haven’t uncovered much using forum search, all suggestions are welcome!
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here’s a link to an epic @small_h lima trip report:
and @JenKalb was good enough to provide this info about iguazu falls:
the restos we went to and enjoyed in Puerto Iguazu were Aqva (where I had the good river fish) and which was a nice casual airy modern place and La Rueda 1975, which was more traditional argentine food. The guesthouse (good breakfast there, prepared by owner) was secluded and it was possible to walk to our evening restos from there, Rincón Escondido Iguazú. There is also a very nice hummingbird viewing set up within a garden in the town, where it is very pleasant to sit and watch the birds. Needs reserving I think our guide called and set it up, Jardin de los Picaflores. The falls are amazing both sides are good,
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B and I went to Iguazu Falls in 2012 (!) before we had our kid. We had a blast (our itinerary included Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, a sliver of Patagonia [Argentine side], Ushuaia but didn’t go to Antarctica). We were just talking about taking him to Iguazu. We went to the Argentine side of Iguazu because we’d heard from fellow travelers that there was some trouble with passports/visas on the Brazilian side (some authorities were trying to get bribes by asking for and then withholding passports). And the Argentine side is supposedly for the more adventurous traveler (ie, you’re up-close-and-personal with the falls and you will get soaked, which was so much fun, no joke). We were traveling independently and not with a tour group so if you’re with a group, the passport thing-y might be a non-issue (and my experience is now almost 14 years old).
Honestly, I don’t think we ate anywhere near there and if we did, I don’t remember. We were too enthralled by the falls!
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Aguas Calientes (the town below Machu Pichu) exist purely for tourists staying overnight to visit Machu Picchu. The food options are primarily catered towards gringos.
Ollantaytambo, which is a major stop in the Sacred Valley, also got a lot of tourist traffic during the day but real people do live there.
In both, try the market if you want something for the locals. Also, walk around and look for cheap menú del días in Ollantaytambo. Those are geared towards the locals. I enjoyed the many menu del dias I ate. Nothing fancy, but its not gringo food.
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we went to the Falls in 2023. they had had a big flood and much of the infrastructure to get you close down to the falls on the Argentine side had been destroyed. You could still take a boat through the falls area and there were bridges out over the water on the Brazilian side where you could go out and get the spray all over you, It was not a hot day and we did not go far out there- not a camera friendly environment!
there is a funny border crossing process but it was handled by our local guide so I don’t remember the details, but it was not a problem - we just went over to Brazil for an afternoon. The convergence of these huge rivers and 3 countries and the falls was just awesome, and the wildlife etc was pretty cool as well. As I mentioned we liked the town Puerto Iguazu on the Argentine side - staying in a pleasant town that was walkable vs a hotel along a highway was pleasing.
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I’ve been researching beuenos aires steak houses, the obvious choice is don juio, but I’m thinking something a little more local. Over the course of my research, discovered the Pick Up the Fork site and substack, subscribed to the substack:
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not related to buenos aires, - this guy is a lunatic but does his research well - you might find something in this pile of youtube material if you can stand the way he talks while he stuffs it in!
https://www.youtube.com/@MarkWiens/search?query=south%20america
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Thanks, Jen. I can’t remember what I was searching for, but I’ve definitely run into his videos before. He’s knowledgeable, successful, and massively popular but the relentless, wide-eyed earnestness just hits my NYC nervous system the wrong way.
My foodie version of hell would be being forced to watch his videos Clockwork Orange–style for eternity 
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for those traveling to BA, I’ve come to realize the Allie Lazar substack for $5/month is an incredible find. She has a recent article for first time visitors, which contains a google map of her favorite places and a number of lesser known recommendations for parrilla.
I wonder how much marital coin it would take to get my wife here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CyBabTtL6gG
best,
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Lucky you!
Order at least one or 2 choripans for me, please.
Try the various regional empanadas when you see them, if empanadas float your boat.
I look forward to your trip report!
