Food

Chacras [1] is becoming Mendoza [2]’s gourmet ghetto, but there are both economical and upscale dining choices. Since buses stop running around midnight, consider taking a cab or a remise back into town.

Bianco y Nero (Mitre 1495, tel. 0261/496-5093, www.bianca [3] nero.com.ar) is a design shop that also operates as a Wi-Fi café 9 a.m.–9 p.m. It specializes in handmade chocolates, but also has coffees and tea.

For Mexican semi–fast food and respectable margaritas, try the Taco Bar (Viamonte s/n), serving a variety of Mexican dishes beyond its name, including good guacamole. It’s also cheap, even by current Argentine standards.

New in early 2010, Nadia O.F. (Italia 6055, tel. 0261/15-553-1550, ww.nadiaof.com) is an outgrowth of the Urban restaurant at the O. Fournier winery in the Uco Valley [4]. Chef Nadia Harón offers a weekly tasting menu (US$25), matched with Fournier’s own wines with each course (price varies depending on the line). Diners here, though, are welcome to bring their own wine for a modest corkage fee.

El Palenque (Mitre 1541) is a casual Argentine restaurant with a diverse menu and patio dining that falls somewhere between a scene and a dining experience, though it partakes of both. Its unique feature is that it lacks a wine list per se—rather, diners choose their own bottle off the racks and take it to the table. The service, though, can be inconsistent.

Chilean-owned Mar y Monte (Darragueira 765, tel. 0261/496-5164, www.marymonte.com.ar [5]) is a thematic restaurant whose menu combines upmarket versions of Chilean standards (mostly fish and seafood) with Cuyo-tinged variations on Argentine standards and wild game dishes (viscacha, for instance). Because it’s ambitious and even experimental, not everything works, but when it does the results can be spectacular. Most entrées fall in the US$10 range.

Maceratta (Viamonte 4734, tel. 0261/496-0152, dinner Tues.–Sat., lunch Sun.) is a sprawling trattoria with multiple dining rooms and garden seating, with a diverse pasta menu plus pizza and some other Italianate dishes. Try the smoked salmon ravioli with king crab sauce (US$10).