rbAA

So, for anyone not heading out of town on Sunday, and since it looks like I'm the only Original COW DO I attendee this year, well, besides Alex, I will arrange the Sunday dinner. Looks like La Brigada (the traditional COW DO location and ranked #93 of 2971,) or Pena (rated #29 of 2971 restaurants and reasonably priced, which would my choice,) or, if you haven't spent all your pesos at Pura Tierra the night before, Cabana Las Lilas (a hit at COW DO I and ranked #43, a little expensive though,) are the choices. Also, Fervor sounds like a great as well, thanks MSPeconomist. Write-in votes are always considered.

Since I live in China, I always leave such decisions up to the selection committee, so PM me with your commitment and choice-majority rules, unless I veto it, hahaha, too many years in China.

Eastbay1K

I'm not attending this event, but I'll put in my 2 centavos nevertheless.

La Brigada has moved to the Avoid list for many of its long time customers. I've been there several times over the years, and while I've put up with indifferent service at times, the food let one overlook the service issues. Prices have shot up and quality has declined to the point where it is just not worth even considering a visit.

I'd expect that Cabaña Las Lilias is now a much more expensive overall proposition than Pura Tierra.

Might I suggest Le Grill (Puerto Madero) for a much more pleasant cow experience, in a beautiful setting with very nice service? My cow experiences there have been good to quite good, and service has always been lovely (at price points less than Cabaña Las Lilias).

iolairemcfadden

Thanks for the suggestion, Susan and my preference is more local and/or reasonably priced, with trip advisor hipness a fairly low priority.

rbAA

Sorry to hear about La Brigada as the food was always great there. While service is not always the key, it should at least be acceptable. I would imagineg that the prices, everywhere, are up.

Of course, there is always El Establo.

So, we can add Le Grill to the options as well, though the portions look tiny, at least from the photos.

Since I get in Sat AM, I'll have some time to run around and check these out.

Gaucho100K

Sorry but your source for pricing information is incorrect.

Pura Tierra is no where near the price point of Cabana Las Lilas. Las Lilas is very expensive and caters to the corporate expense account types. I suggest avoiding it like the Plague. The only way for you to spend something remotely close to what the Las Lilas bill would be at Pura Tierra would be to select their 9 (nine) course tasting menu with their high-end Wine Pairings.

Gaucho100K

I agree with Eastbay1K on his assessment of La Brigada.... I also have in on my avoid list.

MSPeconomist

I would vote for Fervor. They do dead cow but there's also a choice of seafood and fish for those who will have had enough dead cow by that point.

Le Grill is good, but I think of it as the same price point as Pura Tierra, although it tends more toward fancy dead cow than fancy creative nouvelle gourmet food.

Flying Machine

Parilla Pena is not hip, didn't even know the TA rating until someone above gave the #'s.. (old school ambiance/neighborhood place) it has wonderful food and service along with extremely low price points compared to the other names that have been spoken about today. I am a fan.. Lane Mosler is the woman I give credit to (a published writer) whom spent years in BsAs and hopped into a Taxi and asked the driver to take her to his favorite restaurant. Google her name if you like and taxista and you will find her bolg with many entries. She even wrote a book about this topic in BsAS then started the same in other cities. She was always spot on with the recommendations! Have fun to all..

rbAA

Another great suggestion. I added this to post 256.

FlyingCow

So, on the confirmations issue, here is my (our) schedule:

- Friday 4th: myself only for both lunch and dinner.
- Saturday 5th: both of us for tasting, lunch and dinner.
- Sunday 6th: probably family day, but both of us could be up for dinner.
- Monday 7th: both of us for tasting and lunch.

As mentioned before, I'll get to BA early Thu on KL701 and will stay longer. My +1 arrives on Sat on AR1301 and leaves on Mon on AR1300.

Hotel still not confirmed, that will be my homework for next week

FlyingCow

Oh, totally forgot. I'm also interested on the SABRE presentation.

Gaucho100K

Folks... regarding the ratings for Restaurants on Trip Advisor (TA), I would offer a friendly reminder that like most things on Internet BBoards, you should take them with a pinch of Salt. Yes, they are one of the many valid data points, but its just that... one of the many sources of information you want to consider. TA is not "perfect", among other things because it has gotten so popular as of late that almost all of the heavy traffic places have staff or contractors that monitor the sites, with all that this means.

