buenos aires Archives - Bidmead Bites

El Obrero & Pizzería Güerrin – two Buenos Aires institutions

2nd August 2018 by Eve Bidmead Leave a Comment

The food scene in Buenos Aires has changed dramatically since I lived there in 2013. While Asian food was once limited to sushi with cream cheese (ew) and the only beer available was a watery Quilmes, it’s now not hard to get a good bowl of Ramen and a delicious pint of craft beer.

Despite the new flavours and trends that have worked their way into Buenos Aires, the real charm of the city’s restaurants lies in the ones that have been around long enough to witness the country’s history, from dictatorships to economic crashes and whatever else gets thrown at it.

Two Buenos Aires restaurants that have an impressive 150 years of business between them are Pizzería Güerrin and El Obrero. Always on my “must visit” list, I finally got the chance to try them out in my most recent trip to Argentina’s capital.

Pizza arrived in Argentina along with Italian immigration, and from the late 1800s, pizza argentina was born. Pizza al molde is the most common pizza you’ll find over here – expect a thick, doughy base with an otherworldly amount of cheese on top. Pizzería Güerrin specialises in al molde, so it was time to carb and cheese myself up.

Pizza Argentina in all its beauty @ Pizzería Güerrin

My boyfriend and I ordered two very Argentine pizza toppings; jamón y morrón (ham and red pepper) and fugazetta, basically an onion pizza with extraordinary amounts of cheese on top.

No room for tomato here. In order to eat our porciones like proper porteños, we chose to add on two pieces of fainá, a chickpea bread made to sit on top on your porción de pizza, in the unlikely event that your mammoth cheese tower on top of dough doesn’t fill you up.

Fainá is weird: spongy and oily with quite a non-distinctive taste. Still, I always order myself one. If I’m going to eat the odd beast that is pizza a la argie, I’m going to do it properly.

Pizzeria Güerrin

You should definitely visit a classic Pizzería when in Buenos Aires – they’re a slice (excuse the pun) of history and a way to sample one of the countries most loved traditions; prop yourself up on a stool, chow down on a porción and watch the city go by.

As it’s near enough impossible to write a blog post about Argentina and not touch on a least a bit of beef, I feel it’d be rude not to mention the meal I had at El Obrero, an old-school bodegón with waiters who may well have worked there since its opening in 1954. El Obrero is next to the port of La Boca, which explains the fish dishes on its menu, a rare sight in cow-crazy BsAs. While the various fish dishes looked appealing four days into a meat marathon around the city, the smell of the barbecue whispered my name, and thus my meal was chosen.

El Obrero – La Boca, Buenos Aires

I ordered an entraña (skirt steak in English), a cut that comes from next to the cow’s chest and is long and thin in shape – best cooked fast and hot to seal in all the flavour. My boyfriend showed his racial origins as he opted for a Milanesa a la Neapolitana – a veal schnitzel with cheese, ham and tomato on top. Meat on meat, which some cheese and veg to soften the blow. You can take the boy out of Buenos Aires…

Argentina…I love you.

I nip to the loo and am met with a look of horror on my boyfriends face when I return…then I see the portions. Really, really, bloody gigantic portions. We could have easily fed a family of five. Never people to be defeated by a meal, we cracked on and chowed down. The meat was excellent and cooked extremely rare, just as I had ordered it, but surprisingly not how many Argentines like their meat – it’s pretty much well done, always. While I’ll never order a milanesa to myself, preferring to deal with the proper meaty bits rather than breadcrumbed and cheese coated, this milanesa was by far one of the best I’ve ever tried.

Washed down with house red and soda water (so good, you should try it), we eventually, miraculously, managed to finish the meal.

Making headway on the ginourmous lunch…

Despite its humble beginnings, El Obrero is now in every guidebook, and while it retains its proper porteño charm, the prices definitely reflect its popularity amongst tourists. Still, I recommend you go and try some traditional Argentine dishes and soak up the ambience of the place, as it doesn’t get more Argentine than this.

Argentina, again: trecks, tripe and vino tinto

10th November 2016 by Eve Bidmead Leave a Comment

After spending a year in Buenos Aires as part of my undergraduate degree, I never quite managed to ditch the steak and Malbec addiction I developed in my time there. I revisited the city that stole my carnivorous heart last July and have just returned from from what is now my third trip to Argentina. I spent a week in Buenos Aires, but first visited Patagonia and its marvellous Perito Moreno glacier, as well as walking through the picturesque mountains of El Chalten.

