Anthony Bourdain heads to Uruguay, a place that is much more than a “tiny, underappreciated South American country tucked between Argentina and Brazil.” He is immersed in a meat-obsessed country whose hearty cuisine is indebted equally to Spain and Italy. While hanging out with locals, Tony tries to make sense of a nation that went from hard-line authoritarianism to progressive politics within just one generation.
Bar Arocena
Bar · Montevideo
Bourdain had: chivito sandwiches with steak, ham, bacon, cheese, hard boiled egg, mayo, and garnishes (“unofficially Uruguay’s national sandwich”), and beer. Lunch date: Ignacio “Nacho” Mattos, head chef and owner of Estela, Café Altro Paradiso, and Flora Bar.
PARTS UNKNOWN
Cantina del Vigía
Uruguayan restaurant · Punta del Este
Tony and friends ate a feast of empanadas with corn and shredded, slow-cooked beef; goat cheese and spinach croquettes; fried fish; provoleta (bubbling cheese that “puffs up and inflates on the plate”); whole roasted suckling wild boar; whole roasted fish; beef milanesa covered in tomato sauce, ham, and shredded cheese. Dinner dates: Nacho, Diego Robino, film producer and occasional fisherman; Clo Dimet, chef and owner of Hotel Posada Paradiso.
PARTS UNKNOWN
Uruguay
8 Places
Anthony Bourdain heads to Uruguay, a place that is much more than a “tiny, underappreciated South American country tucked between Argentina and Brazil.” He is immersed in a meat-obsessed country whose hearty cuisine is indebted equally to Spain and Italy. While hanging out with locals, Tony tries to make sense of a nation that went from hard-line authoritarianism to progressive politics within just one generation.
Parrillada El Alemán
Grill
Bourdain had: “dripping meats of many kinds” (morcilla, chorizo, rib-eye steak). Dinner date: Nacho.
Bar Arocena
Bar
Bourdain had: chivito sandwiches with steak, ham, bacon, cheese, hard boiled egg, mayo, and garnishes (“unofficially Uruguay’s national sandwich”), and beer. Lunch date: Ignacio “Nacho” Mattos, head chef and owner of Estela, Café Altro Paradiso, and Flora Bar.
Jacinto
Restaurant
Tony had dinner with chef and owner Lucía Soria and Nacho. They had "homemade gnocchi with mushrooms and pumpkin; prawns with avocado, apple, and wasabi; beef tartare with quail egg."
Escaramuza Libros
Book store
Tony had lunch with journalist Carina Novarese, contributor for the publication El Observador. They had homemade sausage with roasted turnip and fermented vegetables, beet quiche.
Bar Las Flores
Bar
Tony had pizza with the Hablan por la Espalda bandmates. They had pizza a caballo, or “a bizarro stoner hybrid topped with thin chickpea flatbread”.
Cantina del Vigía
Uruguayan restaurant
Tony and friends ate a feast of empanadas with corn and shredded, slow-cooked beef; goat cheese and spinach croquettes; fried fish; provoleta (bubbling cheese that “puffs up and inflates on the plate”); whole roasted suckling wild boar; whole roasted fish; beef milanesa covered in tomato sauce, ham, and shredded cheese. Dinner dates: Nacho, Diego Robino, film producer and occasional fisherman; Clo Dimet, chef and owner of Hotel Posada Paradiso.
Las Nenas Steak House
Permanently closed
Tony, Nacho, and Diego went to this drive through to have skirt steak and ribeye, french fries, blood sausages, and beer.
Parador La Huella
Uruguayan restaurant
Tony ate with the owners of this place. They had whole fish baked in salt, rib-eye steak, flank steak, suckling pig.
