Gramercy Argentinian Restaurant and Wine Bar: Palermo Bistro

If you are around Union Square and Gramercy looking up an argentinian restaurant near me, Palermo Argentinian Bistro is a short walk up Irving Place. Palermo Argentinian Bistro, at 53 Irving Place between East 17th and East 18th Streets, is the second New York branch of a restaurant that started in Hell's Kitchen. It opened in 2025 and takes its name from Palermo, the leafy, restaurant-packed district of Buenos Aires, with a kitchen led by Argentine chef Carlos Barroz.

WhatNow reported the Gramercy opening in June 2025, naming owner Orhan Cakir and managing partner Victor Medina as the team behind the move from the West Side. The restaurant's about page describes Barroz as the chef who leads both kitchens and introduces Tayfun as sommelier and director of service. The Irving Place location adds a long bar and a garden patio, on a block of 19th-century townhouses a few steps from Gramercy Park.

Palermo is the largest barrio in Buenos Aires, a district of parks, rose gardens and polo grounds whose Soho and Hollywood corners are now packed with parrillas, wine bars and late-night cafés. Naming a Manhattan bistro after it signals the kind of meal on offer: not a formal, white-tablecloth steakhouse but a neighbourhood room where you can drop in for empanadas and a glass of wine, or stay for a full parrillada. That matches the way the Irving Place dining room is used, with office lunches at noon, happy-hour regulars at the bar and longer dinners on the patio.

The design leans on Argentina's national colours without turning into a theme park. An L-shaped white marble bar anchors the front, navy velvet banquettes line the walls, and the brick has been whitewashed and hung with mirrors. Blue, gold and white accents pick up the flag, and small gaucho sculptures sit on shelves around the room. Out back, a tree-lined patio makes the most of the long Manhattan summer evenings and the quieter shoulder seasons, and it is the place to ask for when booking for two.

The grill section gives a clear price ladder. The 10-ounce skirt steak is $49, the 12-ounce picanha is $50, the 12-ounce New York strip sirloin is $52 and the 16-ounce ribeye is $72. For a table that wants a little of everything, the parrillada for two costs $185 and is the dish that fills the most space on the marble. Skirt steak is the purest Argentine order, thin, loose-grained and best eaten medium rare with chimichurri, while picanha brings a thick cap of fat that crisps on the grill.

Start with the beef empanadas at $12, or the humita at $19, the sweet corn dish found all over northern Argentina. A plate of chorizo and morcilla is $22, and sweetbreads are $31, crisp outside and creamy inside the way they are served at Buenos Aires parrillas. The New York strip milanese is $35, and adding the napolitana topping of tomato sauce, ham and melted cheese costs $7 more. That milanesa, eaten with a squeeze of lemon on the patio, is the most comforting plate on the menu.

The drinks list reflects the sommelier's attention to Argentina. A glass of Salentein Reserve Malbec 2023 from the Uco Valley is $20, and a bottle of Quilmes, the lager every Argentine recognises, is $9. Happy hour runs on weekdays from 4pm to 6pm, and it is limited to the bar area: oysters are $1.50 each, a pair of beef empanadas is $10, house wines are $11 and cocktails are $13. Two people can share a dozen oysters, a round of empanadas and a glass each at the marble bar for well under the cost of a single ribeye.

Palermo is open Monday from 12pm to 10pm, Tuesday to Thursday from 12pm to 11pm, Friday and Saturday from 12pm to midnight, and Sunday from 12pm to 10:30pm. Because the kitchen starts at noon every day, it works as easily for a weekday business lunch as for a slow Sunday meal. Reservations are taken through OpenTable and Resy, or by phone at (917) 319-7301. Weekday lunch and the start of happy hour are the easiest times to walk in, and Friday and Saturday nights fill up with groups lingering until the late close.

A smart first meal for two is beef empanadas and the humita to share, then sweetbreads, followed by the skirt steak and the picanha so you can compare a lean cut and a fatty one off the same grill. Add a glass of the Salentein Malbec each and finish there. If you arrive between 4pm and 6pm on a weekday, start at the bar with oysters and happy-hour empanadas, then move to a table for the steaks.

Irving Place is one of the prettiest short streets in Manhattan, and two very different green spaces sit at either end. A block north, Gramercy Park is a private, key-only square ringed by an iron fence and historic clubs, and the walk around its perimeter takes in some of the best-preserved townhouses in New York. A few blocks south, Union Square Park hosts the Union Square Greenmarket, the city's best-known farmers market, which fills the plaza with farm stands four mornings a week. Either makes a natural loop before or after a long Argentine lunch.

Address: Palermo Argentinian Bistro, 53 Irving Place, New York, NY 10003, between East 17th and East 18th Streets in Gramercy. Getting there: the 4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R and W trains stop at 14th Street–Union Square, a few blocks south. Reservations: OpenTable, Resy or phone. Happy hour runs weekdays from 4pm to 6pm at the bar only. Steaks range from $49 for skirt to $72 for the ribeye, and the parrillada for two is $185. The patio is the most requested seat in warm weather, so mention it when booking, and the bar is the place to sit if you only want empanadas and a glass of Malbec.