Anthony Bourdain heads to Uruguay, a place that is much more than a “tiny, underappreciated South American country tucked between Argentina and Brazil.” He is immersed in a meat-obsessed country whose hearty cuisine is indebted equally to Spain and Italy. While hanging out with locals, Tony tries to make sense of a nation that went from hard-line authoritarianism to progressive politics within just one generation.

Parrillada El Alemán

Grill · Montevideo

Bourdain had: “dripping meats of many kinds” (morcilla, chorizo, rib-eye steak). Dinner date: Nacho.

Bar Arocena

Bar · Montevideo

Bourdain had: chivito sandwiches with steak, ham, bacon, cheese, hard boiled egg, mayo, and garnishes (“unofficially Uruguay’s national sandwich”), and beer. Lunch date: Ignacio “Nacho” Mattos, head chef and owner of Estela, Café Altro Paradiso, and Flora Bar.

PARTS UNKNOWN

Jacinto

Restaurant · Montevideo

Tony had dinner with chef and owner Lucía Soria and Nacho. They had "homemade gnocchi with mushrooms and pumpkin; prawns with avocado, apple, and wasabi; beef tartare with quail egg."

Escaramuza Libros

Book Shop · Montevideo

Tony had lunch with journalist Carina Novarese, contributor for the publication El Observador. They had homemade sausage with roasted turnip and fermented vegetables, beet quiche.

Bar Las Flores

Bar · Montevideo

Tony had pizza with the Hablan por la Espalda bandmates. They had pizza a caballo, or “a bizarro stoner hybrid topped with thin chickpea flatbread”.

Cantina del Vigía

Restaurant · Punta del Este

Tony and friends ate a feast of empanadas with corn and shredded, slow-cooked beef; goat cheese and spinach croquettes; fried fish; provoleta (bubbling cheese that “puffs up and inflates on the plate”); whole roasted suckling wild boar; whole roasted fish; beef milanesa covered in tomato sauce, ham, and shredded cheese. Dinner dates: Nacho, Diego Robino, film producer and occasional fisherman; Clo Dimet, chef and owner of Hotel Posada Paradiso.

PARTS UNKNOWN

Las Nenas Steak House

Permanently Closed

Tony, Nacho, and Diego went to this drive through to have skirt steak and ribeye, french fries, blood sausages, and beer.

Parador La Huella

Restaurant · Garzón

Tony ate with the owners of this place. They had whole fish baked in salt, rib-eye steak, flank steak, suckling pig.