After years leading Cocineros Argentinos, the charismatic Ximena Sáenz decided to leave the program for a while. She wasn’t planning on fulfilling her old deferred dream of opening her own restaurant, but the planets aligned and it happened. Casa Sáenz settled in Belgrano, a neighborhood with many cafes and few restaurants, and instantly became a hit with the public.
The beauty of Casa Sáenz is that everything tastes like food from home, a home where you cook delicious food, of course. There’s a side dish bar – roasted broccoli with avocado and quinoa; mujadara, an aromatic rice with lentils, spices and fried onions; among others – and a series of proteins to complement them. One of them is the pastoral chicken made in the clay oven – is there anything more “homemade” than baked chicken? – with a green sauce made with a mixture of herbs that provide a unique freshness. There are also milanesas, catch of the day, eye steak, everything that we Argentines like to eat, but with a twist.
Cocineros Argentinos left an important mark on Ximena, who soaked up the cuisine of the different regions of the country during those years. Thus, for example, there are dishes like the chipá guazú – a guaraní corn cake – to which she chose to put a heart of brie. The motto of the house is The kitchen is alive, and this refers, among other things, to the evolution of traditional recipes.
At noon, sandwiches and cakes (fennel with tomatoes and feta cheese) are added to the menu, and in the afternoon there are original toasties (provolone, tomato and sage), and a varied and delicious pastry: walnut pastafrola with quince, banofee dulce de leche with banana and cream), Welsh cake with candied ginger, and “the best birthday cake”, Belgian chocolate and dulce de leche.
There are small dishes to snack on at any time of the day -Greek tomato fritters, patagonzola with pears and walnuts, bell peppers with toasted wheat seeds- and an excellent selection of wines from the eight wine regions of Argentina.
