An Argentinean Steakhouse Transplant Shines

I grabbed a couple of friends and made an early visit to Graciela, the first American establishment of chef Pablo Rivera, who helms two celebrated restaurants in Buenos Aires — Don Julio and El Preferida. The place is loosely inspired by the ubiquitous steakhouses in that city, though we already have plenty of good facsimiles here, including Elmhurst’s La Fusta and the East Village’s Buenos Aires. But Graciela is different: not only is it determinedly more upscale than either of those, but it also incorporates elements of a New York steakhouse, thus generating some very tasty food in which the fusion is not always apparent.

It assumed a corner space at 81 Greenwich Avenue in a bucolic part of Greenwich Village, a storefront that was formerly the Neapolitan pizzeria Da Michele. The layout remains the same: a well-windowed barroom looks out upon the avenue on one side, the room now boasting a charcoal-burning oven and grill (“a parilla”) at the further end; through a passageway you’ll find another dining room with decorative arches and plush furniture. You might as well be in a wine cellar. (Note that an actual cellar dining room will be opening later this year.)