Dispatch From Abroad: Vegetables Reign Supreme in Buenos Aires

Ten days. That’s how long it took for me to utter a sentence I never thought I would hear come out of my mouth: “Please, no more meat.” 

After nearly two straight weeks of lunches and dinners centered around mountainous slabs of protein, I was beat. A heart-throbbing (possibly a sign of an impending heart attack?) pang of disappointment accompanied the meaty thud of my ojo de bife  as it slapped down onto my plate in one of Buenos Aires’s countless parrillas. I was craving only one thing: vegetables.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I didn’t try to find them. The problem is that here in Argentina, 99% of the time “vegetables” mean a sad pile of lettuce and tomato left limp (and undressed) next to a massive steak releasing a steadily advancing pool of meat juice.

I wanted something fresh. Something crisp, light, and packed with flavor.

Well, the food gods heard my prayers. On the eleventh day in vegetable purgatory, I ascended to Yeite, the vegetable heaven of Buenos Aires.

Eye-popping salads dressed with fresh herbs fill the restaurant’s counter, and flaky tarts stuffed with pillowy mixtures of eggs and crisp greens are laid out on platters, flaunting their colors and begging to be ordered.

And the pastry section? Let’s just say it’s a far cry from the ubiquitous piles of not-so-flaky croissants you find in literally every street-side cafe. Crumbly slices of banana bread with a sticky-sweet layer dulce de leche  are a fan favorite, but the toasted cornbread– just this side of charred– was what really won me over.

And how could I forget about the sopa de zapallo? A silky smooth soup of the day that will forever live in my mind as the platonic ideal of pureed pumpkin.

Yeite, I thank you from the bottom of my (meat-filled) heart. We’ll see each other again soon.

-Chase Matecun

Yeite

Humboldt 298, Buenos Aires

Tuesday-Sunday 8:30am-7:00pm