La Rural

[Daniel]

La Rural

768 Amsterdam Avenue (97th Street),

(212) 749-2929.

The three of us went to Dinner here last night.. Having been big fans of Pampa, we were really happy that the restaurant would be in the similar style.. We were not disappointed.. In fact, the place is still very similar to Pampa with some really nice improvements added.. From the menu to the new design of the room, everything has improved or has been kept as good.

Things like the grill are the same, even down to the same man working the grill.. He can not really be missed, he is a large intimidating man.. But what really can't be missed is the skill and precision he has with the grill.. Things come out cooked perfectly to order, with a lovely char and crispness.. What this man does with sweetbreads, is beyond good..

The menu is varied.. Running from Pastas, salads, empanadas, appetizers from the grill, a whole page of small plates to start, and of course there wonderful meat selections.. It is going to take us a long time to go through the whole menu which, we will happily do..

Last night we started off with a couple of items.. We went with the one meat and one cheese empanada, grilled sweetbreads, grilled chorizo, and grilled provolone.

I am huge fan of sweetbreads.. I often get them when a restaurant offers them, as well as preparing them at my home.. These are just fantastic.. The best grilled preparation in the city.. They must be pounded out and heavily salted.. The have this wonderful crispness, the snap of the crust leaves way to the juicy buttery meat.. Pampa's were awesome, and these are even better..

Served with a little lemon, or maybe some of there chimichurri sauce, oh baby..

Here are is the chorizo and empanadas.. The chorizo was wonderful.. Not flavored with the typical bright red paprika I am use to with Mexican or Portuguese chorizo.. They werent overly spicey, or compact.. The menu describes it as a traditional Argentine Sausage, they were really good.. The empanadas were just ok.. The shells were a little under fried .. The meat and cheese were kind of boring but, still a great vehicle for there wonderful chimmichurri sauce.. Everything else was so good it doesnt matter..

With this round of food, there was also the grilled provolone.. Very close to a queso fundido... Pretty straight forward, wonderfully melted cheese.. Went really well with the chorizo..

So there are other options and combinations you could choose from that section of the menu.. There was also grilled blood sausage and we hadnt even ordered off the whole first page of appetizers.. But first and foremost, this place knows what they are doing with meats..

We ordered the lamb, a wonderful salad, and the cauliflower croquettes..

Here is the lamb.. Beautifully done, medium rare, and so juicy.. As we were eating the lamb, some juice ran out and went on the serving plate.. The little one started dipping here meat in the juice and turns to us and asks if we can order a glass of the juice for her so she can drink it.. Really wonderful plate of lamb chops.. Price was 17 bucks..

Cauliflower croquettes are pretty wonderful.. Creamy cauliflower mixture breaded and deep fried.. Served with a suprisingly good tomato sauce.. Seriously makes me think there pastas are going to be good.. They serve Gnocci on the 29th of each month.. But they also have on the appetizer plate a malfatti dumpling that sounds would most likely be very good..

Something green to break up the rest of the meal.. Tres Verdes salad.. Watercress and Arugala salad with roasted figs, crispy prosciutto chips, parm, and roasted shallots.. A really wonderful salad..

For dessert we got dulce de leche crepes.. Whats not to love about cooked down condensed milk served in a sugary crepe..

So happy this place is here.. I will be a regular.. No liquor license yet.. Great place to go with a wonderful bottle of red

[sadie_siamesecat]

woot! A restaurant in my hood--can't wait to try it once my liver recovers from Xmas excess (Picholine, EMP, and Fiorello's all in one week. Yes, I know which restaurant "doesn't belong" in that list, but I didn't make all these reservations, ok?)

Sweetbreads rock.

[slkinsey]

Thanks for the write-up, D!

Interesting that this place seems to be, more or less, an updating and renaming of Pampa. Do you have any idea whether it is under the same management?

I look forward to checking it out. Over the life of Pampa, I felt like the overall quality there suffered a decline -- slow in the beginning and rather precipitous towards the end. In the early days, Pampa featured actual Argentinian beed, but various factors put a stop fo that. Then the selection began to narrow, especially with respect to offal selections (the original menu featured not only sweetbreads but also grilled kidneys, intestines and tripe). Soon thereafter the prices began creeping and then bounding upwards from what had originally been quite a bargain to something that seemed on the expensive side for a cramped, loud restaurant on Amsterdam Avenue above 96th Street. I stopped going a year or two before it closed, and wasn't surprised when they shut their doors.

. . . All of which is to say that I miss the original Pampa, and am very pleased to see that another similar restaurant has opened in its place offering, if not quite the same pricing of Pampa's early days, at least what seems like a much better-executed version of what Pampa was trying to be in the final years of its decline, together with a more varied and more interesting menu.

[Daniel]

Interesting that this place seems to be, more or less, an updating and renaming of Pampa. Do you have any idea whether it is under the same management?

Its strange.. I asked the manager about a Restaurant that opened in Harlem, Caminito, this summer that was supposed to be another version of Pampa.. He knew nothing of it..

I also asked the manager if they were affiliated with the old Pampa and he seemed vague.. He mentioned that they were affiliated with Cafe Frida and Cafe Rhonda which, I haven't been to either. But all three have similar website layouts.

Edited December 27, 2007 by Daniel (log)

[slkinsey]

I suppose it's possible that that an entirely different Argentine place offering a very similar menu opened in the old Pampa space. It does make sense that a new Argentine restaurant might want to take advantage of whatever cuisine-specific equipment was already in place. But the similarities of the menu and presentation, combined with what looks like the reappearance of Pampa's grill man, makes it look like an awfully big coincidence.

I believe Caminito is cheffed (and possibly also owned) by Fabian Manca, who was the original chef from Pampa's early "glory days." It looks like Cafe Frida, Cafe Rhonda and La Rural are owned by a management group headed up by Cristina Castañeda and Raul Bonetto. Considering that the WHOIS information for pamparestaurant.com lists Raul Bonetto as the administrative contact, I think it's safe to assume that La Rural's management is the same group that ran Pampa, if not the original chef.

Edited December 27, 2007 by slkinsey (log)

[Daniel]

Caminito is closed, I never got to go there..

Yeh, I am guessing the same, from the information you uncovered. Nice work on digging that up.. Either way, with those sweetbreads, I dont care who is responsible..

Edited December 27, 2007 by Daniel (log)