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© 2007 Dan Perlman
Casa SaltShaker
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Chef: Dan Perlman
Host: Henry Tapia
December 7-9, 2007
I’d decided that we’d celebrate El Día de las Velitas, more or less “the festival of lights”… who knew that Colombians were celebrating Chanukah…? No, really, these days this festival, with grand displays of candles or lanterns in public squares and the streets of Colombia, is the “official” start of the Christmas season. While I don’t know the origin of the festival, I’d guess it’s based on a long time cultural tradition that has been co-opted by Catholicism in order to bring the population of Colombia in line with church doctrine - of course this happened a long time ago, so who knows? Regardless, once decided on a Colombian theme, I realized I had the chance to rework a series of dishes that I’d gotten to play with one evening about 9 months ago, for a private dinner - so it’s not really repeating, right?
Thoughts from some of our guests:
"You are a great cook and we enjoyed the evening." - M.G."Nuestras compañeras de cena nos resultaron muy agradables, todas, y la conversación fue muy grata.... la forma absolutamente impecable y profesional con la que todo es manejado siguió TAL CUAL, y realmente los admiro y aplaudo por eso. Yo nunca he trabajado profesionalmente en una cocina, pero mi familia e invitados comen lo que yo les preparo, y puedo apreciar la cantidad de trabajo que hay detrás de cada cosa, y la cantidad de consideraciones que se pueden hacer para combinar platos e inqgrediente... cuando se lo hace en forma libre. Justamente a foma libre y azarosa de elegir menues e inventar platos... me EN-CAN-TA! Me da mucho placer disfrutar de cosas con pasión y seriedad. En resumen: LOS APLAUDO CALUROSAMENTE, y si se me ocurrriera cóme mejorar algo de lo que hacen... con gusto les hago saber! BRAVO - y cariños." - E.T.
"We absolutely loved our dinner with you. The food was wonderful and it was a warm and cozy way for our family to reconnect after not being together for 4 1/2 months. Normally we would have preferred to mix and mingle with the other guests more but for our first night together it was fine to be seated separately. The food was absolutely wonderful, each course a new and delicious reward! " - J.A.
"I had a wonderful time at Casa SaltShaker (the Colombian night in Dec.), and I honestly can't think of anything I'd change! Keep up the good work, and I hope to join you for another dinner sometime." - A.S.
Some folks have a different agenda...
"How about creating a e-mail address exchange list? Perhaps in the beginning of the dinner or at the end, you can ask people whether they want to communicate later via e-mail and then it would be easier for all of us to keep in contact. Other than that, great food, great company. Your place looks fantastic. Thanks." - J.Z.
