Long summer lunches just don’t happen for us at home. Running a busy catering company in North America means we take our time off when tomato vines have long been pulled out of local gardens. It is this very reason that lunch today at Cucina Paradiso in the Palermo barrio of Buenos Aires was such a treat.

Forget for a moment that heady scent of grilled steaks wafting from every nook and cranny of this magnificent city and remember instead that this place also has very strong culinary ties to Italy and her regional specialities.

Today we took our time over a simply prepared lunch in a very happening little deli. We started with locally cured ham in the Parma style with figs and vinegar and a perfectly dressed salad of greens, cherry tomatoes, tiny mushrooms and grilled chicken.

Coming from a place where bread is either demonized for containing gluten or sold by the piece at local restaurants it was a refreshing treat to have the waitress bring us both incredible house made focaccia and fresh caponata upon sitting at our window table.

Our second course was simply rigatoni with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.

As we ate, we joked about how far South we had to come in search of that perfect Italian summer lunch which eludes us during our busy season back home.