Hearts of palm and chimichurri

Hearts of palm was the first thing that caught my eye on the menu when we ate at Aqua in Puerto Iguazu (the Argentinian side of Iguassu Falls). It was the most delicious I've tasted because I've only had canned hearts of palm in Canada.  We had it again the following night at another restaurant, La Rueda, and it was just as good. I ordered it a third time at our last dinner in Buenos Aires, and it was not as good.  The reason - hearts of palm is produced in Brazil, not Argentina.  The ones in Iguassu Falls were good because of its proximity to Brazil.  Once we're in Buenos Aires, we were farther away from the source and the result was obvious.  Should have done my homework!

Fellow travellers reported to me that when they were in Rio, they had an entire plate of hearts of palm for the price of what we paid for the appetizer in Buenos Aires.  An obvious example of why we should eat local food!

Aqua: Note the tiny pieces of hearts of palm tucked in between the bread - precious! This is part of an antipasti of local specialties offered on the menu: hearts of palm, local fish tart, avocado, fried manioc (yuca) and corn pie - all in tiny pieces for "fine dining", which Aqua can be recommended for.

La Rueda: hearts of palm as the centrepiece of a Tropical salad with mango and papaya.

We were introduced to three Argentinian sauce dips by our guide in Buenos Aires; Chimichurri, which comes in two versions - hot and spicy (the red one at the bottom), or the green one with parsley and garlic dip very similar to pesto; and a Salsa criolla with pepper.   The red chimichurri was a bit hot but it could vary depending on how much hot sauce and chili is in it.  Ingredients include parsley, garlic, vinegar, pepper, oregano, onion, olive oil in addition to the hot sauce and chili.  The green chimichurri is minus the hot sauce and chili.  Salsa criolla has tomatoes as its main ingredient, onion, garlic, bell pepper, black pepper, scallions, olive oil and vinegar.  These can be put on bread, on steak and anything else you eat!