Im not saying that TA's information should be ignored, Im saying that read up on other sources like here in FT, Fodors, and other specific specialist sites like ChowHound and other foodie information sources. For those that read Spanish, there are various local sources like Guia Oleo (just to name one).

Gaucho100K

IMPORTANT: for those coming down to EZE for the first time, and/or for those that perhaps don't keep track of international economic/financial issues, please note that Argentina has a multiple-layer Foreign Exchange market that needs to be taken into consideration to ensure you make the right decisions regarding method(s) of payment. In a nutshell, the local currency of Argentina is the Peso (AR$), and because of ongoing restrictions on capital flows and purchase of foreign currency by residents of Argentina, here are a few facts that are good to know.

a) visitors should avoid paying with a credit an/or debit card for anything you buy in Argentina. This includes your hotel, local transportation, all shopping, and all other local expenditures. Only use your plastic if you have no other choice, a good example would be to secure/guarantee a hotel reservation and to cover "incidentals" going on your hotel bill.

b) reason for avoiding plastic is that for all charges levied to your accounts, the official exchange rate will be used. Current official rate is approx. 9.25 Pesos per US Dollar. The effective rate you will pay will depend on the details of your credit/debit card contract, including but not limited to the existance (or not) of a ForEx fee, etc.

c) when booking your hotel, it is almost always better to book a post paid rate, ie. one that you can pay at checkout and not one that you will pre-pay with you credit card. This allows you to settle the bill in Pesos Cash and take advantage of the exchange rate difference. There are limits to this of course, but in almost all instances unless your pre-paid rate is more than 40% cheaper than the post paid rate, you will end up ahead if you select the post paid rate and pay in Pesos Cash. Why do you save...? Because US Dollar quoted rates are converted to Pesos at the Official Exchange rate when you settle your bill.

d) what can you expect to get for your US Dollars when you exchange them for Pesos...? Depends on where you trade. The best rates are offered on the street, but each visitor needs to decide if such transactions are right for you. One popular tool used by many FTers coming to this Do is Xoom, which offers users a 100% legal way of getting Pesos at a rate which is a lot better than the 9.25 official quote. Rates vary daily and sometimes even intra-day, currently Xoom is offering a (gross) exchange rate of 12.950 Pesos per Dollar. Please note that this is a Gross exchange rate as fees and expenses will have to be added to your transaction depending on your selected form of payment and your credit/debit card terms & conditions. Please check www.xoom.com for details.

e) You can also use US Dollars cash as a form of payment. Please note that shops/merchants/stores are not obligated to accept Dollars, but many will. Also, none merchant/store/shop is obliged to accept the Dollars at anything but the official exchange rate (which is why you can play the currency game when paying in pesos)... but then this doesn't mean that some merchants will take your dollars and offer a "synthetic" exchange rate which they are free to fix at the level they want. This can be negotiated on the spot... just remember to be nice, smile a lot and be reminded that the exchange rate can be an implicit discount, etc.

To recap.... the 2 (two) main options you have to get the Pesos you will need for this trip are:

i. Transact with Xoom, and go to one of the Xoom cash delivery locations once you are in EZE to collect your Pesos Cash. You will not be able to get your Pesos until you are in town, as Xoom does not currently offer a cash pickup location at EZE or AEP.

ii. Come to EZE with US Dollars Cash, and trade them locally.

Please, do NOT use the currency delivery service that some US Banks offer their customers as you will get an exchange rate that will be even worse than the official rate... under NO circumstances do you want to do this. Also, for the cash your bring down, please avoid ATM $20 bills.... instead go to your local bank and request to get $100 bills in very good condition. They don't have to be brand-new but please avoid torn and/or heavily worn bills, or bills that have been marked with the test markers or have been stamped, etc.

Flying Machine

In addition to Gaucho100K's Primer on Currency/Payment Information above. Please pay attention to this thread below for you Currency Trading Opportunities as well. You should yeild close to 15.4 as of today in many transactions using USD and trading in the Blue Market.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/argen...l#post25311311

Calchas

I don't have any US currency with me, although it is not a problem to obtain some.

Are you saying I should obtain USD notes before I arrive? Or is this post only aimed at Americans?