While beef might be boss in Buenos Aires, the Patagonian plains are not as kind to cows as the lush pampas surrounding the country’s capital and interior. Replacing the beef, there are lots of little lambs…yet let’s not get sentimental thinking of a Patagonian little bow peep. Instead, I invite you to marvel at the beauty of cordero patagónico, cooked all day long over a wood burning fire.

Roast lamb on a Sunday will never be the same again

Lovely, lovely lamb

Eaten with vegetables a la parrilla and accompanied by a bottle of Malbec, I really wondered why it had taken me three trips to Argentina to reach this part of the country.

Proving not all I do when on holiday is eat, I’ll include a photo of the foot of the Fitzroy mountain, the climax of a seven hour hike to the Laguna de los Tres (it also happened to be the lunching spot of choice, but after a four hour walk, who wouldn’t want a bit of food in their belly?!).

I like my sandwiches with a view

I filled my sandwich with matambre, a thin cut of beef filled with vegetables, hard-boiled eggs and plenty of spices, all rolled up and then cooked. Making plain ham look practically vegetarian, this cold cut was my new meat fetish of the trip. My new found fancy for this cold cut continued once back in Buenos Aires, and at the Feria de Mataderos I bought myself a nice big slice of the stuff.

Matambre relleno – because yes, I want eggs in my ham

The Feria of Mataderos is a market in Buenos Aires and is a must see for any tourist in the city. Far less fancy than the fairs in Recoleta or San Telmo, Mataderos has food stalls galore with tasty regional treats such as empanadas from the north or huge helpings of locro, a corn and chorizo stew.

Tempted by the regional meals, I was unable to resist a porteño classic: a cut of vacio, meat from the flank of the cow. This is one of the few cuts I prefer to eat medium done rather then red raw; the fat crisps up and adds a caramel flavour, while the flesh itself is has a buttery quality. I’ve been told by a reliable source with reputable asador credentials that this is the real cut of the asado, much more so than a typical steak. And who am I to argue with an Argentinian man and his grill?

Vacio, you beauty

With our bellies full and thirst quenched by some light, locally brewed lager, we had a snoop around the stalls. As well as a great range of foods to munch in the moment, the fair also has a wide selection of traditional Argentine foods to take home. My eyes were drawn to the selection of fiambres, the cold cut meats. Fiambres are key in a the Argentine picada, a mixed tray of nibbles consisting of cured meats, cheese, olives and a variety of pickle-like things, often brought out before a big asado while you wait for the meat. The feria had some great picada fillers on offer, and we brought some to make our own en casa.

A picada of olives, cheese, salami, artichoke hearts, toasted bread and vermouth

Empanadas are found all over Latin America, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the Argentinians do it best! I prefer them al horno (baked), as the majority of the Argentine ones are, given the exception of some seriously stodgy but oh-so-good fried meat varieties. Mentioned in my previous post on Buenos Aires, El Nono Amigo has some of my favourite empanadas in the city, mainly due their artichoke flavor. However on this visit, the title of top empanadas in the city could go to El Origen del Sabor, where a whopping thirty-two flavors will leave you in pasty paradise.

Greggs pasties, I’m just too good for you!

I opted for two carne al cuchillo, along with one chicken empanada and the specialty flavor ‘del bosque’– a genius combo of mozzarella and caramelised onion mixed with mushroom and red wine. Shared between two with a rocket and avocado salad, these empanadas were the perfect pasty punch to a generally balanced and healthy-ish meal.

Just as well I ate some salad in the trip, as otherwise it was a fatty fiesta that I repent not one bit. Forget the use of phrases such as ‘holiday indulgence’ – when in Argentina, eating all the red meat your body permits and drinking exclusively red wine is just common sense.

This sound logic was in full force when I visited El Pobre Luis, a typically porteño parrilla in Chinatown. The walls are adorned with various football shirts from local and national teams and the grill is in plain view for all hungry eyes to ogle and assess. For starters I ordered two of my favourite things to come off the grill; mollejas (sweetbreads) and morcilla (black sausage).

Sexy sweetbreads and phallic morcilla, mmmm!

