Merry Happy everything, and a meeting point for New Year´s

Well, it´s time to give in and enjoy the holidays, after so much and running and stressing.

Right before we close shop for the day, figuratively speaking, I wanted to go ahead with someone´s suggestion (was it Alicia?) and remind everyone of New Year´s Eve´s festivities at the harbor promenade across from Isidora and Lo de Tere.

It´s free if you have dinner elsewhere, just bring your own bottle(s) of champagne, dress in white if you can, scream at the count down, enjoy the fireworks and dance away afterwards.

If you want to meet other English speakers in the area, the meeting point is the sidewalk across the street from the restaurants Isidora and Lo de Tere. Party on!

Catering in Punta del Este

For personal and business reasons I often require catering services or have the chance to taste the fruits of their labors, so I thought it would be good to mention a few. Budgets vary widely, and so do style, quality of the food, staff, etc.


First off, among the Punta del Este English Speakers´ Club membership there is Vivian Tausk, who in addition to speaking many languages is also fluent in Middle Eastern food as well as international cuisine. 094 720054



Next I have to mention Portas, whom we have used over and over again for many years. Portas is a traditional "confiteria" from Maldonado, that is, a bakery with party service, as they say in Uruguay. In our experience what distinguishes Portas is its extremely reasonable prices (cheap) and the dependability of its service. The food tends to be old fashioned, unimaginative and not too high quality, so we use them for "infrastructure" as I say, and their freshly baked bread. They bring drinks "on consignment," meaning anything not consumed goes back with them. Because they are so reasonable we use them often, and provide the food ourselves or from a different caterer. 
221733 or 225660


Another favorite in the budget category is La Sandwichería, which to my surprise has gone upmarket with fancy schmanzy catering services and, as they themselves advertise, "eventing" which I refuse to accept as a word. As their name implies, their traditional fare is cocktail sandwiches, pretty delicious. 

But I had the chance of sampling their "eventing" a couple nights ago and was most impressed by their service as well as by some of the food. The pasta was tasty, the fried leeks rolls were weird, the "asian" chicken with vegetables looked unappetizing. Again, I would keep them in mind for service and sandwiches and I would request a sampling of other stuff, to stay on the safe side. No idea how their prices are because we always buy only sandwiches from them.
(042) 243993 or 094 298299


On a very homey note there´s the duo of Silvana and Simon, formerly of Piriapolis, formerly of Spain and formerly of Uruguay and England respectively. Silvana is a great cook and Simon is a very affable guy, so you feel like you have a couple of friends taking care of everything, rather than more formal waiters running around. Also very reasonable in cost. 099518662

On the higher end of the spectrum, we tried and hired View Point on several occasions last year and found it to be outstanding. View Point has a restaurant on Calle 20, and across the street a coffee shop with delicious pastries and sandwiches. The catering is as expensive as it gets in Uruguay, but the food is outstanding and the service is very professional. They are very meticulous with the preparations, including a tasting at the restaurant. 448015 or 448016



Another option is to resort to Montevideo caterers. Lo de Mechi is known for their delicious desserts, cakes and petit fours. We often have stuff brought from them for cocktail parties, for example. Their mousse de maracujá is awsome, as is their mousse de dulce de leche. The petit fours are incredible. The savory finger food is not so impressive. Price-wise it´s not cheap but great value and half the cost of anything comparable in Punta del Este.

02 6010720

Another excellent option in the "fancy" category is Elena Tejeira. We have hired her services in the past for an event with our most demanding clientele and got nothing but compliments throughout the day. The food was original and delicious and the service was top notch. The only thing is that once you add all the extra costs due to their "traveling" from Montevideo to Punta del Este, the refrigerated truck, etc., the cost is the same as View Point. But I will definitely hire them again at some point.

Our year-end bashes: a review

We watched this baby enter the Punta del Este bay on Monday at noon.

A review with few pictures because this pathetic blogger didn't manage to charge her camera! There must be pictures out there from Saturday night, and I have received a few from Silvia Haas taken Monday morning.

