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Porteño

Porteño is a unique proposition: a re-creation of the Buenos Aires bar-and-grill places beloved of its owners, the young whippersnackers who opened Bodega only blocks away. It’s a facsimile writ large in both scale and ambition. A gaucho-style fire pit dominates the open kitchen; get in late and its superbly smoky suckling pig and rare-breed lamb offerings will be gone. But despair not: there’s just as much joy to be found in sweetbreads splashed with chimichurri, charry from the grill, or Brussels sprouts, fried sweet and paired with mint and lentils, right the way through to a modern, mangospiked Uruguayan-influenced pavlova to close. Host Sarah Doyle is a glamorous force on the floor (though service from her nattily dressed fellows can be uneven), and the deeply South American wine list fits the theme admirably. It’s loud, it’s rocking, and the city is loving it.