Can you still afford to live here?

[Davidglen77]

I have to disagree with this. The bar-b-que in the southern US is so different from what you get at a parilla here that it's tough to compare. I LOVE the fact that parillas serve so many more parts of the cow/pig/whatever than bar-b-que joints in the US.

OK I can see how my statement can be misunderstood. When I say I would compare Argentine parrillas to Texas style B-B-Q, I mean the style and format of the restaurant NOT the food selections. There are maybe a total of 5 elegant steakhouses that I know of in all of Buenos Aires, the rest are all wooden plate, grill in sight, mediocre service, a few have those red and white checkered plastic tablecloths, that being said some do have really good food. It all depends on what your criteria is when you go out to eat. I prefer good food over ambience, however I don't like crappy indifferent servers.

For example, a salad at a parrilla here is, iceberg or romaine lettuce, tomatoes, shredded carrots, hard boiled eggs (ick), maybe a little onion, boiled potatoes, and if its a great place they will throw and olive or 2 in there. If your lucky you'll get olive (cheap yellow) oil and balsamic vinegar. Most places give you corn oil, white vinegar and for spices you get salt and more salt.

A salad at a steak restaurant in New York is more like, a combination of boston and red leaf lettuce, sliced radishes, red onion, baby carrots, endive, radicchio, artichoke hearts and hearts of palm, topped with crumbled gorgonzola cheese and walnuts, with a rasberry balsamic dressing. If you like they will come by and churn the pepper mill over your salad a few times.

Steakhouses where I come from in New York City such as Peter Luger's, Ruth's Chris, Morton's and Otomanelli's are not comparable to anything I have ever seen in Argentina, in Buenos Aires or anywhere else. However the same goes for the price, they are probably about 3-4x more expensive than here. As it's been said here many times, it all depends on your current and former lifestyle and adjustments one makes when settling in another country.

 

[starlucia]

Most steak places in the US would be considerably higher than even the better parillas in Buenos Aires and offer less quantity. I only eat out and I dont find food in general pricy. Individual sized pizzas can be had for around 20 pesos. Delivery/take out Chinese (appetizer of spring rolls + main dish + 1,5 l gaseosa) for around 30..... Fajita dinner for 2 with margaritas at a nice Mexican place for around 100....Where are you guys eating?

Um, I'm eating at home, where I can make food that actually meets my standards Seriously, there are about 5 restaurants in all of BA whose food and service I think are worth the cost. Everything else is mediocre enough that I'd rather do it myself.

Yes, you can dine out for cheap in BA... but in my opinion, you cannot dine out for cheap and eat well. The price to quality ratio is way worse than in the US. Sure, you can find an individual pizza for 20 pesos, but it's essentially a big ol' hunk of oily dough. At Slice in NYC, an individual pizza pie, made with all organic and local ingredients such as goat cheese, arugula, and sauteed mushrooms, is $9.50 US. In BA, eating cheap generally means cheap ingredients and thoughtless preparation. In the US, we've certainly got that covered with fast food and 7-11 hot dogs, but there's also the Whole Foods hot bar for $6.99 a pound, and places like the Pita Pit, that serve tasty and fresh wraps, stuffed with ingredients, for $5-6 each. Just more options for food that's inexpensive and of decent quality... without a damn cubierto! Same goes for wine -- in Argentina, a decent Argentine wine bought at Disco is 20-30 pesos. I just bought an organic red, imported from Italy, at Whole Foods for $6, or 28 pesos.

I'm actually in the US for the "winter" and have been gorging on all of the lovely, lovely foods I cannot get in BA (or that cost an arm and a leg) -- organic kale and blueberries, fresh veggie juices, 72% dark chocolate, hummus that does NOT contain peanut butter (WTF BA), almond milk, Thai shrimp curries with jasmine rice, non-GMO tofu, cashews and walnuts and macadamia nuts, oh my

 

[PhilipDT]

Oh My indeed!