Restaurant Review: Sarkis

Thames 1101

One very useful website that I find myself browsing on a daily basis, because I love food that much, is http://www.guiaoleo.com.ar/. You can search for restaurants according to neighborhood, price, and my favorite search tool is popularity. The most popular restaurant listed, surprisingly, is an Armenian place called Sarkis. Of course we had to check out what all of this buzz was about. A popular restaurant in Buenos Aires means you will definitely have to wait to be seated if you arrive after 9 usually. We got to Sarkis around 8:30 which is very early for portenos to have dinner on a weekend night. We still had to wait about 40 minutes, but the waiting area is quite pleasant, a covered area with heating and chairs.

Let me start by saying how friendly the wait staff here. I was honestly expecting much worse because the restaurant is huge and completely full. Our waiter though took his time with us, trying to describe things we could not understand on the menu. We first tried ordering a couple appetizers and then one main meal each, until our waiter quickly talked us out of that which we were very thankful for. The portions here are HUGE. We started with some hummus, dolmas, and kefte before devouring the lamb meat covered in a yogurt sauce. It is best to go with a group to split a few different plates. We really have got to find people to eat out with us here because I find the portions in most restaurants bigger than in the US. Next time I go back I might have to fast for day.

I am currently searching for a new apartment, one that we will stay in for up to a year. I find it very frustrating here apartment searching. It is extremely rare to find owner direct rentals. In other words I have been finding that I have to go through apartment rental agencies which charge a commission and more per month than just the owner would charge. Yesterday we found a beautiful apartment in a great area. I really felt like I stepped into a Parisian apartment. The thing is though the agency that advertised the apartment requests one month of commission, almost $1000. The person in the agency probably did about 3o minutes of work responding to my emails. Why should I have to pay him $1000?

The other potentially extremely annoying part about renting here is that many landlords expect you to pay them up front for 3-6 months at a time, and most want dollars. At this point we have found that the most we can withdraw is 1000 pesos. I am just picturing us having to withdraw pesos 20 times, getting charged each time, and then changing that into dollars and getting charged again. We should have just moved here with a suitcase full of our savings account.

Real estate agents here suck at what they do! In the US there is too much focus on making money and working hard. Here is seems though that real estate agents really don't care about making money. They are very late to appointments and sometimes they don't know anything about the apartment. One real estate agent showed us a few apartments and now he will not respond to my emails.

We have a little over 2 weeks to find an apartment. I am probably being too picky but I did not move to Buenos Aires to live in some modern high rise building. I want the charm of an old building but it seems much harder to find!

The pictures below are from Calle Florida, one of the oldest pedestrian streets in the city. Now it is overrun with tourists, touristy shops, and pickpockets.

Below is the ceiling of the famous mall, pacifico. We took this picture and then ate Burger King...Kind of embarrassing but really the portenos love BK maybe more than Mcdo so we wanted to see why. Tastes the same as the US. I prefer Mcdo!

F*** the Police

In my Spanish class this past week we have been learning about the history of Argentina. Even though I am a history major, I have never really studied much, if any, of the history of South America. Obviously each country has its own vastly different history of independence. What has interested me most though is Argentina's modern history and what is referred to as the Dirty War. Just as recent as the 1960's through the 80's the People's Revolutionary Army kidnapped and murdered people(who they said held ideas or views against the communist militia) almost weekly. Those arrested were usually sent to a sort of concentration camp and most likely simply "disappeared." Human rights groups have estimated the numbered of the "disappeared" to be near 30,000! According to my teacher the militia would drop the corpses out in sea. There was a period of time when bodies upon bodies kept washing up in the coastal areas of Argentina and Uruguay. Today justice is far from being served. There are very few militia behind bars, most of which are under house arrest; a far cry from the punishment they deserve. Today the "Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo" congregate very frequently to try to bring justice to their children who have "disappeared."

It is not so surprising to hear that almost all portenos have a complete distrust of La Policia. My teacher, for example, was taught since a child to not go to the police unless absolutely necessary. Even if your house is robbed there is no way you would call the police she says, that would just make things worse. If you let the police in your house they will just steal more! I had my first kind of awakening to this mindset when this Irish guy we have met a couple of times said that when he left the same bar as us the past weekend, in the most expensive/safest neighborhood, the police asked to see his ID. Once he got home he realized they had actually taken all of his money from his wallet.

It is kind of a bizarre feeling living somewhere knowing that the police are not to be trusted. Even though there are obviously corrupt police in the US, the overwhelming majority is not. They way people talk about La Policia here makes me think of the French song, F*** the Police by the band NTM.

On a lighter note.... the pictures from the previous post are mostly from San Telmo. Every Sunday there is a famous market going for blocks and blocks. Pretty spectacular!

Also we figured out how the portenos manage to eat so late here...Almost all have a snack around 8, usually consisting of cafe and either medialunas or facturas(slightly different and both less delicious than a croissant). If I start doing this though I will gain so much weight. Anyway it is better to eat earlier because we will never have to wait in lines, which happens here after 9 at many many restaurants.