Nifty little coffee house in Palermo Soho.
Their iced coffee is absolutely first rate.
They were playing very cool Argentinian reggae when I was there.
* * *
Good music in your coffee house and a good iced coffee usually gets you four stars.
What bumps this place to five stars?
They do an outstanding house variation on a medialuna.
Medialunas are usually no thrill.
Having a medialuna that gives your establishment an extra star really really means something.
* * *
Medialunas (Half Moons) are Argentina's answer to a croissant.
However Argentina also does croissants that they call croissants.
What makes a medialuna a medialuna rather than a croissant is that it is sweet.
There are all sorts of debates about whether medialunas are better made with butter or lard.
I don't have a dog in that fight.
My take is that most medialunas
Whether made with butter, lard or your grandmother's special croissant glue
Are pretty boring.
They are a sweet heavy lump to have with breakfast.
(For a related theme, see Alfajores if you are in Argentina,
Or if you are in the United States, see Donuts.)
So a medialuna really needs to be something amazing to make Samuel C. happy.
* * *
They have a medialuna at Boga which is half covered with a heavy dark chocolate..
Inside the medialuna is a thin thin piping of hazelnut cream.
Not an ooey-gooey spill all over the place cream filling like a Boston Cream Pie donut.
There is very little hazelnut cream in this croissant.
You have to find it.
The hazelnut cream is intense and good.
The medialuna is awesome with just the pastry and the half covering of dark chocolate.
The medialuna is absolutely positively insane when you get one of the bites with a thin drop of hazelnut.
A third of an espresso spoon of hazelnut creme can send you to bliss.
In the Architect's Cafe in Heaven, you can hear Mies Van Der Rohe saying:
"Less is more."
* * *
The decoration of this place is also first rate.
It is in Palermo Soho which is the kind of neighborhood where cool girls shop.
Palermo Soho girls are
Too real-world for Versace
Too normal for Goth
But are still well financed by their dads.
Clothing stores abound, along with accessory stores, cool bars, and coffee shops like Boga.
No surprise, Boga is Danish modern with white paint and light woods.
However in one corner, there are a set of tables with leather barrel chairs, all about one foot high.
The tiny tables and the mini leather chairs are for the kids.
They get special tables and chairs to sit among themselves while their chic mothers socialize.
Better yet,
Boga puts a set of pastry cases down at the one foot level so the little kids can see what they can possibly have.
No surprise, the one foot pastry cases contain spectacular whipped creamy ooey-gooey treats.
More modest fare such as chocolate chip cookies are sold up at the adult level.
Still the children's corner is completely cool.
This is major kindergarten heaven.
* * *
Great coffee, amazing medialunas, cute furniture and a great playlist?
I gotta love this place.
American yuppies - don't even think about bringing your laptop to this coffee house.
This place is for social life, resting during your shopping trips and having fun.
If you want to get work done in a Buenos Aires coffee house, go to one of the many Cafe Martinez's.
Cafe Martinez's have sockets and worktables everywhere.
They are designed for the meganerd who wants coffee.
Do you want to have enjoy the good life and enjoy the sensual pleasures of Palermo Soho?
Go to Boga Cafe y Vino.
Hazelnut creme is the stuff of love. read more
