Just like in the last World Cup, we headed out to Queens for Uruguayan food at Chivito d'Oro. We knew that this time wouldn't be the same experience as Uruguay had been eliminated the day before so there would be no ultra-festive and nationalistic pride atmosphere. In fact, there was no singing at all. The only plus to this was that there was much, much less of a wait to get a table this time.
The meal started out with a basket of grilled bread and their version of chimichurri sauce. The sauce was loaded with parsley, garlic, and finished off with olive oil and some form of vinegar. Despite the charred looking exterior, the bread was perfectly soft on the inside with the right amount of crispness on the crust. The grill also added a smoky flavor to the bread which was really nice. M and I both agreed that the "burnt" part was the best part of the bread. We don't know if it's supposed to be eaten this way, but we really like putting the sauce on the bread and eating it together. We know it's supposed to go with the meat, but, to be honest, the meat tastes just fine on its own. On that note...
I, on the recommendation from one of our front desk staff with whom we chat with all the time, got the Parrillada para 1 (Grill dish for 1). The platter is loaded with beef steak, sweet bread, chorizo, morcilla, and veal steak. I dug into my pile of meat upon meat upon meat with gusto. Everything on the grill is seasoned mildly with salt and pepper to allow the flavor of the meat to come through, and everything is brilliant. The first thing I tried was the sweet bread as that and the morcilla intrigued me the most. They were soft and mineral-y, and they were beautifully grilled up to have a bit of bite right at the onset. The morcilla was also a bit mineral-y, but it was spiced wonderfully. The only issue I had with it was that the casing is a little tough to cut through, and because of the texture of the filling, it falls apart a bit every time you try. The beef steak was really tender and juicy even as it was cooked to medium since it's so thin. The chorizo is a touch salty, but it's chorizo. It's flavorful, spiced nicely, and has a bit of snap to the casing. The short ribs are really really nice. They're cooked well, and the meat around the bones pulls off easily enough if you know what you're doing. The only disappointing thing on the plate would be what I can only assume is the veal. It's thick and a bit tough, and it has a rather large fat cap on top. The flavors are good just like everything else, but the texture just isn't quite right. That, and you really can't (shouldn't) eat about a third of it.
So in case I wasn't full from the giant platter of grilled meat, my order comes with a side as well. I always opt for the potato salad (ensalada rusa) since it's really tasty. It's creamy and loaded with carrot pieces and peas. The minor issue is that, on top of all of that meat (and under, around, intermixed, etc.), the potato salad can be really heavy. It's a very tasty side, though, and one that I wholeheartedly recommend.
M got two chorizo and one morcilla (blood sausage). She admitted later that, she perhaps ordered one too many chorizo, but she was more than happy with what she got. She also found the morcilla to be very rich. It was tasty but she preferred the chorizo. It was just too much meat though and she couldn't bear to eat any meat for days.
We love the flavors from all of the food you can get from Chivito d'Oro, but it's not something we could eat on a consistent basis. The one thing I was really worried about after plowing through a lot of my endless platter of meat was that the waitress misunderstood me and gave me the order for 2 by mistake. When the bill came we thankfully saw that it was just the order for 1. However, that opened up another question of "how can one person eat all of that food?" We took home a good amount of leftovers that I was able to use for lunch for a couple days following our feast.
