Buenos Aires Grill is Sacramento’s four-wheel ambassador to a variety of Argentina’s cuisine
Buenos Aires Grill doesn’t serve quesadillas or tacos. Its dishes often include cooked-down white onions, which operators try to talk finicky customers into leaving in place unless allergic. And there’s no tilde — Argentina’s hand pies are empanadas, not “em-pen-ya-das.”
Such misunderstandings are common for Estefania Bozzalla and her husband, Shane Twilla, who run the Sacramento region’s only Argentinean food truck. With no Argentinean restaurants in the area, they’re the primary ambassadors for the South American nation’s cuisine, a mix of Italian, Spanish and Indigenous influences.
“You have to treat ‘em like it’s easy,” Bozzalla said. “Like, ‘what the heck? Oh my gosh, you’ve got to try one, I’m so proud to be the first empanada you’ve ever tried.’ And then after that, they’re hooked.”
Buenos Aires Grill pulls up to local breweries and the Midtown Farmers Market with its blue, white and yellow truck hawking shredded chicken empanadas and cooked-to-order steak sandwiches made with top sirloin from Mercado Loco No. 2 in Roseville.
“Messy” fries topped with chicken, mayonnaise and tomatoes are a best-seller, finished as so many dishes are with a streak of parsley-based chimichurri that requires 15 ingredients and is more herbaceous and garlicky than many American versions.
There’s the choripán, an Italian-inspired sausage on a bun imported from Argentina, and vegetarian options such as a spinach-egg-corn quiche. Bozzalla also dabbles in nontraditional empanadas, cooking up a bacon-egg-cheese version for the Saturday morning farmers market and launching ones with Hawaiian pizza, buffalo chicken and Philly cheesesteak ingredients.
Ruben Bozzalla and Francesca Martinelli immigrated from Argentina in 1986 with 2-year-old Estefania, settling first in Sunnyvale, where Ruben helped a few friends open Mexican restaurants. After the family moved to Antelope, he gained a reputation in their social circles for manning the grill during cookouts, sprinkling a little salt and chimichurri on beef to feed 50 to 100 people at times.
Ruben Bozzalla and Martinelli launched Buenos Aires Grill in 2018, providing the first wave of culinary education to their customers and shepherding the truck through the pandemic. But after about five years, they were ready for retirement.
Enter Estefania and Twilla, who met while working at Red Lobster’s Citrus Heights location in high school. The two charted paths through Sacramento’s hospitality industry (Bozzalla bartended at The Park Ultra Lounge and Mix Downtown, Twilla worked in Chili’s management and both made drinks at Dive Bar) before opening Identity Boutique in Downtown Commons.
The couple sold the boutique before taking over the family business in 2023, allowing Ruben to retire, though Martinelli still hand-folds most empanadas alongside Twilla in the truck. Prep work gets done at Gourmet Garage, a commissary kitchen in Loomis.
Bozzalla and Twilla have little desire to open a brick-and-mortar, but are warmer to the idea of a ghost kitchen and want to eventually get Buenos Aires Grill’s empanadas and chimichurri in local stores. Their food truck’s schedule posts weekly on Buenos Aires Grill’s website and Instagram (@buenosairesgrillsac).
What I’m Eating
Tucked away under an apartment building just south of the state Capitol, TableVine is equal parts cozy and upscale intimate, a worthy Valentine’s Day option in downtown Sacramento. Dan Sneed’s wine country-inspired bistro deploys stacks of corks as decor and has bottles from $30 (a merlot from Skyfall in Eastern Washington) to $4,000 (a 2000 First Growth Bordeaux from Chateau Lafite Rothschild).
Sneed was Ella Dining Room & Bar’s opening general manager and owned Garden Highway restaurant Pearl on the River (now closed) before opening TableVine in 2016. It’s only advertised as open for an hour and a half during lunch and dinner, but those times actually refer to the final seating.
TableVine’s fries ($10), of all things, get one of my heartiest endorsements. Fried twice, liberally dusted with salt and pepper and served with a ramekin of garlic aioli, a plate of these golden-brown beauties can easily sate three or four people as a starter.
Much of TableVine’s menu turns over seasonally, and the winter selections tend to be heavier options such as braised beef short ribs ($29). Chef Kenneth Druley brines the meat overnight, then braises it four for hours in a mixture of guajillo chilis, coffee, mirepoix, red wine, tomatoes and honey. Plated with mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and braised red cabbage, it’s a nicely complex centerpiece.
TableVine
Address: 1501 14th St., Sacramento
Hours: Seatings offered 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and 5:30-7 p.m. Monday-Friday and 5:30-7 p.m. Saturday; closed Sundays.
Phone: 916-942-9599
Website: tablevine.com
Drinks: There’s an espresso bar and house cocktails, but wine is the main focus, with options at all price points.
Vegetarian options: Current menu includes a heart of palm/walnut/orange salad, a Moroccan chickpea stew with basmati rice and a rich mushroom risotto with truffle oil.
Noise level: Quiet
Outdoor seating: Small patio
Openings & Closings
▪ Geisthaus Brewing opened Feb. 8 at 9584 Micron Ave. in Rosemont’s Bradshaw Square shopping center. Brady Jones, Benjamin Allgood and Brian Mackie‘s craft brewery and taproom focuses on lagers, including the flagship Landbier made with California-grown hops and malt.
▪ The Crepe Stop just opened at 1485 Eureka Road, Suite 160, in Roseville’s Stone Point Plaza. It’s the second location after the San Carlos original, with the same Liege waffles, gelato and poffertjes (fluffy miniature Dutch pancakes) in addition to 25 savory crepe varieties and a dozen sweet ones.
▪ Halal fast food joint Fred’s Burger has closed at 4210 Rocklin Road in Rocklin. Fred Akbarpour still has a location at 7411 W. Stockton Blvd., Suite 100 in Sacramento, and another on the way at 3311 Power Inn Road, Suite 101.