Originally Posted by
kchung
Thank you again, Alex. I've never heard about Ojo de Bife con Tapa at La Brigada. So how many different cuts of Ojo de Bife they offer there? And what could be the main reason for you to think La Brigada is THE best parrilla in Buenos Aires above all other famous parrillas, such as La Cabrera, El Mirasol,etc?
Its hard to say how many different cuts of Ojo de Bife there are... just like saying how many different styles of bife de lomo you can get. This is complicated because many restaurants buy the "entire animal" and then have their chef/grill-master carve out the cuts according to the house tradition. Hence, while there is an "accepted text-book definition" of each cut, this is rather hard to follow in practice.
This is especially the case for restaurants or parrillas that have special "house-cuts" that each establishment defines and executes to their liking. Part of the art of serving excellent grilled meats is to be able to know and properly read the differences in each animal... the experienced grill-master will know when what cut will be especially tender (or tough), juicy or even chewey.... its rather complicated to explain and even harder to execute. I consider myself to be quite an experienced amateur griller and while Ive gotten better at selecting beef for my weekend asados, its very hard to pick absolute winning cuts every weekend. The guys that know their stuff will tell you that its a function of the size & weight of the animal, the different tones of the layers of fat, etc. etc. Its almost an Occult Science...
Why is La Brigada on top of my list....?? well, its because I think it combines the best possible mixture of ambiance (with soccer & tango memorabilia among others), generally good service, excellent wine list, and amazing quality of the beef (but this last trait is shared by various establishments around town). Not to say that La Cabrera doesnt also do most of these things... just that for me
La Brigada is over these past few years the best consistent experience for a meat-specialty restaurant.
I dont have much to say about El Mirasol... only that the last time I went there there was just a vibe about the place that didnt do it for me... but I dont have any hard-facts or cant remember of a specific experience to share just now. I will have to defer to the experience of others on this specific establishment.