Felix Rueda runs a charming small bistro in Buenos Aires called La Olla de Felix. An olla is a cookpot, and Rueda extracts some marvelous dishes from his. He doesn't hide in the kitchen, though. Wearing a colorful apron, he's likely to seat you and explain the menu, which is written on a board posted on the wall. There are just five dishes, and they change each day. They're planned to accommodate every taste – meats, a salad, a pasta, something vegetarian.
I've eaten here since I first spotted the restaurant, located in a busy shopping area in Recoleta, and every meal has been a delight. Pretty linens, displays of beautiful plates and table accessories on shelves high overhead, old fashioned tureens set on each table and antique Limoges dessert plates attest to Reuda's fine taste. Even the check is handled gracefully. It comes in an ornamental candy or cookie tin from Europe.
For one lunch, I ordered lomo Sally, tender beef medallions flooded with red wine sauce and accompanied by steamed yellow squash. The other choices were spinach ravioli with Bolognese sauce, a salad with guacamole, pears, chicken and oranges; chicken strudel and a vegetable terrine.
A few days later lomo Sally reappeared, it's that popular. The other options were crepes Florentine, a seafood salad, sweet and sour pork and penne with basil. I was very pleased with the crepes and their light, delicate filling of ground spinach and chicken seasoned with nutmeg. Rueda bathed them with a leek and mushroom cream sauce.
Wines by the glass are poured generously. Both days I had Tunquelen Malbec 2003 from the Uco Valley, Mendoza. This mellow soft wine, which blends Malbec with 10 % Tempranillo, is as suitable with light dishes as with steak.
Desserts are impossible to resist. Rueda is renowned for his tarte tatin, a heavenly concoction of apples reduced to a golden, caramelized puree. And he makes a chocolate marquise that is just as good. There's no need to choose between them. You can have a slice of each, side by side, and then espresso, in one of the dainty cups from Rueda's collection.
La Olla de Felix, Juncal 1693, Recoleta, Buenos Aires. Tel: 4811-2873. Main dishes run from $6 to $10.
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