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American Bar

Address: Av Roque Saenz Peña 632 – San Nicolás

Since its inauguration in 1930, it still keeps its original charm and decorative style. The impressive entrance wooden door, with bronze details and golden engraved glass, is the first of many details, such as the wooden bar, with a black granite top, and, also displaying bronze, the charming boisserie, the oils that register remembrances and pictures of Buenos Aires, and the three chandeliers with enormous crystal balls.
With these relics that keep the charm and glamour, this is one of those places that take us back to the typical porteño bar of those times of glory.
The wall holds a diploma through which this bar boasts about its importance in terms of the city’s history.

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Bar 36 Billares

Address: Av de Mayo 1265 / 71 – Monserrat

This is one of the “Bares Notables” (literally “remarkable bars”, were considered so by law because of their close relation to the local culture), named in allusion to the porteño tradition of playing billiards. It offers some rooms on the ground floor, “half-hidden” behind the wooden screen that separates the coffee room from the billiard tables.
Its inauguration took place in 1894, and still keeps the original features on the façade, such as the red granite an the three streetlamps illuminating the entrance. Its interior displays tables typical of old porteño cafés, red granite floors, and a boisserie with large grape bunches engraved on it. The entrance to the basement is indicated by a sign that says “3 bandas, libre, cuadro, cassin, snooker” (ways of playing billiards), giving access to another billiards section. The whole place is thought out to protect the privacy of the players by clearly dividing the bar from the playing room. The crash of the balls, the smell of coffee and the mystery disclose countless characters that constitute the living history of Buenos Aires.
There are performances of popular musicians (especially tango ones) from time to time.
Regarding the regular consumption, coffee is typical in the morning, and picadas and a good beer are strongly recommended for the afternoon and evening, especially in warm seasons.

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Los 36 Billares

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Bar 12 de Octubre

Address: Bulnes 331 – Almagro

It opened as a simple grocery store in 1930 under this name. However, it is popularly know as “El bar de Roberto” (Roberto’s bar), its owner, who has made this little place a home to his friends, putting his warmth into its manners and rituals. His passion for literature becomes evident by seeing the library “at hand” for those guests who wish spend their time reading a poem. It also displays old bottles of full-bodied drinks that accumulated as much dust as legends of the regular clients that would stop at the bar for a gin on their way to the “Mercado de Abasto” (the neighborhood was named after this whole-sale market, and it is located where the Abasto mall stands).
During the afternoon, the neighbors gather for a card game. And, from Thursday through Sunday, the night revives the bohemia of yesteryear, with rather young people that converge in search of the most genuine tango truth. All-time singers play “unplugged” some eternal classics, as well as some of those forgotten treasures that the audience sing along and celebrate. This is a genuine place where the porteño simplicity ritualizes through the meeting ceremony.

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La Esquina de Anibal Troilo

Address: Paraguay 1500 – Recoleta

As the story goes, this bar has been the source of inspiration for many of Great Anibal Troilo’s tangos; he would spend many hours here rehearsing drafts of scores, that is why this corner inherits his name.
On weekdays it is a typical “porteño” bar, becoming on Friday and Saturday nights a restaurant that offers a top-level international tango show.
The place displays pictures, objects, writings and scores belonging to the “Bandoneon Master” that keep him alive.

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