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Depends on whether she needs to look in the back or just eat some of the goodies 
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After some research, I’ve come to realize that all the marital coin in the world won’t get my wife there.
To be fair, it’s a 45-minute drive from our hotel, and that video seems to have brought a deluge of influencers (and their ring lights) to the place so it’s probably best to spend marital coin on something else… maybe roast cuy.
There’s a popular retirement book, Die With Zero, about maximizing life experiences rather than dying with a large portfolio. It occurs to me the same philosophy should be applied to marital coin 
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Between the cuy and the picanha, I’d be on the picanha side of coin spend, but then you do know mrs. v better 
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The plan is to slowly desensitize my wife to cuy via yutube videos of cheerful locals calmly eating what is, for all intents and purposes, a roasted Muppet. Then, at the moment of peak discomfort, pivot to picanha as the sensible, mature, compromise choice. Ideally this maneuver unlocks permission for one maybe two additional parrilla in Buenos Aires.
I imagine the conversation going something like this:
Me: This parrilla is phenomenal. God, I hope we enjoy roast cuy as much as this steak.
Wife: I’ll probably order something else.
Me: Excellent instinct. We’ll share. say one roast cuy, one fried cuy. I hear you get to choose your cuy, like the fish tanks in Chinatown, but furrier.
Wife: No. I mean something other than cuy.
Me: That feels like an insensitive rejection of the local culture. Maybe we skip the cuy and just add another parrilla?
Wife: I don’t know. It seems like we’re eating a lot of beef.
Me: That’s fair. Okay. Cuy it is.
Wife: Let me know how that works out for you.
Me: We’re in Argentina. Bourdain said he cried when he got back to New York and saw a vegetable. they just don’t serve them here
Wife: Funny you should mention that. I found five excellent sushi restaurants.
Me: Okay, how about two more parrillas, one sushi restaurant, and I promise to watch you eat a salad.
Wife: How about two sushi restaurants, and you eat cuy alone like a man who made a series of very specific decisions?
in the end, the compromise will probably be letting me order dessert.
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She will get back at you by making you eat the pizza (though fugazza sounds pretty good). And pasta, doused in cream sauce (also tasty, though not so good for your longevity, not unlike the cuy conversation).
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IMO the random pasta down there is not so good. Its really like you fell back into the 50s and it was overcooked and the sauce is using domestic cheese not parm or pecorino from italy and not necessarily imported olive oil, either, but hey I did not go to upscale places with imported chefs so maybe my experience is atypical for a picky diner, I would select my place carefully and not expect a place that served steaks would also serve good pasta, I think your dear wife will find fish and other things on menus so you dont have to resort to sushi, there are fisheries down there at least seasonably.
I had picanha at a parilla in San Martin des Andes (Argentina)- they warned me it might taste livery (I like liver) IIts a very lean cut and it did have a very strong iron flavor. Have you had it before?
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well…are we talking about the same cut that is served at fogo cause I’ve eaten an embarrasing amount of that but isn’t pichana a brazilan cut? oh, wait, I see, I started the confusion with my “pivot to picanha” idea…my bad, I guess I got carried away by the alliteration appeal.
anyhow, here’s the Argentinian bingo card, hoping to cross them all off the list!
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well look why dont you ignore my comment, its probably a mistaken recollection and of a different cut. I cant find any notes or pix to verify one way or the other, Sorry. I think you are going to find great food in BA and have a lot of fun if you go As I recall, my friends who took a couple of days there enjoyed the art museums too, - I spent all my free time in the nature reserve on the coast, right in the center of town near where we were staying.
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Yes, many times, though not in Argentina. You’ve had a version of it if you’ve eaten tri-tip.
@vinouspleasure I don’t think it shows on that diagram, but it’s Tapa de cuadril — visually, I thought it was #8 Culota de cuadril but maybe that’s similar but not identical given regional butchering differences?
I was joking. (A vegetarian nephew visited Argentina last year and had a tough time reconciling the pizza and pasta to what he recognizes. He eats meat now, and I told him he needs to go back pronto to fix his food memories of the place.)
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