Welcome to Mendoza.

Well after a few little hitches, flight delays and not so good accommodation we have settled into this wonderful city.  We arrived late on Sunday night and made it to the hostel without any problems, however the hostel was not quite what I had hoped it would be.  Our room was very small and you had to sit sideways on the toilet because the wall was too close for your legs to fit otherwise.  It was clean however, so w decided to suck it up and spend the night and then see what we could find in the morning.  The wifi was hit and miss so it took about 2 hours to contact a new location but we managed.  We found another apartment to stay in called Modigliani suites.  Much better than the hostel and the guy that runs the place, Marcelo (very nice looking Argentinian) is the best tour guide you could ask for.  We settled into our room which has a nice balcony over looking a very busy street, he answered all our questions, provided a great map and made some amazing suggestions.  He has made our days in Mendoza the best they could be.

Day 1 - we simply got acquainted with our surroundings.  Jumped across the street to a local eatery call Sabores de mi Huerta which means flavours from my garden.  It is a buffet style restaurant that the locals frequent and you pay by weight.  We had a wonderful meal of gnocchi, veal Parmesan, salad, rolls and rice with mussels.  All for $10.  The Italian influence is alive and well in Mendoza which suites me just fine.  We firmed up all of our reservations for the next few days went and got some staples, like beer, wine, water etc. and hung out on our patio chatting with our neighbour James from Scotland.

THE DINNER:

We managed to get dinner reservations at a closed door restaurant called Ituzaingo.  A closed door restaurant is located in the owners personal residence with a personal chef and small groups of people.  You don't get the address until your reservation is confirmed.  Gonszalo Cuervo was our host and there were two additional couples in attendance.  One from Ontario and the other from Brazil.  The Brazilian couple spoke English very well so the conversation was easy.  We started out in Gonzalo's living room having a white wine and appetisers of brochette of trout and cheese and then a tart made with corn etc. and an arugula salad.  The wine glasses were filled as soon as they were low and the food was amazing.  We then moved out into the private outside garden and the meal continued.

 Gonzalo instructed us to tuck our napkins into our shirts, lean over and eat the Empandas with our hands.  One was made with "sweet breads"  don't ask it was very tasty, and the other was filled with trout.  The pastry was so flaky it melted in your mouth.  The best I have had so far.  The reason for the napkin was so that the fat did not drip on your clothes as you devoured these little pastries.

 I have never tasted anything quite like this.Jodi, tell Gary I was right there with him on his high end meals, only mine was up close and personal.  Bill even cruised the kitchen to meet the Chef and chat with him about the cut of meat we were about to eat.
Quite an amazing experience.

 Ok, my husband can cook the best steak in the world and I have never come close to finding one in a restaurant.  In fact I don't usually order steak when we are out to eat because I am usually disappointed.  However tonight was a closed menu so we did not have any choice in what we were eating other than the wine with dinner.  (I even had the waiter make a suggestion with no menu or prices present, a little scary after the bill in B.A.  but what the hell I'm only 50 once and the group of us decided we could celebrate for a number of weeks surrounding our actual birthday.)    The steak of simply divine.  One of the best I have ever had (sorry honey).  Under the steak was some sort of potato and I have no idea what the sauce was but it was amazing.  Next we had three types of desert and champagne.  This was an experience to say the least.  5 hours later we were taking a cab back to our apartment at 2 am.