The Flyvemaskine Diaries

We made arrangements last week to go and eat at Casa Felix. It’s not a restaurant - it’s chef Diego Felix’s home, where he cooks for an intimate group three nights a week. We went tonight, and the whole experience was so completely wonderful. But if you’re in Buenos Aires, we kindly ask that you forget all about this as soon as you read it, because we don’t want to share.

We got there, on a residential street, and rang the bell. Soon, a tall, pretty girl came to let us in. We started to chat in Spanish - she took us through the house, which is a beautiful, spacious traditional Argentine house. Just as we stepped out onto the terrace, which was lined with candlelit tables, she asked where we were from.

“De los Estados Unidos,” I said, and she said, “Oh, me too!” This actually happens to us more than you’d think. Sandra is from California, but first came to Buenos Aires five years ago. She met Diego, and they now live in Buenos Aires. She’s a freelance journalist and photojournalist (like me!) and she specializes in food.

Tonight at Casa Felix, it was just Eric and I and a British couple eating. We were greeted, introduced to each other and then we spent some time in the garden in the back of the house, where Diego grows some of his own vegetables. Sandra served us a “welcome drink,” which was very small (one ounce?) glasses of sparkling Argentinean white wine (Torrones) with lemon verbena in it. It was heavenly. Below, Diego is showing Eric what’s growing in the garden.

The dinner was five courses, and Diego changes it based on what he finds at the market and what’s inspiring him. He and Sandra recently traveled to Italy and just got back last week, so that’s one of the things that was inspiring him tonight, and they also recently attended a huge meeting of the Slow Food movement, which also played an inspirational role.

We started with a salad of lettuce, onion, roasted peanuts, chile and yacon, which is like an Argentinean yam that can be peeled and eaten like an apple. The texture is similar to jicama, although Diego told us the two plants are not related. Unfortunately, my photo of the salad came out out-of-focus, but it was a really refreshing taste, and when Eric took his first bite, he said, “Oh, it’s spicy. I’m in love.”

The second course, or appetizer, was a risotto-like concoction made from a wheat that was processed with ash, and it’s common in Spain, he explained to us. it was served on a bed of fried rustic goat cheese that tasted pretty much exactly like heaven itself.

An intermezzo of watermelon and mint granita cleansed our palates and we moved on to the main course, which was pumpkin seed-crusted grouper, paired with mashed potatoes and charred fennel. The tastes were matched in a way that we haven’t tasted for a long time and I really enjoyed the conscious experience of having the spices and ingredients explained to me along the way. Diego would bring each course, set it down in front of us and then sit with us and talk to us about how he learned about the ingredient and how he had tried to incorporate it into his menus. Alongside the main course, there was also a dab of pureed green peas, which looked like wasabi but were really tasty.

Dessert was a mandarin gallette, served with homemade lemon ice cream which was made by a friend of Diego and Sandra’s. Diego explained to us that the crust of the gallette was made from white carob, which is an ingredient harvested by a nomadic group in the north of Argentina. It was really tasty, even though Diego said he was trying to find even tastier ways to include this indigenous ingredient into his cooking.

After dinner and dessert, they served us “cocido negro,” which is a Paraguayan version of yerba mate. The Paraguayans prepare it by burning the mate leaves with sugar over an open fire, and then when it’s brewed it has a coffee texture and a mate-like taste. We liked it (although talk to us at 3:00 this morning when we can’t sleep because we’re jacked up on it). I liked it hot, and Eric liked it once it cooled off.

The food was fabulous, and the feeling of being welcomed into such a beautiful home where such knowledgeable people live was wonderful, but we also really enjoyed that after dessert (and after the British couple left), Diego and Sandra sat with us and discussed all kinds of things, like how they met, where to find sweetened condensed milk in the city for our Thanksgiving pumpkin pie and what we do for a living. It felt like dining with friends instead of eating at a restaurant, and the whole experience was really wonderful.

They are so low-key, like for example, Diego said that everyone was asking him, “Why does everyone eat at one table? Did you plan that?” His answer is simple - he only had one table. He’s that low-key, and yet very impressive. Not only was his food really accomplished and complex, but he’s been written up in The New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post and others.

Thanks Diego and Sandra for a really great night, and we’ll definitely be back to eat again soon.

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