Bites : Restaurant Report: Brindillas in Vistalba, Argentina

Brindillas

A look inside Brindillas, where the décor is simple.

In Argentina, the peso is written with a dollar sign. So when we were presented with the menus at Brindillas, an unassuming but highly touted little restaurant about 20 minutes from downtown Mendoza, and saw a five-course tasting menu for what looked like $135, or seven courses for $175, we felt ambushed but undaunted. But after our meal — which cost about $100 (that's U.S. dollars) for two, wine included — we were pleasantly surprised, a feeling enhanced by food that had a sophisticated, modernist outlook that went well beyond the borders of Argentina.

Perhaps that should have been expected, given the restaurant's impressive global pedigree. Mariano Gallego, the 33-year old chef, and his wife, Florencia D'Amico, 31, who runs the dining room, took a three-year hiatus from Brindillas, which they first opened in 2005, to work in Spain with Carme Ruscalleda at the Michelin three-star Sant Pau near Barcelona. That led to an assignment at Ms. Ruscalleda's outpost in Tokyo. After about a year in Japan they returned to Mendoza and reopened Brindillas in the fall of 2011.

Its décor is simple — designed, it seemed, to not distract you from what's on your plate.

During one meal, those plates were full of inventive touches: piquant sausages with red wine jam; pumpkin purée fashioned to look like an egg yolk, with corn and crunchy quinoa; and an earthy mushroom croquette. Marinated rabbit, like a terrine with a vinegary edge, was topped with ethereal paprika "air."

At Brindillas, as at just about every other restaurant in Argentina, you'll get a beef fix. But as good as the perfectly rosy fillet of beef was, we enjoyed the other imaginative dishes on the tasting menus more. And most of the food, including silky tortellini stuffed with ricotta cheese and dressed with spinach, cheese and almonds, was not served in precious one-spoonful portions.

A "pre-dessert" of lemon sorbet got a measure of local flavor with a yerba mate infusion; a dish of chocolate ice cream with white chocolate mousse was seasoned with tonka beans, which suggest bitter chocolate.

The wine list emphasized Mendoza and was as gently priced as the food. At no other time during a 10-day trip did we spend less and enjoy a meal more.

Brindillas Restaurant, Guardia Vieja 2898, Vistalba, Argentina; (54-261) 496-3650, brindillas.com. Tasting menus are 135 pesos for five courses, about $26 at five pesos to the dollar, or 175 pesos for seven courses.

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