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© 2008 Dan Perlman
Casa SaltShaker
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Chef: Dan Perlman
Host: Henry Tapia
January 3-6, 2008
Our most regularly requested cuisines are those that contain a fair amount of spice… picante spice in particular - Southeast Asia, Mexico, and Perú to be more on target. With the number of such requests, we decided to offer up a face-off between the cuisine of the descendants of the Incas and those of the Aztecs - with a Peruvian-Mexican battle royale. There was enough interest in this dinner that we ended up opening up four nights in a row, with a waiting list of people in case anyone cancelled. Our first thought was a true face-off, plate by plate - but looking at preparing ten different dishes each night, even if in small proportions, and pairing them on our plates just looked too onerous, and we decided to just even things off with two plates to each cuisine, plus one side-by-side.
Thoughts from some of our guests:
"Thanks so much for last nights meal - it was fantastic!" - T.T.
"Wanted to thank you again for a most delicious dinner, and a delightful evening." - D.Z.
"I had a wonderful time on Saturday night...one of the best meals I had in Buenos Aires both in terms of cuisine and company. I've spread the word to my friends and I'll certainly be visiting again the next time I'm in BA." - W.H.
"Thanks for a wonderful evening enjoyed by all of us. Everything went as we hoped. D... and M... were particularly impressed by the ethnic mix you chose for the different courses. We were also very fortunate with the company we met." - J.O.
"Thank you - A... and I had a great time and the meal was fantastic." - C.G.
"We are back home with memories of a lovely evening with you. We appreciated many aspects of the evening: the aesthetics of your home, the attractive table settings, Henry's lovely interaction with the baby, the thoughtful choices in your wine pairings and many many aspects of your menu as well as your narrative. We loved your soup and would like very much to have your recipe, if you share. And everything else worked well though we were not as enthusiastic about the fish course, perhaps because we felt the fish was very strong in taste. We are also glad to have your dictionary. Have you given any thought to a different format that would be less bulky in carrying it around? If you had less space between entries and halved the size vertically, it would fit tidily into a purse or pocket...just a thought. We consider your evening a highlight of a very fine trip and loved that you were in walking distance from our apartment. Thank you for sharing your home. We look forward to our return." - L.H.
"We just returned from our trip -- it's sad to be back, I see why you stayed... : ) Anyway, thanks to you and to Henry for such a fabulous meal and wonderful evening at your house! I've already recommended it to all of my friends (including some in Montevideo and Buenos Aires)! I really can only think of good things to say -- the wine pairing was especially good. We loved how unique the wines were. We keep thinking about that soup, too. It was SO interesting and unusual! What a fun way to live your life: a constant stream of good food to share with others -- I do envy you! Thank you so much for letting us be a part of it! I wish you both all the best." - K.C.
"Our group had a lovely evening and we really enjoyed the atmosphere, the food, and the wine. We loved the commentary you provided each "round" and the great matching of a variety of wines. The first several courses were all RAVED about by everyone. The only slight dissatisfaction from anyone was that the fish could've tasted a bit fresher, although we know this is hard to find in this city. Another thing we especially appreciated was your patience and accommodation of the having the baby with us. Henry was so gentle and wonderful with him! All in all, it was a fabulous, memorable night and, although my family is gone, I will surely be back with other guests. Thanks for everything." - M.M.
"Sorry for the very late reply to your email. My laptop crashed while I was in Buenos Aires, and I lost all my emails. Luckily, your address is easy to find! U... and I enjoyed the dinner at your place very much. Great food and interesting company. I think my favorites were the causas and the soup. I wish I could be there for your Cuban menu!! The only thing that I would suggest is maybe having something at the beginning of the evening to sort of break the ice… maybe serving a cocktail or lemonade or something outside to get people mingling a bit. But we really had a great time, and I will definitely be back on my next visit." - V.F.
"The dinner was lovely. Such a nice group, great food & wines. We really enjoyed ourselves. A know some people who are planning trips to Argentina in the coming year and will definitely recommend Casa SaltShaker. My favorite pairing was the soup with melon and the torrontes. For the chocolate dessert, have you considered any arg. Dessert wines?…we picked up a ‘port-style” malbec from rutini that be great with chocolate." - T.K.
"I am so sad right now. I just found this email in my inbox. We came back from our trip to a mountain of mail/email/etc and somehow I never saw this. I am sorry. I hope you had a great trip and would love to see you and Henry on the next one! We loved the dinner and thought that your causa was the best we've ever had (and we've now had a lot of causa!) Thank you for everything and we hope to see you again somewhere in the americas!" - T.G.