Although a cut of offal, mollejas are no cheap off-cut; little thymus glands, these can come from either the neck or the heart, and owing to their small size they are actually quite costly. Grilled properly, it’s as if they’ve been cooked in cream – they’re that tender and juicy. My Argentinian companion complained they had too much fat, but for a girl who’s not eaten these glorious glands for over a year and a half, they seemed just perfect to me. We accompanied our mollejas with a portion of morcilla, the Argentine black pudding. Not one for the squeamish, this bloody sausage just oozes offally goodness.

The star of the show was the classic bife de chorizo, what all foreigners come in search of (well, at least I do!). Cooked medium rare, with no sauce or extra seasonings, this steak was a perfect demonstration of when simple is best. Good quality meat cooked by expert asadores = a winning combination every time.

Bife de chorizo, will you marry me?

I was reunited with my old friend tripe, or mondogo, on this trip, a dish I hadn’t eaten since Colombia. The Colombian take on tripe tends to be in a sancocho de mondogo, cooked with lentils and starch vegetables, whereas this Argentine version was far more Spanish inspired, cooked with chorizo, paprika, vegetables and potatoes. A filling lunch for less than £3, I washed my plate down with table wine and soda water. Bliss.

Perhaps not a first date dinner?

To round off I feel like I should touch upon something I ate that isn’t an animal organ. One main issue I always had with Argentine cuisine was the breakfast; or, better put, the lack of it. Many Argentinians I know are happy to start the day with just a coffee and some toastadas, toast made from crappy white bread topped with cream cheese, dulce de leche, jam, or all three. No filling and wholesome porridge, and certainly no avocado on toast.

Keep your porridge because I’m having pastries – the Argentine factura feast

While I don’t consider plain white toast for breakfast very ground-breaking, a properly baked medialuna is certainly worth getting out of bed for. Like a French croissant but with a denser, less flaky dough, these can either made sweet with manteca (butter), or savoury with grasa (fat), and are perfect accompaniment to a café con leche. Hardly a healthy option anyway, if early morning sugar rushes be your thing, you can go all-out and choose variations filled with dulce de leche, cream or jam – or again, maybe all three!

From daily beef steaks to buttery pastries filled with caramel for breakfast, it’s fair to say I didn’t leave Argentina hungry. Back in London, I’m laying off the red meat for a bit and rediscovering the joys of vegetables (but still believe I could consist on a diet of offal alone). For now, it’s goodbye Buenos Aires…hasta la proxima.

Beef in Buenos Aires

12th August 2015 by Eve Bidmead Leave a Comment

‘Don’t come to my country if you’re vegetarian.’

Wise words from Argentina’s ex-president Carlos Menem, who offered this advice to readers of an American magazine in the 1990s. However, as a cosmopolitan capital, Buenos Aires does actually offer up a wide range of cuisines, meaning veggies will hardly go hungry. But if the truth be told, here in the Argentine capital, the cow really does reign king.

The city is filled with parrillas (steakhouses), from the fanciest of restaurants to shacks in the street. Food hygiene to be bared in mind, don’t be fooled into thinking the best steaks are necessarily at the high-end hot spots. There’s hundreds of local neighborhood parrilla spots which serve up mean cuts of beef, pork, offal and general meaty goodness at a fraction of the price of the famous, tourist-filled guidebook recommendations.

Always up for trying a new local parrilla, on my most recent visit to Buenos Aires I struck lucky. Just around the corner from my friends house, we noticed the restaurant Ale Alé, which was heaving with people on a Saturday night. Our rumbling bellies were seduced by the grilled meat smell and general buzzing vibe of the place. Interestingly, it is also a co-operative restaurant. Many businesses in Buenos Aires that folded due to the 2001 economic crisis saw their employees group together to salvage their place of work. Self-management among staff and community spirit kept these businesses from closure and continue to be a running theme in these places today.

The restaurant is huge and probably seats about 150 people. The menu reads like any other parrilla, with the exception of a few ‘specials’ – huge platters made for sharing with chips, veggies and meat.

Normally only found in the very popular tenedor libre (all you can eat) style restaurants, Ale Alé had it’s very own unlimited salad bar. No sad iceberg lettuce and unripe tomato affair round here – guacamole, couscous, potatoes, roasted veggies, aubergine and squash purees…this is what all salad buffets should aspire to.

