A reasonably priced steakhouse aimed at football fans

Boca Juniors Steakhouse is located at 81-08 Queens Boulevard, on Codwise Place. Its name refers to Club Atlético Boca Juniors, Argentina's main football club, located south of Buenos Aires in the La Boca neighborhood, where the blue and gold colors appear on pennants and murals around the stadium.

The exterior of the shop is decorated like the stadium, attracting visitors from the outskirts of Elmhurst. Inside, the walls are covered with player posters, framed jerseys, vintage match calendars, and memorabilia from famous games. Screens broadcast recorded and live matches from around the world.

The star dish is the parrillada, served with the meat still cooking on the grill, amidst plumes of aromatic smoke. The tradition dates back to the gauchos of the Pampas, who cooked grass-fed beef over an open fire. The parrillada for two costs $76 and includes beef ribs, skirt steak, two pork sausages, two blood sausages, sweetbreads, and tripe.

Side dishes include mashed potatoes, Russian salad, red beans, black beans, sautéed spinach, stewed mushrooms, and four other potato varieties. A sirloin steak, also called churrasco, costs $39 and is served with yellow rice. As a starter, the Boca Junior salad ($29) features hearts of palm, shrimp, avocado, and hard-boiled egg, dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The menu includes more than a dozen pasta dishes, such as seafood linguine and Argentinian gnocchi in pink sauce, and a similar number of breaded chicken or beef cutlets. The group didn't try dessert because they had already eaten too much. When they left, the place was still full of customers cheering on classic soccer matches and eating empanadas and choripán.

The bill for four people, including a round of Quilmes Argentinian beer and an automatic 18% tip, came to $235, about $60 per person. For a steakhouse, that's quite a low price.