Saturday's dinner was epic in more ways than one. To begin with, Doris Hernandez, who was the hostess, had provided a Plan B location in case it rained. So it poured, and we proceeded to our indoor facility, graciously offered by David and Maria Malel, he a Uruguayan returnee, she, Australian, and both recent arrivals. The Malels and Doris were prepared for the confirmed list, but we were actually receiving confirmations until the very last minute, and some might even have showed up without one.

In the end, there were 75 of us, including a few children and teenagers. The place was bursting with people, and did I see Irv bring up a chair from his car or something? As usual, the food was plentiful, extremely diverse and delicious, and once again we got to meet some new people. I have to confess I am having a hard time keeping up with the new names all the time. For example, who was the American gentleman referring to his wife, Tammy, as "My Tamisita"? I can't remember his name, and I think it was the first time I met them, but I'm not too sure.

I met a couple from Romania via Canada (everyone from an exotic country is always "via Canada") who have bought a nice new condo and plan to spend time "in crescendo" in Punta del Este, culminating in retirement in a few years. There was also a lovely couple of visitors, he Uruguayan, she Polish, but long time residents in the U.S., currently in New Hampshire. They sound like they will be spending more time around us. 

By the way, there are a few items in "lost and found" held by Doris, so get in touch with her to claim them.

We hadn't had enough socializing, no. So yesterday morning we filed onto the terrace at Las Ostras to do some further chatting. As usual, there were some new people there, such as a Dutch artist who lives in Rocha town and who was happy to encounter Paul and Frances, two unrelated Dutch regulars in our group. Also the nice friend of Neal and Karen -- Neil is doing much better, btw, will be going home in a couple of days -- visiting from San Diego and apparently having no trouble at all finding his way around.

Las Ostras has the undisputed amazing location. Their terrace is huge, with 180 degree ocean, island and bay views, so despite our numbers -- somewhere around 40 of us, I would guess -- we took up just a fraction of the terrace. The day was unbelievably beautiful, which seems to be the case on our Monday meetings, so we spent a good 3 hours, and enjoyed a delicious lunch sandwich of chicken, zucchini and mozzarella on whole wheat pita bread, plus a complimentary basket of pao de queijo, the Brazilian cheese puffs. The prices were reasonable, and the service were very understanding, freaking out at the notion of individual checks, but smiling till the end. They say they will have us again, so we may come back in February. 

All around, a great way to bid farewell to 2009...

News in real-estate

Le Bleu, at the harbor

A couple of real-estate news items caught my eye today, thought they were worth sharing.

One is that Arnold Palmer is to design the golf course at the Las Piedras resort, according to Blogolfe, a Brazilian golf blog, which claims that Palmer has acquired a property on the much talked about Fasano development in rural La Barra.

Why am I so excited about Las Piedras? The project operates in the upper echelons of the luxury category, with several brand names involved. Las Piedras is developed by the Fasano group, owners of the hottest boutique hotels in Sao Paulo and Rio, and of the best restaurants in Sao Paulo. Fasano was actually bought out recently by JHSF Participacoes, a leadng Brazilian real-estate developer. For Las Piedras the group has hired Brazilian architect Isay Weifeld, of the Havaianas store fame. So in addition to a top-notch restaurant and what will be a beautiful hotel, no doubt, Punta del Este will have a much needed new golf course, designed by a golf icon. Not too shabby. The project involves 205 villas set in a 400 hectare property on the Cerro Eguzquiza, of which only 30% will be developed.

A true believer in "trickle-down economics," I am confident I will be able to take advantage of some winter special promotion at the restaurant, for example, or of being invited to some event at the hotel´s bar. I will enjoy it one way or another, you´ll see...

The other interesting bit of news is that the condo building on the harbor promenade where Blue Cheese used to be appears to be on again, after a loooong hiatus that left neighbors fearing the excavation for the foundations was to be their view forever...