For mains I opted for a classic bife de chorizo, stressing I wanted it ‘bien jugoso‘ – bloody and rare, please. Despite having some of the best beef in the world, Argentines seem to insist on cooking it to death, which to me is nothing short of a crime. After a year battling with my Argentine friends when I lived in the city, I released it was going to be an ‘agree to disagree situation’. My meat red, your meat brown. But my meat better, obviously.

When my steak arrived, I think my grin would have challenged the Cheshire cat at his own game. My ‘bien jugoso‘ requests had been answered. In front of me sat what was one of the best steaks I had ever eaten. Rare, rich in flavor, with a wonderful, almost creamy texture, this steak was everything I could have wanted in a bife de chorizo and more. All this washed down with a bottle of Malbec and it cost me exactly half the price it would have at a fancier, more well known parrilla.

As well as trying out new neighborhood parrilla places, my revisit to BA was also a time to return to some old classics. I first discovered Parilla Peña on my year abroad when following the recommendation of the wonderful Buenos Aires food blog Pick Up the Fork. Written by American ex-pat Allie Lazar, this website is really the gospel on all that is foodie and fantastic in Buenos Aires.

While there had been a few changes since my last visit (a menu with translations in English and some definite price increases), Parilla Peña remains a great option for trying out a real parrilla favored by locals, which serves good wine and excellent steak at reasonable prices. The service is cheerful and you even get free empanadas while you wait for your meaty mains. Clearly saving their customers for the meat feast that inevitably lies ahead, these empanandas were humita filled, which is a delicious creamy concoction of corn and spices.

Humita empanada

My Argentine friend attempted to order a milanesa – sort of like a schnitzel covered in tomato sauce, ham and cheese. My feelings on milanesas are similar to those I have about Argentina pizza – overwhelmingly hostile. After I explained my confusion at his choice of ordering a breaded, bashed fillet of beef smothered in sauce, cheese and bad ham at a place that served incredible steak, we ended up sharing a bife de lomo instead. Bossy, me? Certainly not.

After ordering our steak bien jugoso, it came a devastatingly overcooked shade of brown. I’m no fussy eater, but for my last night in Buenos Aires I’d be dammed if I ate a well done piece of meat. In my most charming manner, I asked the waiter if it’d be a terrible bother to change the steak as this was, in all fairness, not how we had ordered it (translation: bring me my beef bloody like what I asked, and pronto, señor). He clearly took my point as the next piece that came out was practically still breathing. Too rare for some, but in my beefy books, absolutely bloody perfect.

Despite the failed first attempt, Parilla Peña’s bife de lomo was something very special. I love lomo as it is more tender than other cuts (it is tenderloin after all) and I think that despite it’s richness it is easier to digest than other fattier cuts. I didn’t even mind having to send the first steak back, as the wait was more than worth it. With some wonderful company, wine and a big bloody steak infront of me, I couldn’t think of a better way to bid farewell to my beloved Buenos Aires.

Now back in London, I am just overwhelmed by the vast amount of new places there are to eat and drink in the city. Is there enough time in the day? I’ll have to get eating ASAP!

Pass me the malbec and serve me some steak – Bidmeads back in Buenos Aires!

12th August 2015 by Eve Bidmead Leave a Comment

Sometimes the best things are last minute, like my impromptu and completely spontaneous decision to head back to my beloved Buenos Aires on a stop home from Colombia. I spent a year living in the Argentine capital while studying Spanish at Leeds, and since my departure two years ago I have always been keen to come back.

Somewhere in the north of Argentina, two years ago

Despite having always liked food, I have Argentina to thank for really turning a like into a love. While opinions on Argentine food are mixed – “their pizza sucks!“, “what the fuck is a milanesa?” and “do they have to put dulce de leche in eveeeerything?!”, food in this country plays a big part in its history and culture.The Argentine asado (barbecue) is much more than just a meal. The slow cooking meat, friends gathered together sipping on red wine and nibbling on chorizo sandwiches, awaiting the various cuts of beef, pork and whatever other goodness they have grilling on the parilla…the whole experience is enough to make a vegetarian eat meat just to be a part of this culturally important (and above all delicious), meaty affair.

