He came from Piedmont in Italy as part of the great waves of immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since then, it has graced Piedmontese Christmas tables and caused arguments in the family: everyone with their own recipe, and there is always one chosen by everyone, the one with the most votes. It is not known for certain what distinguishes a Vitel tone from another, but each one has a twist that makes it unique and unrepeatable.
Over time, it has been faithfully adopted as a tradition on Creole tables and is now part of the local identity, another dish of Buenos Aires cuisine. In addition to being a ritual eaten in December or exclusively during the holidays for years, more and more establishments are choosing to have it on their menu 365 days a year.
And just as in every family there is someone who has a specific recipe, a secret, a pinch of something or an indecipherable act that gives it a superior taste to the others, this selection is a tribute to this dish, with inversions or attempts to preserve its origin, but always with the same conviction: that we don’t have to wait until Christmas to enjoy it.
Maximiliano Rossi opened at the end of 2020 Picaron (Av. Dorrego 866, Chacarita), his first personal project, already highlighted by the Michelin Guide in 2024 and 2025. His proposal combines local ingredients with techniques learned and discovered in different parts of the world and seeks to highlight a “Picarona” cuisine, that is, one that cannot be classified by a label, with intense flavors, subtle contrasts, Argentine, Latin American, Mediterranean and Asian influences, always under a creative eye.
Her dishes are designed to share and bring people together at the center of the table. It opened in December and that inspired them to add the “maiale tonnato.” Maxi has adopted the original Italian recipe, but instead of vitello (beef) he makes it with maiale (pork).
“We cure a pork bondiola, cook it with our smoker and paint it with a spiced mascabo honey that we make here for the picarones. When the smoked bondiola comes out, it’s brilliant, it’s crazy. The idea is to appeal to the memory but also to surprise.”Rossi says. The pork slices are bathed in the traditional tonnato sauce based on tuna, anchovies and capers, with a touch of cream to make them “sweeter”. They serve this with crispy grilled potatoes, which they let sit in water with vinegar to make them very crispy and then slowly fry them.
Lucila and her sister decided to take part in this project that bears their name. Roa Bar (Cabello 3788, Palermo), in honor of his children: Roque, Oliverio and Astor. Both are committed to gastronomy and wanted to open a place where they would want to eat every day, “with simple dishes and good, well-prepared raw materials”.
Lucila is the owner of the Birkin Café, which is almost a club for the residents of the area. He wanted to offer his followers a more nocturnal option, so in December 2024 he opened this eatery with dim lighting, an elegant but relaxed atmosphere and a semi-open kitchen that can be spied on and admired. She came back from Piedmont very excited and wanted to recreate the authentic recipe for Vitello Tonnato. During his trip he asked for a thousand recipes, and the result is a thinly sliced vitello with a fairly thick, very pure sauce: “pure tuna and cheese”. They give it a certain charm or are reminiscent of dolce vita, like everything that happens around Roa.
Years ago it was an ancient Greek theater. Today, after three years of work, it has become a cultural space where music and fire merge. In The Carbonera (Carlos Calvo 299, San Telmo) There are tango shows, live jazz cycles on a stage with good sound and image quality, live bands and vinyl cycles from Herederos del Fuego are some of the proposals that have given new life to the corner of Balcarce and Carlos Calvo.
Going up the stairs you reach a terrace with a view of the domes and houses of San Telmo and, above all, a bar with an open kitchen where the central grill works. Everything that comes from the menu passes through it, like his suggestion for Vitello Tonnato. Walter, the restaurant’s food director, wanted to commemorate the Vitel Toné sandwich with Caesar salad in flatbread that he ate in a hurry while working with his colleagues on the Novecento kitchenette.
They remembered those old times and carried out tests with their current devices in La Carbonera. They tried to make a vitel toné based on roast beef eye that had previously been cured in spice brine and dried in a chamber. They cook it over wood, smoke it in their smoker, let it rest for a few days and cut it fresh at the time of serving. They have a vitello club sandwich with homemade bread made at the local pastry shop and bakery. It comes with some cream cheese and they heat it on the grill, add the classic vitello sauce and serve it with salad. Serve it on the plate with crispy capers.