Le Bleu is designed by Carlos Ott, our number two star architect after superstar Viñoly, of the controversial Acqua. Maybe not to be outdone in the "super expensive condos with own pools," this one will have individual swimming-pools in every unit, visible from the street. Scary but nice looking... Prices start at either $1.5 or $1.9 million, depending on the various sources. Units go from 380 m2 to 580m2, and there´s only five units in the whole building, so hurry up and reserve yours!

New venue for Saturday´s dinner

And yes, it is Saturday the 19th...

Below is Doris´explanation and directions for the dinner

Dear friends, In view of the gloomy weather forecast for tomorrow evening (rain), we’ve had to resort to “plan B” and change the venue for our end-of-year pot-luck dinner party.

The alternative location has been graciously offered by David and Maria Malel (Uruguayan-Australian), who own a place called “Ta’ Salao” on Victor Hugo Avenue close to the corner of Shakespeare street, in the “Jardines de Córdoba” neighbourhood (see the attached plan, and the directions given below).

It’s the fourth house on the right before the corner of Shakespeare; a thatched-roof house up on a hillock. Date and time remain the same: Saturday, Dec. 19, at 8 p.m. Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow! Doris Cel. 099 190 201

Directions to get to “Ta’Salao”:
a) If you are coming from La Barra,

• After passing the San Rafael Hotel, turn inland on Avenida del Mar and drive for about two miles until you get to Bulevar Artigas.
• Take Bulevar Artigas to your right (there’s no other choice) and turn right onto a two-way avenue called “Victor Hugo”.
• Drive for about 3 blocks and you will see “Ta Salao” on your right.

b) If you are coming from Punta del Este:

• Take Bulevar Artigas towards Maldonado.
• Go one block past the Avenida del Mar roundabout, and make a right onto a two-way avenue called “Victor Hugo”.
• Drive for about 3 blocks and you will see “Ta Salao” on your right.

c) If you are coming along the Mansa beach, or from Punta Ballena:

• Turn inland at the traffic lights on Parada 24 of the Mansa Beach, into Avenida España.
• At the first roundabout, turn right on Roosevelt Avenue.
• On the crossing with Bulevar Artigas (after passing the Devoto Supermarket) make a left at the round-about into Bulevar Artigas heading towards Maldonado.
• Go one block past the Avenida del Mar roundabout, and make a right onto a two-way avenue called “Victor Hugo”.
• Drive for about 3 blocks and you will see “Ta Salao” on your right.

Open skies for Punta del Este airport! Hip, hip, hurrah!

I have often ranted about the moronic decision by whomever takes those decisions to have Punta del Este airport reduced to a local landing strip. As a result, people travel here not when they would like to, but when they can find a seat, which is a rare occurrence that comes at a steep price (I recently flew to Buenos Aires round trip for USD400).

Well, this is about to improve, as national aviation authorities have approved operating Punta del Este airport in open skies mode during the high season, from Dec. 20 through March 15. It´s a start. According to press reports, any airline will be allowed to land in Punta del Este subject to a 24 hour application/notice process.

Authorities also allowed BQB (Buquebus airline) to operate the Punta del Este-Cordoba and Punta del Este-Rosario routes with Argentina (the second and third largest sources of Argentine tourists after Buenos Aires), as well as Montevideo-Ezeiza (the international airport in Buenos Aires).

In addition, a third airline, Sol, which already operates in Argentina, was also allowed to fly the same Punta del Este-Córdoba and Rosario routes through March 15, in addition to Montevideo-Buenos Aires and Montevideo-Madrid.

And, uhhh, yes, the Montevideo airport´s new terminal´s opening date has been postponed again, this time without a new deadline to blow. Its inauguration is now "imminent" but not so imminent as Dec. 15, as previously planned. Originally the terminal was set to open in October, then November, then December. It´s hard to see how they could possibly accomplish the transfer from one terminal to the other in the middle of the holiday season, so my bet is mid to late January.

Corrected details of our December dinner

I don´t know what I was thinking, but all key details came out wrong... The right time of our potluck dinner at Doris´ on Saturday, the 18th, is 8 pm, not earlier. 

And the food contribution, which reads like it should be something for the grill exclusively, is actually anything you want, from snacks to side dishes, salads, desserts, etc....