Oh, the medialuna. The quintessential factura (pastry) of Argentina. It’s essentially a croissant (which you can get sweet or not sweet), but really, it’s so much more. When we first arrived in Buenos Aires, I tried a few medialunas here and there and just wasn’t really feeling it. There were so many other pastries that seemed to be calling my name. But I guess I was just not eating the right ones.
It took my friend, Jerry, to point me in the right direction. To a random grocery store of all places. Supermercado Coral at Jorge L. Borges 1868, to be exact (thanks, Julia!) And that is where I really fell in love with medialunas. Buttery. Light yet dense at the same time. Sweet but not too sweet. The store was also on the way to my son’s jardin, so I passed it not once, not twice, but *four* times on a daily basis. And we all know my willpower when it comes to anything dough/bread related is only so strong (as in: not strong at all), so I inevitably stopped in, well, pretty much on a daily basis.
There are a few other places people swear by*, but I’m sticking to my supermercado medialunas. And if you’re in Buenos Aires (or planning a trip there), don’t miss out. Trust.
On a whim, I just did a quick Google search for medialunas in NYC and discovered a little colony of panaderias out in Queens. Rio de la Plata and La Nueva Bakery (which looks to be a mix of Argentine and other South American foods) both look promising. This is good news. Panaderias…in the tri-state area! OK, they’re waaay out in Queens, but I may just have to make a trek out there to see if we can’t find a little piece of Buenos Aires in New York City.
I’d love to hear about your favorite medialuna — in Buenos Aires or anywhere else for that matter. Let us know where we can get our butter/sugar/dough fix the world over. Consider it community service.
* Domani, Salguero 3000: in the words of my friend Nadia, this is an “unfashionable” family-style pizzeria in Palermo; but their secret is that they bake the medialunas in the pizza oven. They are delish; a bit sweeter and softer than the ones from the supermercado. They apparently supply some pretty posh restaurants with their medialunas and are up-and-coming.
Croque Madame is a small chain of three French-style patisseries (there’s one in the Museo de Arte Decorativo). While we’re not 100% sure they make they’re own medialunas, they seem to be homemade. Fresh and doughy, but a bit lighter and softer than the Domani ones.
Some people believe that the only place to get a really proper medialuna is at the five-star Recoleta hotels where they have highly trained pastry chefs, such as the Hyatt Palacio Duhau or the Four Seasons, but we all know it’s someone’s grandma who is really doing it right.
