Rincón Argentino

01What to order

• Bife de chorizo, 400 g / 14 oz or 800 g / 28 ozMXN 985 for 400 g / 14 oz and MXN 1,795 for 800 g / 28 oz; the bone-in version of 800 g / 28 oz is MXN 1,725. There are seven formats in all, up to a 1,200 g / 2.6 lb center cut at MXN 3,465.
• Parrillada Rincón, 2,000 g / 4.4 lbMXN 2,325. Bife de chorizo, churrasco, asado de tira, vacío and filet on one platter.
• Parrillada mixta, 1,500 g / 3.3 lbMXN 1,745. Chorizo, Spanish chistorra, tapa de asado, vacío, chicken breast, nopales and spring onion.
• Vacío, 400 g / 14 oz or 800 g / 28 ozMXN 795 and MXN 1,345.
• Asado de tira, 400 g / 14 oz or 800 g / 28 ozMXN 585 and MXN 1,045, the lowest-priced beef cut on the grill list.
• Entraña, 400 g / 14 oz or 800 g / 28 ozMXN 915 and MXN 1,715.
• EmpanadasNine kinds at MXN 120 to MXN 148, among them classic beef, humita, shrimp in puff pastry, and an azteca with mushroom and squash blossom.

02The beef

The grill list is built by cut and by size: chico at 400 g / 14 oz, grande at 800 g / 28 oz, and for several cuts a special at 1,200 g / 2.6 lb. Besides bife de chorizo it carries bife de lomo, bife angosto, entraña, vacío, asado de tira, tapa de asado, picaña, a bife de costilla "T" of 800 g / 28 oz, a churrasco of 800 g / 28 oz and a costilla prime of 1,600 g / 3.5 lb. Doneness runs from rojo to bien cocido, with medio and tres cuartos between. Weights are raw and prices include IVA. The menu names no origin, breed, grade or aging. In 2011 Warman listed bife de chorizo, vacío, costillar, lomos, lamb leg, Argentine chorizo, sweetbreads and kidneys.

03The fire

The menu has a section called Parrilla, and the house sells its sharing platters as parrilladas. No source describes the grill or names the fuel, charcoal or wood. Warman wrote that the family needed a warehouse near Polanco to hold tons of meat, which says something about scale and nothing about fire.

04The story

Warman traces the family business to 1962 and describes the first Rincón as a takeout counter with a bar on Lope de Vega, run by Juan Carlos Malazzo, a former footballer who had played in Mexico for Toluca, Atlante and Tampico, and by his wife Martha in the kitchen. Demand took it from four tables to twenty, and then to Masaryk, a space about twenty times larger, in a former hamburger restaurant, where he counted around 800 diners. The family later added La Bodega de los Malazzo and Spuntino. Chilango later listed a Santa Fe branch. The Lope de Vega counter, the Masaryk dining room and today's reservations by WhatsApp are one family business in three forms; only its starting year is in dispute.

05The practical

Presidente Masaryk 177, Polanco, CP 11570, Mexico City, between Hegel and Lamartine according to OpenTable. Reservations by WhatsApp at +52 55 5418 0796 or by email; the website publishes no opening hours. OpenTable lists a smart-casual dress code. Chilango noted in 2009 that the house has never been cheap and has a children's area on weekends; that was 2009, and Steakpedia has not confirmed either since.

Address

Av. Presidente Masaryk 177, Polanco, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City

Phone

+52 55 5418 0796

Website

rinconargentino.mx

Directions

Google Maps ↗

06In Mexico City’s selections