.
Passion Pastry
3500 Bernal Ave #155, Pleasanton, CA 94566
https://passionpastry.com/
For dessert, I knew I wanted to try alfajores cookies so I located a bakery close to where we had lunch that makes them.
Alfajores
Argentine alfajores (alfajor – singular) are shortbread-style cookies commonly filled with dulce de leche. Origins of alfajores trace back to the Moors who brought them from the Middle East over to Spain, and in turn, the Spanish brought them over to South America. As they passed through each region, the different cultures started to make their own versions, replacing ingredients in the cookie itself and adding a variety of different fillings.
Passion Patry’s alfajores were absolutely delicious, although a little smaller and more expensive than I had envisioned ($11 for a box of 8 little cookies). I’m sure various bakeries make them in different sizes so I will be on the lookout for those again.
The cookie itself had the perfect consistency between soft and crumbly, and the dulce de leche filling was just divine. Our cookies came with powdered sugar as a topping, but I’ve also seen different bakeries add coconut, dip them in chocolate, and even bake different flavors of cookie. I can’t wait to have more!
Wish List Eats
As I mentioned above, I can’t try as many places at once as I would like (purely so I can make it through the whole alphabet in a timely manner). Here is a list of other restaurants and bakeries (along with what I want to try at each) where you can find Argentine cuisine in the Bay Area:
- Javi’s Cooking (Oakland) – Empanadas
- Cafe Buenos Aires (Berkeley) – Empanadas
- Casa Del Alfajor (Concord) – Alfajores
- Lolita Artisanal Bakery (San Mateo) – Empanadas and Alfajores
- Vinoma (Rohnert Park) – Empanadas, Alfajores & Choripan
- Cocina Milonga (South San Francisco & Napa) – Empanadas (they also have Alfajores but they are sourced from Lolita’s in San Mateo)
- Entrecot (Napa) – Empanadas and Parrillada (mixed grilled meats)
I’m glad to have kicked off this A to Z challenge with trying Argentine cuisine in the Bay Area. I can foresee it becoming a favorite of mine, especially as I make my way through all the delicious empanadas and alfajores cookies!
Do you have any Argentine/Argentinian restaurants in your area? Would you give this cuisine a try?
Pin it!
Leave a Reply