The Smash Burger in Buenos Aires Has Arrived, and Two Spots Near My House Are Making the Case

Buenos Aires has already done this once.

Not the McDonald's version, not the frozen-patty-in-a-café version. Actual burgers. La Birra Bar, which my grillmaster once pushed me to trek out to when it was a tiny, easy-to-miss spot in Boedo, on the border with San Cristóbal, went on to win the Dubai Burger Championship and land at number seven on the World's Best Burger list, best in South America. The site has the original location listed as Mataderos, which it wasn't, but I'll let that slide given that they got the important part right. Besides, they do now have a location in Mataderos. I went back to another location later and something had gotten lost, which, for what it's worth, the people handing out trophies seem to agree is a risk once you start expanding. But that first burger at the original? Still think about it. Then there's The Flour Store, which I keep returning to partly for the craft beer selection and partly because of a menu item called the Spicy Apple Pie burger. I know how that sounds. I had the same reaction the first time I saw it, turning it over in my head, trying to figure out how it could possibly work. Sweet? Spicy? Both? I ordered it immediately, because it was obviously taking up too much brain space not to. You can actually taste apple from a bit of apple sauce, it's spicy, and it goes very well with a good craft beer. It's easily one of my top local spots. Fat Broder belongs on that list too.

So Buenos Aires has been through a burger phase. This isn't new.

What's new is this version of it. Smaller places. Shorter menus. Smash patties pressed hard on a flat top until the edges go thin and lacy and almost crispy. A second wave, and in some cases a better one.

I got a proper look at it recently, thanks to my friend Dan Perlman. Dan is a retired chef and sommelier from Michigan who has been living in Buenos Aires for going on two decades and eating seriously the entire time. He runs a Substack called Don't Fry For Me Argentina, and he's been working through the current Buenos Aires smash burger scene methodically. He pulled me in for two stops that happen to be within walking distance of my house. Both landed on his list. One of them landed very near the top.

For his full roundup, including several spots I haven't gotten to yet, head over to Dan's post on Substack. He covers more ground than I do here and brings context going back to his first Buenos Aires burger review in 2006. Worth reading in full.

Grasa, Villa Crespo: A Smash Burger Buenos Aires Has Been Waiting For

I had walked past the space that is now Grasa more times than I can count. For a while it was a bar with no signage and no apparent customers. I would always slow down when walking past and try to sneak a peak into what this place was trying to be. Something was always about to open, or had recently closed, or existed in some ambiguous third state. So when Dan sent me the address and I recognized it immediately, I felt a small jolt of satisfaction. Something had finally happened to that place.

Early evening at Grasa. By the time we finished eating, every one of those tables was full and there was a line.

Dan describes it as "a space for the 30+ set who want a burger, want a glass of wine or vermouth, and don't want to feel stuffed." That's exactly what it is. No takeout, no sprawling menu, no pretense. Acevedo 986, Villa Crespo.

We arrived a few minutes after their 7:30 p.m. opening. The room was maybe a quarter full. By 8:00 every seat was taken and there was a line out the door. Keep that in mind if you're planning to go.

The full Grasa menu. Two cheeseburgers, a Caesar salad, fries two ways, and a monthly special. That's it. That's the list.

The menu barely exists. Two burgers. That's it. One with lettuce, tomato, onion, and house sauce, which turned out to be basically mayo and ketchup, dialed in so it actually works. The other with onion, pickles, mustard, and ketchup. We both went with option one. Fries are a separate order, which I like philosophically: it keeps the burger honest. They come dusted in something green, maybe nori, maybe not, doesn't matter, because they're the kind of fries you keep eating without noticing until they're gone. There's also a truffle-parmesan-chive version if that's where your head is at. To drink: one beer, two wines by the glass, one vermouth, coke, water. They're not trying to do much, and that's exactly why it works.

The Grasa cheeseburger. Melted cheddar, Martin's potato roll, lacy edges underneath. Hard to argue with this.

