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CAFE TORTONI
If there’s a must visit eatery in Buenos Aires it is perennial line outside the café. (Don’t be daunted by
The Cafe Tortoni – known as the “porteño café.” The the line if you’re not with a group; it moves quickly.)
institution was founded by a French immigrant in The food is almost as impressive as the café itself.
1858 who modeled it after a café in France where They serve a full menu which of course includes
the elites of Parisian culture met. It soon became hunks of beef, but most customers we saw were
the hangout for painters, writers, journalists and enjoying coffees and homemade pastries. Churros
musicians who formed the Agrupación de Gente de and hot chocolate are one of their signature des-
Artes y Letras (Arts and Letters Association) and serts, served by waiters wearing the same uniforms
met in the café ’s basement. Today the restaurant seen in photos take more than a century ago.
seems frozen in time, a notion reinforced by a quick Our only disappointment was that we didn’t
look at the many historical photos that decorated have time to attend one of their famous
the spacious, elegant dining room. late-night tango shows presented nightly the
We entered with a tour group, bypassing the cafe’s intimate cabaret theater.
42 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018
