Founded in 1982 by local poet Rubén Derlis, this café once served as a meeting place for writers, artists, and left-leaning thinkers anxious to speak freely after years of fear and oppression under Argentina’s late-’70s military dictatorships. Order the picada, a charcuterie and cheese sampler; lubricate with a traditional local-favorite drink like a Fernet-and-Coke or a Cynar, the tangy artichoke liqueur mixed with pomelo, a sour, grapefruit-flavored soda. Wood paneling and exposed brick, walls covered in photographs, and shelves packed with antique objets make La Poesía an inviting space to linger over a book from the lending library or listen to the live tango music played on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
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Café La Poesía
Vie de bohème awaits at this most literary of cafés, within a delightful nineteenth-century structure; poetry abounds on bookshelves crammed with literary titles alongside wine bottles, portraits of great scriveners, and thinkers, plus a straightforward menu heavy on pizza, pasta and cheese. Poet Rubén Derlis opened La Poesía in 1982 and the nostalgic vibe flourished around intellectuals that gathered there to solve the world’s problems, cultivate audiences and carp about others’ work.
Delicious: Cappuccino
One of the most delightful things I discovered in Buenos Aires was that steaming cups of cappuccinos were often accompanied by tiny scoops of vanilla gelato to help cool and sweeten it- two treats in one!