This is proper smash. Crispy edges that give a little when you bite in, center still doing its job. Seasoned hard, in a way that makes you reach for the next bite before you've finished thinking about the last one. Dan thinks there's probably MSG in there. He's not complaining. Neither am I.

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Dan's burger open and ready; mine still wrapped. The fries between us didn't last long.

Burgers run 11,000 pesos simple, 14,000 double. Fries are 7,000. (If you're still figuring out how Argentine pesos work in practice, this guide will help.)

When we left, there was already a line of people outside waiting for their turn. Hungry people, standing in line, for a place that serves two burgers and some fries. That's the review.

Guita, Palermo: The Best Smash Burger in Buenos Aires? Possibly.

Sinclair 3263 is a strange address for a restaurant. Mid-block in a residential stretch of Palermo, just off Avenida Libertador, roughly across from the open-air food court at Paseo de la Infanta. The space is essentially a hallway squeezed between two building entrances. Every square centimeter is working.

Guita from the street. A hallway between two building entrances, putting every square centimeter to work.

For the backstory on the owners, read Dan's piece. It's worth it.

They're doing the same thing as Grasa. Strip it down, do less, get it right. Two regular cheeseburgers plus a rotating monthly special, which on our visit was a Korean-BLT with gochujang-glazed bacon, alioli, heirloom tomato, and lettuce. All three burgers at 12,000 pesos.

The full Guita menu. Three burgers, fries, drinks, soft serve. Everything fits in one frame, which tells you everything about the philosophy of this place.

I walked over with Palta, my dog, on a weekend morning. Dan was already there when we arrived. We ate outside on the street patio, which seemed like the only option given how narrow the place looks from the front. It wasn't until later that I realized there's actually indoor seating too. The space is just that deceptive from the street.

We ordered all three and split them. If you're going to do this properly, that's how you do it.

The best one, both times, was the Clásica. Ketchup and their mustard, which deserves a specific mention: it's not the sweet yellow mustard that shows up by default all over Argentina. It's a genuinely zingy, moderately hot yellow mustard, and it changes the burger in a way that matters.

The Clásica. Double patty, cheddar, those pickles, ketchup, and a mustard that actually bites back. The unanimous winner across both visits.

The Guita cheeseburger was close behind: beautifully seasoned, tangy pickles that are not the sweet pickles you find almost everywhere in Buenos Aires, red onion, cheddar, and their house sauce. The fries are 4,000 pesos and they earn every peso. Dan called the whole experience a "food orgasm," which is both accurate and, coming from a retired chef and sommelier, says something.

The Cheeseburger Guita, opened up. Double smash patties, cheddar melted all the way down. This is what 12,000 pesos looks like when it's working.

The Korean-BLT was the weakest. The gochujang bacon was present but mild, the heirloom tomatoes sweet and soft when you wanted acidity. The mustard on the Clásica delivered more heat than the Korean special did. Worth knowing before you order.

The Korean-BLT. Gochujang-glazed bacon, heirloom tomato, alioli. The tomatoes are mild and sweet when you want acidity. The classic beats it.

Palta got one french fry out of the deal. She seemed satisfied with the arrangement. Honestly, so was I.

The Second Boom

Dan has been writing about burgers in this city since 2006. He remembers when finding a decent hamburguesa here was a near impossible task: the beef too lean, the culture not there, the frozen-patty café burger the depressing norm. That era is over.

His full roundup also covers What the Burger? in Belgrano and John John Burgers in Palermo, two spots I haven't made it to yet but intend to. For the complete picture, read Meated Rivalry on his Substack.

As for me: I don't have enough stamps in my burger passport yet to start a proper ranking. But if you're in the neighborhood and you want a smash burger in Buenos Aires that will make you forget every gray, sad hamburguesa this city used to serve? Start at Guita. Walk to Grasa next time. In that order, if you're asking.

And if it's the deeper Buenos Aires food experience you're after, asado over an open fire, the real chimichurri, a neighborhood that tells its story through what it eats, we can take care of that too.