After being roused from my siesta with visions of 2 for 1 mojitos with Havana Club rum that I had seen advertised earlier, it was time to vamamos.  We headed back down to Plaza Serrano, which was now a busy beehive of activity.  Unfortunately, the offer I had seen was no longer valid.  This turned out to be a blessing in disguise though as we decided to go directly to the famed house of all things meat, La Cabrera.

Nestled on a busy street, Cabrera, natch, the restaurant opens at 8:30PM but there was already a long line by the time we got there, around 8:20.  We didn’t have a reservation but were told to check back at 8:45 for any cancellations.  As we saw the line grow even longer, we were pretty much resigned to putting our names in for tomorrow.  Fortunately, as luck would have it, there was a bar next door which had the same 2:1 mojito offer except with a different rum.  I was able to negotiate swapping out the house rum for Havana Club so it all worked out in the end.

I went back to check at exactly 8:45 to our pleasant surprise, we were given a table outside right in the heart of the action.

When the menu arrived, it was clear that this was a place where vegetarians feared to dread.  The entire back page consisted of pretty much every style of meat you could possibly want, from rib eyes to bone marrow to sweet breads.  It was overwhelming.

Decisions, decisions

I decided to get the biefe de ojo (rib eye) which is one of their famed cuts.  Chris opted for the aged bone-in strip.  We got a fairly decent house Cabernet from Mendoza to go along with it.  When our dishes arrived, we knew were in for something special.

Come to Papa

And yes, that’s the half order of the rib eye in front!

I had read about the crazy number of sides that come with the meals and they weren’t kidding.  I didn’t take a picture of those as they kept coming but here’s at least a partial list:

Sauces:
– Mustard
– Ginger soy
– Chimichurri (por supuesto)
– Horseradish
– Pico de gallo

Side dishes:
– Mashed Potatoes
– Cauliflower au gratin
– Baked apples
– Stewed onions
– and more I can’t remember

Suffice to say after all of that, we were stuffed.  We walked back to Plaza Serrano and now the Plaza was teeming with people.  All of the temporary shops were gone and the bars were now packed.  However, with our bellies full of meat, the idea of standing around in a crowded bar did not appeal.

We decided to head back to our street as we had seen a cool bar only a couple of blocks away called the Whatever Bar.  When we got there though, it was basically empty.  Of course, it was only 12:30AM, early by their standards, but at least that allowed us to snag one of their comfy leather chair and couch combos.

I loved this bar.  They were playing some great downtempo tracks, had a fantastic cocktail list, including a very authentic pisco sour, and a great staff.  We agreed we’d be back soon.