‘I’ll just have, everything please’. Dinner (to share) at La Hormiga

For my first night back in the city what better dinner option than a whole asado in one plate? We headed to La Hormiga in Palermo, which is part of a group of restaurants in the city that offer great food at great prices – other recommended restaurants in this group are Las Cabras (mainly meat) and Cumana (regional cuisine). This mixed parilla dish from La Hormiga is a great way to get the asado experience while dining out in a restaurant. Featuring a juicy bife de chorizo, grilled veggies, squash mash and some tasty grilled provoleta (typical Argentine cheese), this is a dish that has it all. One to share, it was the perfect welcome back into Buenos Aires.

Looking to relive all my favorite foodie moments in the city, the next night I returned to El Nono Amigo, a tiny deli on the corner of where I used to live. El Nono serves some seriously good picadas (mixed platters with cured meat and cheese), but this place became a favourite for me due to its empanadas, different from any others I had tried in the city.

Just check out the selection! Of course the Argentine classics of carne and jamon y queso will inevitably feature, but look to the far more interesting aubergine and artichoke options and you’ll see why I am such a fan. Cooked al horno, I prefer these beige bundles of goodness far more than the fried Colombian equivalent. I’m sorry Colombia…I still love you, I promise.

What better way to wash down these tasty empanadas than with a bottle of Malbec? Back at one of my favourite places, with my artichoke empanadas and bottle of red, I felt truly back in the bosom of my old home.

By no means the end of my foodie adventures back in Arg, be prepared for many a steak and new blog post to come! Peruvian lunches with hearty (literally) dishes abound, smoked and fried chicken wings in a meat feast that touch my soul and some exciting new steak house discoveries feature in my food-filled and fun packed ten day trip back to BA. So keep reading and stay tuned, as this is just the beginning!

The best sandwich in the world

7th August 2015 by Eve Bidmead Leave a Comment

Despite having lived a year in the city previously, being back in Buenos Aires I found myself wanting to do all the typical touristic things again. From the colorful houses of Caminito in La Boca to the graves of the rich and the famous in Recoleta, I felt inspired to take on the city as if it were new to me. And as any tourist in Buenos Aires should, I headed out on a Sunday to hit up San Telmo Market.

San Telmo is an old iconic barrio near the city center. It is home to some beautiful old buildings and generally has a really great vibe. With a big indoor market and streets filled with stalls on Sundays, this is a great place to come and stroll the day away while checking out hundreds of identical jewelry and clothing stores in the belief you will find something you eventually want to buy.

While you ponder whether you need that tacky touristic t-shirt or modern tango CD, the thing to do in San Telmo is grab something to eat. As my Argentine companion opted for pizza (my love for Argentina doesn’t extend to its pizza I’m afraid), I guarded my hunger for something far better. Revisiting San Telmo made me think of the ultime Argie street food, the genius pairing of chorizo sausage and french bread. Hello, choripan.

Argentine men? Meh. An Argentine choripan? Now there’s a relationship for life. My love for this union of bread and chorzio began two years back. Despite the distance, choripan and I have kept the bond strong. I’m also very partial to a morcipan (black sausage sandwich), but the classic snack has always been a choripan.

But what’s this? While I had plans to head to an iconic San Telmo chorpian spot (called ‘The King of Chori‘ no less), my meaty, spidey senses tingled when I walked past this meat grilling joint as seen here on the right. A very apt description for this small place would probably be ‘hole in the wall’. No sign, no name, just the smell of sweet, sweet meat and many happy looking customers. What else could I want? I was ready to get my choripan here, until…

Hello, lover. This here is a step up in the sandwich world. Ditch the sausage for a slab of meat and you have another Argentine classic, bondipan. Bondiola de cerdo is pork shoulder and a popular cut of meat in any Argentine asado. Seeing the perfectly grilled, tender pork made my tummy rumble and my mouth water. Chorizo could wait, because I was ready to bite some bondiola. Serving me my bondipan, the asador actually had to opt for a different slice of bread as the first one he had picked out was too small. Oh yeah, my bondiola is too big for your bread.

And here it is – the best sandwich in the world, rated by Eve Bidmead (therefore it’s officially excellent). Crispy french bread, succulent, salty pork drizzled with lemon and topped with chimichurri (a great Argentine condiment made with parsley, oregano, and garlic) and a bit of chili sauce too. Eating this sandwich, I really began asking myself why I had stayed away so long. Buenos Aires, you are brilliant.