“It seems to us that it is one of the best preparations of traditional Argentine cuisine and, frankly, it is absurd that it only appears on the Christmas table and is eaten on the 25th in the morning or at noon on the 1st of January.”admits Walter. It can be paired with one of their local red wines, vermouth or signature drinks.
Il Matterello (Martín Rodríguez 517, La Boca) tells the story of a family who brought their entire culture and roots from the Emilia Romagna region of northern Italy to Buenos Aires. Juan Bautista, a naval doctor, decided at the age of 60 to buy an old rental house, convert it into a restaurant and share the kitchen with his wife Carmela, originally from Modena.
Today, her children Lili, Sandra and Fernando follow the tradition and continue the legacy, with dishes and pastas kneaded with love, pride and fresh products. This now classic restaurant in Buenos Aires offers typical Italian dishes and that’s why the Vitello Tonnato is an essential part of the menu.
“My mother always made it; the peculiarity of her recipe is that she adds a touch of balsamic vinegar, which gives it a sweeter note,” says Sandra. It is recommended to combine it with an aperitif such as Rosso vermouth.
The Hierro family opened this restaurant with the desire to reinvent the classic Buenos Aires still life and give it a contemporary look, mixing classic recipes with current techniques and a very modern design with lots of leather, iron and winking illustrations of smiling and cheeky dogs. One of their most sought-after and sought-after dishes is the Vitello Tonnato with a peculiarity: they prepare it with a meat base, sliced loin, tuna and anchovy sauce, capers, capers and quail egg.
“Although it takes us to a season like the holidays, our idea is that these modifications allow us to discover other flavors and notes that also make it an everyday dish,” says Santiago Lambardi, partner owner of Iron still life (Fitz Roy 1722, Palermo Hollywood).
With his canchero and his musical energy, Copetin (Fernández de Enciso 4370), a new bar in the Devoto neighborhood that has already attracted musicians like Fito Paéz and Joaco Burgos, who hit the piano one night, offers “delicious food with a twist.” Its neon sign lights the corner in front of Urquiza train station and its semi-vintage atmosphere adds to its celebratory mood.
They decided to offer Vitel Toné all year round because it is a dish that everyone likes and that deserves to be enjoyed beyond Christmas. They prepare it in a classic style and can be ordered as a small plate to nibble on or as part of the Copetín González, which also includes cheese, potato omelet, pickled eggplant and more.
They add potato chips to make it crispier and raw onions to counteract some of the fat content. They also offer it in a pizza bread sandwich with egg, vegetables and tomatoes.
A tiny place that opened in 1970 and has been around since 2022 Barcelona Asturias (Av. Córdoba 5899, Chacarita) a restaurant for 200 people. It happened after Gastón and his brother, sons of caterers from Quilmes, bought it. They expanded it and filled it with historical photos of their parents, family, and various landmarks of this southern suburbs city.
His secret is to “always be present, go around the tables and ask people what they like, what they want. A lot of famous people come: Pablo Aimar, Juan Martín Del Potro, María Becerra, Lit Killah, Ricardo Darín, Tiago PZK, the guys from El Kuelgue,” says Gastón.
With the belief of feeding “the home-cooked food your grandmother cooked for you,” they decided to keep the Vitel Toné as one of the items on the menu for Christmas. They do it very traditionally, with no reversals and no twists.
Julia opened it Malinche (Pinto 4462, Saavedra), a small showcase of specialty coffees and artisanal vermouths in 2022, with only one certainty: Yes or yes, there would be a Vitel Toné sandwich on the menu. Coming from a family of coffee farmers and coffee roasters, she chose Vitel at a young age when someone asked her what her favorite food was. She is an agricultural scientist and wanted to one day give up her career to devote herself to gastronomy.
Tired of everyone doing the same thing in cafes, she decided to make this one of her special menu highlights. He strictly follows his mother’s recipe, which everyone always voted for the most at Christmas. More than her aunt’s, who also did quite well. They offer it on Saturdays and serve it between buttery figaza bread, sweet and sour peppers – also a family recipe – and capers. They recommend eating it with a glass of vermouth.
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