September 6–12, 2019 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 AWP 11
RETURNING TO CITI FIELD
THIS WINTER
theworldsfare.nyc
Worpship at Corona’s Argentine
Temple of Meat
BY JOE DISTEFANO
As the Culinary King of Queens, I’m so
very fortunate to live in the most diverse
and delicious destination in all of New
York City. Really I’m not royalty though,
I’m an ambassador, and a hungry
one at that. Today we visit Argentina
via Corona at El Gauchito, one of my
favorite steakhouses in Queens.
You might think I chose this Argentine
emporium, whose name means “the little
cowboy” for my first column because I’m
covering the myriad international cuisines
of Queens in alphabetical order and you might be right,
but really it has more to do with summertime. After all
summer’s the perfect time for grilled beef and cold beer,
but sometimes it’s just too hot in New York City to do
it yourself, and that’s when I like to head to this temple
to Argentine gastronomy—i.e. sumptuous grilled meats
served with plenty of garlicky chimichurri.
Antipasto El Gauchito—a platter laden with
creamy beef tongue, a terrine of pig feet, pickled
eggplant, and matambre—is a great way to begin a
feast here. The name of that last specialty, matambre—
a rolled veal breast stuffed with spinach, olives,
and cheese—translates to “hunger killer.” Should you
be dining solo, or have a hunger that doesn’t require
slaying opt for the beef empanadas; there is also the
distinct possibility you might be in the wrong place if
your appetite is not up to the task.
El Gauchito started out as a butcher shop in 1978,
which Mario Civelli named for the mascot of his home
country’s football team in that year’s World Cup. The
butcher counter—filled with special Argentine cuts like
vacio or flap steak and homemade blood sausage—is
still there as is the mascot El Gauchito. These days the
restaurant, which started as little more than a butcher
shop with a grill in the front window, has expanded to
take up two storefronts with two dining rooms, each
a museum of Argentine culture lined with pictures of
cowboys, accordions, and tiles created by Argentine
artist Anibal Cicada that depict celebrities like famed
musicians Frank Valiente and Carlos Gardel, the country’s
most famous tango singer.
The main event at El Gauchito is of course beef.
The steaks here—including the bife de chorizo
(shell steak) and entraña (skirt steak)—are excellent
and take well to the garlicky, herbaceous chimichurri
sauce. A better option though is the mixed
grill, which includes entrana, asado de tira (short
ribs), vacio (flap steak), mollejas (sweetbreads), and
morcilla (blood sausage). The latter—made from
beef blood, and secret spices—is so good that Mario’s
son, Marcello has begun wholesaling it to other
Argentine restaurants throughout New York City.
Offal lovers can also opt for riñones, or beef
kidneys, a specialty which are particularly prized
by El Guachito’s Ecuadorean customers Marcello
says, noting that the restaurant’s customer base is
almost as diverse as Queens itself. Colombians,
Peruvians, Paraguayans, Brazilians and Korean
all come to worship at Corona’s temple of meat.
“Koreans like the short ribs because they are used
to thin cut kalbi style short ribs,” Marcello says.
Those short ribs used to be Marcello’s favorite
too, but he says these days he’s not much of a steak
eater. “I love seafood and fish, Astoria Seafood is my
favorite,” he says with a laugh.
In the not unlikely event that you need to make
room for dessert—flan and dainty shortbread
alfajores filled with dulce de leche—avail your
self of some siphon, as sparkling water is called in
Argentina and a shot of Fernet Branca.
El Gauchito
94-60 Corona Ave.
Elmhurst, New York 11373
(718) 271-1917
elgauchitonyc.com
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