Buenos Ayres - restaurant review

Buenos Ayres is an Argentine restaurant in the Condado area of San Juan, Puerto Rico.  It is a couple of blocks east of my hotel, the La Concha, and a block further from the beach.  I stopped there for lunch today after a bit of walking looking for a place to eat.

The decor is modern and clean.  They weren't busy - all the touristas are at the beach.  The menu is in Spanish with English subtitles, though the lunch specials were just en espanol.  The wait staff, like most Puerto Ricans I encountered, were comfortably bilingual. I got some water and asked a few questions about the menu.

I ordered a dish called Brocheta de Lomo, which is a steak kebab with tomato, green pepper, and onion.  For a side I chose sweet plantains.  I also ordered a beer from a local microbrewery, the Old Harbor Santo Viejo. Described as a deep, golden colored pilsner, it came out in a Costco sized bottle - 1 pt, 6 oz.  A little more than I had bargained for, but it was a good hot day beer and I finished it off.

The food came - the brocheta nicely presented on a rectangular plate, and the plantains neatly arrayed like petals of a flower.  They were sweet inside the almost crunchy deep-fried crust.   The steak came with two salsas on the side - one green and one red.  I sampled them cautiously, expecting one at least to be a fire-breathing dragon.  I was pleased to find neither one to be more than mild, but both were very flavorful. The meat was tender and well cooked, and the quantity was just right for lunch.