El Baqueano - Buenos Aires

El Baqueano is the creation of Chef Fernando Rivarola, an Argentine native that offers a seven-course tasting menu featuring locally harvested produce and wild game. I note that at the time of my initial visit in 2015 the restaurant was ranked #39 in London-based Restaurant Magazine’s list of the Top 50 Restaurants in Latin America and it currently has advanced on that much-maligned list to #19 since the time of my visit for this review. The restaurant has also received high marks on consumer review sites.

On my 2015 visit to Buenos Aires I thought I’d pay a visit to El Baqueano to see what all the chatter was about. I made reservations for 9:30 and out of character I arrived on time.

You’ll find El Baqueano in the Bohemian-style barrio of San Telmo. That was, perhaps, the first clue that I was in for a let-down. I walked around trying to find the entrance. The most likely candidate appeared to be locked. I finally knocked on the door and was invited in. I was dining alone on this evening and I was offered a stool at the bar or a seat behind a drape at a large table that could accommodate five or six. At least they were able to pull back the drape so that I could see the rest of the dining room, which, incidentally, was almost empty.

I was shown the seven-course tasting menu, the only available menu option, and briefly explained the philosophy behind the menu.

The restaurant looked as if it has been opened on a shoestring. The chairs at the various tables were mismatched. There was a low quality black table cloth covering the large table, nothing like the elegant table linens I had experience at La Pecora Nera, Crizia, and Pura Tierra in the preceding week. The table was adorned with a glass jar of rocks and nothing more.

My first impression was that this looked like a few roadhouses I’d been to back in Texas, with addition of some black table linens. It was hardly what you would expect from an acclaimed restaurant serving a seven-course tasting menu.

But heck. I’m open minded. Some of the best food I’ve eaten was in diners and dives. So, bring it on, Chef Rivarola!

The first course was actually quite delicious. A variety of heirloom tomato varieties presented in contrasting ways in a gazpacho base. The gazpacho was slightly tart, but the chopped tomatoes offered a sweet contrast. A delicious beginning. Maybe I was to be pleasantly surprised after the initial shock.

The second course was a crudo preparation of white salmon. This “white” variety of salmon (which actually had light pink flesh) was tasteless. Calling it some fancy name on the menu which roughly translated to the “white salmon that wanted to be pink” didn’t make it taste any better. I’d have been way more impressed had he imported a little Sockeye from Canada or Alaska. This was not a bad dish. Just not a memorable one.

Next up was a small little sandwich (looking a little like a bite-sized Madame Croque) made with the meat of some indigenous rodent called a vizcacha. I did not find the taste appealing at all.

The fourth course was what I believe were rabbit hearts referred to on the menu as Anticuchos de Conejo (skewered rabbit) served on a puree of beets. I can only assume by the presentation (refer to the photos) that it was the Chef’s intention to make this appear as if it were the blood of the animal. It was visually unappetizing and very chewy. This dish was basically inedible.

Preparing wild game is not easy. Something must be done to mellow out the gaminess of the meat and with many cuts you have to prepare it with great care to prevent the meat from being tough or chewy. If this attempt was made by the Chef, it failed.

The fifth course was a small cut of lamb, barely seared, served with a sweet foam and a whipped goat cheese with some flaky substance made to look like rocks or chips of some type. This was served blue (almost raw). It was edible, unlike the previous course, but I did not find it appealing. Taking the liberty to serve lamb this exceedingly rare, on a serving menu, is in my opinion, a mistake. Many would find beef tenderloin prepared this rare unpalatable. For lamb it almost unheard of to be served in this manner.

I then was provided shaved ice to cleanse the palette. I regret to say that the palette cleanser may have been better than three of the courses.

The first of the two dessert courses was a corn ice cream. This was not bad, but it didn’t taste much of corn. A very average dessert.

The final course was a course of lemon sorbet and two little morsels of a fruit called cayote (it’s actually a squash that looks like a melon). The cayote had the fibrous texture of a lemon with a slightly sweet taste and no acidic bitterness. This course was well executed and tasty. But would I order it again if offered a la carte? No. I wouldn’t. I’d much rather have a dip of dulce de leche ice cream at Freddo, Volta or perhaps, Ramp Nui.

My closing thoughts?

Perhaps this chef’s prior menu offerings, which apparently included wild boar, alligator and llama, were a success and this might explain a few of the good reviews. But this is the second time in a month that I’ve been to what is supposedly a critically acclaimed restaurant and had a less than favorable experience. In both cases I felt that the chef, in an attempt to conform to a theme or a concept, had abandoned the most basic credo ... that above all, the food must taste good.

But at El Baqueano the miss was a miss by a mile. It wasn’t just the failure to plate seven courses of delicious and creative food. The restaurant lacked any of the fringe elements of a fine dining experience. Unlike Boragó, in Santiago, El Baqueano did not have a staff of talented and ambitious helpers attempting to achieve the concept. The chef, one helper, his wife and a couple of waiters and friends in blue running shoes assisting, “do not a restaurant make”.