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| - It's overlooking a train rail and a laundromat. My brother and I came in here, and the place was empty. Those looks can be deceiving.
"Quieres algo a tomar?" our waiter asked.
You're speaking my lingo, man. Our waiter was from Uruguay, and he and I reminisced in the broken Spanish I can speak. I lived in Buenos Aires for about four months in 2012 and was feeling nostalgic, so I guess you could say this difficult-to-find place (gracias a Dios para GPS) satiated more than one appetite.
We got beef empanadas to start, which were as cheap as the ones us college kids lived on until we couldn't stomach more of the heavy, meaty and budget-friendly pastries. Che Gaucho's take has a spice akin to the flavor from tacos, and the pastry was bubbly. Though I wasn't as crazy about these, the chimichurri and hot pepper oil served with them was fantastic, and if it makes a good sauce vessel (see also: tortilla chips and guacamole, stale bread and fondue, then it's all right with me.
Now, let me tell you about the parrillada. It is the plate o' plenty if you're a meat-lover. A variety of cuts, flavors, and textures. Images of Xanadu come to mind. For a recreational vegetarian like me, it's a crazy binge that makes me question my life choices up to this point. Or at least question why I don't move back. Be sure to try the morcilla, a blood sausage. The kind that sounds terrible on paper but has the spices and flavoring to turn into a good idea. I also enjoyed the sweetbreads, the tender, fatty kind that make you forget about your running regime. The steaks from the parrillada were wonderfully rich, but if rarely like your red meat rare, be sure to tell your server. "Un poco rojo" will get you a very rare, but pulse-free, cut.
I'm not a native, but I will say it's a wonderful deal and an even more wonderful way to try Argentinian and Uruguayan cuisine in the Charlotte area. If you can make it to dessert, I'm sure the alfajores (cookie sandwiches with dulce de leche) would be killer.
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