La Rosalia

Feature, Parilla — By DiegoM on October 23, 2009 at 2:35 am

From the outside, La Rosalia looks like little more than a hole in the wall. The inside isn´t a whole lot better. Nevertheless, I had been told the steaks here are really good, and the prices are really low. I also see line-.ups there every so often, which is certainly a good sign. This Sunday, I was craving a juicy strip loin, so decided to give it a try.

La Rosalía is a tiny restaurant. The inside only seats between 30 – 40 people, that´s packing everyone in pretty tight. Although there is nothing special about the atmosphere, it does have its own special charm. The room is very bright, but has high ceilings, an open view of the grill, and a selection of paraphernalia posted over the walls.

The menu is a standard parilla menu, in every sense, with nothing out of the ordinary. The nice thing about the menu is you can order a half order of most of the cuts of meat, so if you don´t feel like eating a huge steak, you can eat a small one.

To start, we ordered a provoleta and a chorizo. The provoleta was cooked to perfection, crispy on the ouside, and gooey on the inside. Unfortunately, it was too salty, so much so that we didn´t finish it. The chorizo was good, not the best I´ve had, but very tasty and not overly fatty.

We followed these with a half a strip loin and a half a rib eye, with an order of French fries. As is common here, our French fries could have been a little crispier (the Argentine´s like their fries soft and slightly soggy), but they were very good otherwise….nice thick slices of fresh potatoes. The steaks were both excellent. Juicy, very tender, hardly any fat, and cooked to perfection (we ordered medium rare). Very impressive considering each steak only cost $21 pesos, and was about 8 oz.

We finished the meal with a large homemade flan. The flavor was good, but it was chunky, instead of smooth, which is how a flan should be.

The meal for two with appetizers, steaks, and dessert, and a half bottle of wine cost just over 100 pesos, which is pretty decent. I was very impressed with the steaks, and would definitely return specifically for that reason. The wine list leaves a lot to be desired, but is exactly what I would expect from this type of parilla. Recommended for anyone who wants some good quality steaks in a simple parilla.