Tango show at Cafe Tortoni

Cafe Tortoni has been in business off and on for the last 150 years.   In the 30s and 40s it was a big literati hangout, frequented by the likes of Carlos Gardel, the famous tango singer, and the writer Jorge Luis Borges.

There are a ton of tourists who come here, but since Pedro, Wali and I came in the morning during the offseason, the place didn't seem overridden.  I had a delicious hot chocolate with churros that Amy P. would appreciate.

There are still a lot of old cafes and restaurants (usually known as bodegas)  that have a 1930's feel and the waiters in these places wear waiter suits straight out of the movies

In one of the back corners of Tortoni is an interesting papermache depiction of the literati in their native habitat :)  Not only is the architecture of the place gorgeous, but the walls are also covered with great painting by argentine artists throughout the ages.

This picture of Pedro and I is by the entrance to the library/museum in the back, a room that used to be a barber shop.

It was lucky that we stopped by Tortoni in the morning.  Even though October is the off-season, tickets go pretty quickly.  We bought the last 2 for that evening's show at 11 am.

At the show we ordered a plate of appetizers.  Note dishes from left to right: diced ham mixed with red bell pepper and olive oil, potato salad, hard boiled quail eggs (salty!), ham & cheese cubes, salami, salami, salami.  Did anybody mention that argentinians like meat?

The tango show was performed in the basement of Cafe Tortoni, a cabaret set-up.  The performance was composed of loose dramatic scenes: a turn-of the century brothel, a milonga nightclub, etc, and was performed by 4 couples dancing, a singer and a tango quartet (piano, bass, bandoneon, violin).  The music was great, the dancing impressive (especially the milonga, which is basically tango on amphetamines), and the dramatic setup silly but fun.

At one point in the show the mc asked how many argentinians were in the audience and all of 5 people raised there hands.  I have to give Tortoni credit though; all of the performance was in spanish, no pandering in english even when it came time to hawk the dvds of the show.  We happened to sit at the same table as two woman from Salta (northern argentina) who were unbelievably friendly.  The older woman was around 75 years old and within 5 minutes had invited us to her house for homemade empanadas when we get to Salta.  Within 15 minutes she invited us to stay at her house, and within 20 minutes she had even offered to lend us her car.  Amazingly friendly people those northerners, can't wait to get up there!