From Peru to Texas while in Buenos Aires

3rd August 2015 by Eve Bidmead Leave a Comment

Buenos Aires is a city unlike any other. Despite being a Latin American capital, it has a distinctly European vibe due to its rich history of immigrants arriving at its ports. Not just a place attractive to Europeans, the city is also home to a huge mix of Latinos from all across the continent. Such a diverse mix of cultures means that Buenos Aires is a great place to eat. Hurray!

The Buenos Aires barrio of Once (pronounced on-say) is a brilliant place to come and sample cuisines from other Latin American countries, especially Peru. One of my old favorites in the area is the Peruvian eatery, La Rica Vicky. A popular lunch spot, the ‘menu especial‘ includes a soup and 10 plates to choose from, ranging from chicken and rice to the famous lomo saltado (beef strips cooked in a Chinese style sauce with chips) or aji a la gallina (chicken in a creamy yellow sauce made with small yellow peppers).

Being back in Buenos Aires meant catching up with friends, like Ari. We had met in Colombia and when she shared my fried ear and tongue picada after a night out, I knew she was a girl after my own heart. Sadly after three years of living and working in BA she was off back to the states. Her departure meant that cocktails at lunchtime were perfectly acceptable – being at the Peruvian joint La Rica Vicky, the typical tipple of pisco sour (pisco served with lime juice and frothed egg white) was the natural choice. Cheers to Ari and the next chapter in her life (and for making daytime cocktail sipping acceptable!).

Despite offering such a cracking lunch menu, on this particular trip to La Rica Vicky my offal-loving eye was drawn elsewhere. Anticuchos, how I love thee. Basically just a whole load of offal, these caught my eye as I was familiar with chunchuli (intestine), down with mollejitas (sweetbreads) but what an earth was rachi? Turns out it its beef heart marinated and cooked on a skewer, and would also would be my lunch for the day.

My heart was marinated to perfection. I don’t know if it’s due to the type of meat heart is (being an organ an all), but these skewers had a really great flavor, a mix of garlic, coriander, and cumin. Since researching a bit more about the role offal plays in Peruvian cuisine, I found a great recipe for these skewers here. To those of you daring enough to open your heart the eating a bit of heart, why not try cooking it at home?

It’s a well-known fact that in Buenos Aires you can get some of the best meat money can buy. But it tends to be cooked in the same way every time – on a grill, without any marinating or pre-curing. So I was very excited to discover that since I had last been in BA, a new Texan BBQ joint had opened to absolutely roaring success.

El Tejano is bringing Texan cuisine to Buenos Aires and the people are welcoming it with open arms. The owner Larry has been smoking and grilling his way around Buenos Aires for the past few years, throwing puerta cerrada style dinners – offering set menus in different locations week to week for a small amount of diners. However for the past two years he has been fixed in a small Palermo spot, offering lunches and booked out dinners to the hungry, barbecue lusting masses. (Thanks to the El Tejano Instagram for the pic).

I was lunching with my friend Lau and we happily let Larry do the ordering for us. Between two we ended up with an impressive three dishes…to sample a bit of everything, you know. Below is the brisket bagel, served with an incredible creamy sauce and cooked peppers, accompanied by some really, realllly good fries. What makes the fries so great? Apparently it’s the addition of chili salt and using oil which is constantly changed and kept fresh. Only the freshest fry for us ladies!

Moving on, we also sampled the famous El Tejano ribs. How very cliché to describe the meat of a tasty rib as ‘falling off the bone’, but what the hell, this meat really did fall off the bone! Smoked, marinated and grilled, they were some of the best ribs I have ever tasted.

Just when we thought we couldn’t squeeze in any more, along came the wings. These for me were the highlight, as being in Buenos Aires for a few days already I’d had my fair share of meat. But chicken wings, smoked and then fried, smothered in BBQ sauce? Well, there’s a thing I hadn’t eaten in my entire life! As Larry told us, he’s the only person in BA smoking and frying his wings, and actually the only guy in Texas to do so too. So if you want to try these authentic Texan smoked wings (which you really, really do), get your arse to Argentina.

This is not the end of my BA eats. Barely the beginning! What would any Buenos Aires food blogging be without at least a couple of steak houses thrown in? And check back for the next post, in which I reveal the location of the world’s best sandwich ever (expertly rated by yours truly).