Thank you for the very informative posts, everybody. Please keep them coming.

But, I have one question:
Where Are The Best Steakhouses In The World?

I just spent 20 days in Argentina and 10 days in Uruguay. I ate more steak & pork & chicken & lamb and drank more red wine than I have in my entire life. Also, my job here in the states invovles quite a bit of travel and entertaining so I've visited quite a few steakhouses here.

There are some overall differences between US steaks served and those in South America. I would say that primarily the meat served in SA is a bit tougher. Maybe a bit chewier. There really is no room in SA for a medium/well to well done steak. It will be unedible. Not that I ever ordered a steak like that down there, always medium/rare.

For North American tastes accustomed to a more cooked offering you will find that the steaks are cooked more on a European scale. Med rare in SA = rare in NA.

The variety of cuts available in SA is fascinating. There are also some interesting rolled pork dishes available at the parilla.

My opinion, and mine only, is that in South America the Uruguan beef was superior to the Argentinian beef. Purely subjective please don't flame me.

Places I'd eat again:

In Buenos Aires I liked Estillo Campo. It's a chain, with one right down from Cabana Las Lilas in Puerto Madero. But a good introduction to beef in Argentina nonetheless.

In Montevideo one must go to the Puerto Viejo. Absolutely fantastic grouping of parillas. Best steak and overall food I had on my entire trip. I made three trips here for lunch, it was uniformly excellent.

For me, the best beef I have tasted , so far, is in Argentina. It tastes like beef.

We will be going to Buenos Aires from 2-10 April and one of the deciding factors for this trip was our desire to eat their beef, and to tango.

I am convinced.

I am now confirmed to go to Argentina later this year.

I appreciate the input from everyone who contributed to this thread.

Thank you.

Argentina gets my vote...
 

I've been to Argentina a couple of times and, quite simply, I can't bear to eat anything but steak the whole time I'm there. It would simply be a missed opportunity. I'm not normally a big steak eater, but Argentine steak is one of the world's great culinary experiences. I think the secret is that the conditions for cattle farming are pretty close to perfect and that the cooking has been refined to an art form, with all the juices sealed inside waiting for the first cut of the knife.
A lomo (fillet) or chorizo (sirloin) is going to set you back something like $4-5 even in a good parilla in Buenos Aires and a great bottle of wine can be had for c.$7.

All you can eat churrasco in Brazil is fun, but I think you inevitably sacrifice some quality for the sheer quantity of meat you are getting.

Kobe beef is very tasty, but I'd tend to go for it only in dishes such as shabu-shabu rather than taking out a mortgage to buy a whole steak...

I have been to Argentina several times, will be there again shortly, and I must say that the beef there is far superior than that that we have here. I look forward to eating at my favorite parilla when I arrive, and I only consume beef when I am there, which usually accounts for about 5lbs of weight gain each time I go.

I am more a gourmand than a gourmet, so I cannot speak about the virtues of the differences as others have done here, but I look forward to eating Argentine beef where I do not particularly seek out beef here in the States.

A big thing to me as far as Argentina beef was the ease of digestion ,here in the States I seldom eat beef after 6pm when I do my sleep pattern is disrupted I never had this happen to me in Argentina.and I usually ate between 8:30-10pm. anyone else notice this?

This is a great thread. I've really got a jones to try Argentinian beef so I can make a genuine comparison.

What I feel I can add at this point, though, is my two cents on grass fed versus grain fed. I take grain fed. Every time. No question about it. Grass fed beef to me, while leaner, doesn't get the full flavor development and is significantly tougher. I always look for grain-fed beef. That said, I'm also really wary about the use of dead animal matter in U.S. beef. That just doesn't fly. I think we're in for some really scary times ahead with the beef industry in this country ... but hopefully I'm just worrying too much. Still, with all the mad cow scares and the questions surrounding the use of hormones and antibiotics -- it's just not something that makes me very comfortable. Of course, that could mean continuing great days ahead for Argentina's industry.

The flavour of grain-fed beef comes from the fat the animals put on in the feed lot.

I've read somewhere (earlier in this thread?) that cattle have to be given steroids as they are unable to digest certain feed such as corn naturally.

Not supposed to happen but there may be feed contamination or cows are (deliberately) fed chicken and pig feed which may contain recycled animals.

The cows actually get fed Sake, and not beer :) This is true "kobe" beef - you can also get "Wagyu" beef which is a certain breed of cow. Nearly as good, but not as expensive. This is the only beef I've ever had that you don't need to chew - melts in your mouth. A few restaurants here in London fly it in every day from Japan.

One thing to be careful of in Argentina. You will probably be ruined for steaks in the US. I was there for 2 weeks, and then came back and ate a few steaks and couldn't stand them. Even a $30 steak in NYC a couple of weeks ago didn't taste as good as the all you can eat steak you get in a Tenedor Libre (Buffet) in BA!

This is due to microscopic fat marbling. The meat is graded by how many specks of fat that can be seen (under magnification) per sq. centimeter. I thik it's 100-300 specks/cm^2. Think of it as beef fat with bit of beef embedded. :)

I prefer the taste of Argentinian beef over American beef. American beef is more tender because of the marbling. Argentinian beef does not have as much marbling. I wouldn't say one type is "better" or more "superior" to the other, only that i prefer the tase of Agentinian beef over the other.

I also prefer the taste of Brazilian coffe in Brazil over the swill they serve at Starbucks and I prefer the taste of orange juice in the State of Florida vs the stuff I get here in NYC.

I do notice something whenever I travel to Asia or South America. I have an easier time digesting food than I do at home. I guees you don't realize how much of our food in the States is processed until you eat in other countries.

Nothing new but interesting
 

Where can one buy raw Argentine beef in the US?

Any online or Boston suggestions would be helpful.