Mengano

This unpretentious restaurant in the Palermo neighborhood—where you’ll need to ring the bell to get in—is a potentially good choice for its casual tapas and wide variety of traditional-style small plates. This bistro-style eatery, with the look and feel of a modest tavern—featuring old photos of the chef’s family on the walls—also has a small bar counter (with four stools) where guests can watch the kitchen team hard at work. The menu here centers on a concise à la carte selection that aims to blend local cuisine with tapas and more traditional dishes, always using fresh ingredients, with a nod to modernity and reasonably affordable prices. Dishes here include spicy meat empanaditas, pizza-style glazed pork belly with fainá flatbread, delicious lamb tartare on toast with quince cream, and, for dessert, the Rogel—a cookie from Santa Fe shaped like a tart with many crispy and crunchy layers.