The diversity of food in Little Rock has taken surprising steps forward over the past few years. This is especially true with Latin and South American cuisine. A market that was once dominated by Bossa Nova now has strong competition from the likes of LuLu’s Latin, La Terraza, and the new location of Rosalinda’s. Buenos Aires looks to bring their own style of Argentinian cuisine to an ever expanding lineup of Latin flavors.
Buenos Aires fills the space left by the ill-fated Juanita’s move, and certainly provides some added diversity to Clinton Avenue, not to mention an option on the other side of the Museum of Discovery. The location was not their first pick, but it became the perfect landing spot.
“We researched locations for a while looking around the city and especially Argenta,” general manager Flo Bruzatori tells us. “We never really considered the River Market until a friend who owns Little Rock Salsa contacted us about the space. It ended up being the perfect fit for us.”
Buenos Aires occupies the bottom of the space with Little Rock Salsa on the upper floor.
If you visited the lower level during the Juanita’s time you will feel instantly familiar. Aside from new tables and a few small finishing touches, it looks very similar to the previous spot. The outside patio is one of the better patio spaces around, which should do well for them moving into spring.
The Food is an expansive mix of items representing Argentina and latin culture. They feature a strong set of appetizers, small plates, and entrees that should provide plenty of diversity and food to explore while eating.
The big menu highlight seems to be their wide array of empanadas, featuring five different filling varieties that include beef, chicken, caprese, ham and cheese, and a very delicious onion and cheese. They make the perfect sharable for a table, or just grab a few for yourself and snack away. They come options of 1, 3, 6, or 12 that you can mix and match.
On the entree side they have several options from the grill with a variety of meats. They also focus heavily on various milanesa (Latin American style breaded, tenderized, meat) options. For the grill you can pick up the expected line of steaks, but you can also grab some unexpected options like sweetbreads and offal (if you are picky, just order and don’t google it).
For the lunch friendly options they offer a mix of sandwiches using some of their meat options from the entrees as well as a few paninis and a bratwurst.
Finally they have a handful of desserts like flan, gelato, cuatro leches cake, and dulce de leche.
The Bruzatori who own the restaurant are all from Argentina and have been in and out of the restaurant industry for a while. Their approach should provide some very flavorful authentic options, especially once they have a chance to settle into the new space. With the River Market location it could be a prime spot to highlight some of the growing diversity of Little Rock’s food scene with visitors to the city.
