LightPacker: Travel stuff for people who pack light.

Staying in Buenos Aires’ San Telmo neighborhood, RaRa was my home base.

During the day, it has an artsy café feel, with great coffee, good food at fair prices, and lots of natural light for reading, writing, and people-watching. At night, it has more of a bar and restaurant atmosphere.

If I recall, the Caesar salad and prosciutto sandwich were especially good, but that was about three years ago.

At the corner of Carlos Calvo and Peru in San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

I had heard the Standard Hotel had opened up in New York, but I had no idea where it was until we randomly walked by it tonight on our way to the High Line. (The rooms look tiny! And this whole time I thought that building was dumpy old 70s-era condos. Weird.)

Anyway, The Standard Grill‘s outdoor seating looked nice, and I was due for my monthly allotted burger, so we checked it out.

The burger — with white cheddar and bacon, on a brioche-like bun — was well above average. The fries were skinny and not too salty. The pickle was tart. The guy at the next table looked like Tom from MySpace. At $14, a great deal for the neighborhood. (And the cocktails were super: I had something involving vodka, ginger beer, and fresh ginger, served in a copper mug, and it was awesome.)

But the best part was the unexpected and plentiful freebies. At the bar, while we waited for the table, three slices of very good salami from the salami menu. At the table, good bread and butter, yes, but also dry Italian cheese (some sort of parmiggiano, perhaps) and mild radishes. And at mealtime, a small plate of patatas bravas — roasted potato cubes with paprika aioli.

The bathrooms downstairs were typical posh-hotel-wank-style stuff, including a long trough sink, but they have Dyson Airblade hand dryers, which look neat and work pretty well.

Anyway, definitely going back.

Wandering around Harajuku after picking up some souvenirs at Kiddy Land, I found Gyoza Lou on a tiny alley just south of the main drag.

The gyoza (dumplings) are fresh and very tasty. I got them fried, with garlic and a cold beer, but they’re also served steamed. Don’t miss the small plate of cucumbers with miso dressing.

Frommer’s (via NYT) says the address is 6-2-4 Jingumae, but I couldn’t get that to work with Google maps. Here’s a pretty good idea of where it is.