Nacional Restaurante in San Telmo from: “Antagonizing the Protagonist”

Nacional Restaurante in San Telmo from Café Chronicles

Nacional Restaurante Café on Perú street, just a few steps down from Bar Federal, was not my most frequented café, but it is lovely. Maybe it’s too lovely. When did go there, I sat in the courtyard, where you could always find some shade.

As always, the service was impeccable and the food was very good. If I did eat there, I would go for lunch and get the special. If you really want to understand how people eat, go to a restaurant in any part of the world and just get the special of the day. I think you can learn about tastes, culture, and class structure from the way people eat.

While I was there one morning, reading “El Aire” by Sergio Chejfec, a man walked by that resembled Sergio. I doubt very much it was him, as he was living in New York, but I liked the idea of confronting the author of what is, actually, a beautifully written novella.

It was about a marital rupture, which I thought was a strange way to describe the wife leaving. I won’t go into the novel in any great detail, as that wouldn’t be fair. I would prefer it if you just read it. It is perfectly lovely.

The other piece of the puzzle is that I had recently divorced, but aside from the damage it did to my children and me, the fact that she left turned out to be a relief. My life became considerably more peaceful. I am always amazed, though, at how much divorce affects kids and how much it still affects mine. I don’t know how to best manage that situation and I wish I were better at it. But beyond that, I was truly blissful to be out of that relationship and was not remotely like the protagonist in “El Aire.” In other words, there was no reason to go full Hemingway on poor Sergio.

So, the two key pieces that triggered this story were the fact that I was reading the novel and saw a bald guy walk by. That was all it took to send me on this particular flight of fancy. I did actually see Sergio at a conference a few years later. I thought better of it than to bring up the novel and how he treated the protagonist.