Last week, I found my way to Standard Restaurant in Palermo Hollywood -a cleverly designed cozy corner restaurant with beautiful lighting that really added to the modern ambiance. The tall walls were covered in wood to their height of approximately four meters high and the warmth radiated with the correct usage of lighting and mirrors that sufficiently opened the space and reflected the tree lined street just outside. Although the female servers’ uniforms were slightly reminiscent of Amish frocks, they seemed to move about the table well – doing their jobs pleasantly and efficiently. So there’s the setting – are you there? Let me tell you a little bit about the food now.

To be honest, I tend to be a little skeptical about restaurants in Palermo Hollywood because with so much competition, oftentimes restaurants in this area attempt to attract a high volume of visitors using the gimmick of being different – unfortunately, sometimes they loose out because although they succeed at being different, they fail miserably trying to be good at providing quality services and cuisine.

Perhaps the people at Standard Restaurant realized that and decided to go – for lack of better words – standard. Just give me good service, not-outrageous food and a nice place to sit and people watch – and maybe, just maybe I’ll enjoy myself. I wasn’t overly focused on anything in particular in the restaurant, but instead had the wonderful opportunity to enjoy my friends that night.

The bread was homemade and delicious – however served in little paper boxes. My first thought was, “Oh my God, I hope they don’t serve my food on paper plates too”. It was probably an overreaction – but hey – I think we can all stand to conserve a little waste and not use paper as much as possible..T

We started off with some delicious fried empanadas, balls of meat in fried bread (oh yeah, we were on a health kick) and a fresh salmon and bread combination. There were five people dining with me that night – three of us ordered the braised lamb with vegetables in a mustard sauce – which was cooked to a perfection (and consequently not served on paper plates). Two of us ordered the cured bondiola de cerdo (pork shoulder) and one ordered whitefish over rice (which really had ore of a risotto consistency).

The few things about the food that surprised me – a few of us agreed that the lamb didn’t really have a lamb flavor. Instead it had the subtle flavors of a beef. I’m not implying that it wasn’t in fact lamb, I’m just saying that it just didn’t have that taste to which I am accustomed. It was very delicious though. The bondiola de cerdo (pork shoulder) was cured to the point where it had the soft consistency of a Christmas ham. It came laid over shredded boiled cabbage which was an exquisite combination. The fish plate was very nice as well. The idea was simple – a grilled filet of whitefish over risotto with a simple lemon seasoning. Not one of the dishes was over or undercooked – the foods were consistently seasoned and none of the meats that we tried that night were dry. Overall, I think it’s pretty obvious that chef Santiago Garat knows what he’s doing there.

Standard Restaurant is open Mondays to Saturdays for lunch and dinner.

(Located on the corner of Guatemala and Fitz Roy / 4779-2774)

Popularity: 5% [?]