A Space and Place of Flavor: Heladerías as hangout spots in Buenos Aires

(The Art of Travel, post 9, Great, good places)
                            
Ice cream (helado) in Buenos Aires gets its own category in the food culture of Argentina.  It is an art of a dessert and is insanely popular, with there being an heladería on almost every block (or so it seems).  I’ve been to several different chains and unique shoppes here in the city, and I can honestly say it is the best ice cream in the world.  I can also say that I would consider myself a connoisseur of this sort, coming from America’s Dairyland, the good ole Dairy State of Wisconsin, where our dairy products are supreme and we don’t mess around when it comes to ice cream, cheese, custard and the like.  So I’m almost shocked to say that the delectable ice cream comes from their milk (which tastes totally and completely bizarre to me, almost sour, or curdled, yet it produces great dairy products, so who can complain?) and of course, the help of Italian immigrants and their art of gelato.  Ice cream here in Argentina is not even ice cream, per se, but the perfect blend of how ice cream and gelato are made, for a type of helado unique only to this country; the best helado in the world.

  

   

And when I say that ice cream culture is a culture, I mean it.  Argentines are serious about getting their fill of ice cream, particularly of the flavor dulce de leche (similar to caramel), another dessert of national pride, pictured above.  Right off the bat of my arrival, my homestay sister recommended an ice cream place that is just at the end of our block (too convenient) that she says is the best in the city.  And I dare say she is definitely right.  Tufic: Espacio de Sabores in the barrio of Palermo SoHo is an artisan ice cream shoppe with a list of standard flavors always present, but also several daily changes to this list, so there is always something new.  Every time I go I try something different, dazzling me even more than the last.  It is all so thick and creamy, and somehow doesn’t melt in the hot sunshine: the perfect savory summer solution.  Or perhaps the perfect always solution, since it has started to get cooler and Tufic is still constantly packed.

Tufic is definitely a neighborhood hangout spot, a prime “great, good place” for anybody, any lover of ice cream.  It is a family spot at all hours of the day, a place for dates, or even a place to meet up and discuss business over a coffee (they also sell a selection of coffees and beautiful pastries).  It’s open until 2 AM, and thus gets packed on the weekends, late at night.  My roommate and I know some of the workers there, one of whom tries his broken English on us, in which we reply and converse in our somewhat broken Spanish.  I chose this spot to write about because it is definitely the place I have frequented the most in all of Buenos Aires, since it is right outside my door.  I have taken friends here, and when my parents came to visit, took them to this spot after dinner.  I like to consider it as ‘my spot’, my “great, good place” to show my friends and family, and of course, to keep coming back to for the awesome staff and the more than awesome ice cream.
               
For my ensueños blog here... I will be having a post (including pictures) of my FOOD experience and other AWESOME RESTAURANTS in Buenos Aires soon!!!