Just when I thought that every good idea for my industry has already been thunk up – I met Leon.

I love meeting nice people when I travel. Even better, I love meeting smart, nice people. And when they have come up with a unique and entertaining way to introduce visitors to the culture, customs and nuance of their country – even better!

Aside from having my father’s name, and an infectious personality, Leon found a way to combine his loves: travel, food, wine and people. Smart guy that he is, he developed a unique and successful business model that will most certainly be replicated in other places on the globe.

He gave me a bit of his background. He came from a proper British family of highly educated professionals – mostly doctors and lawyers. Leon was following in those footsteps – hating every minute of it. When he graduated from law school, his parents asked him what he wanted as a graduation gift.

“A ticket to Guatemala,” he replied.

And they consented, not realizing that he had no intention to use the return portion of his ticket. He landed a job as a tour leader for G Adventures, a youth-oriented adventure tour company. He was a natural, and led trips all over Central and South America. Seeing to get his disparate group of travelers “bonded” from the get-go, he invited his travelers to his tiny apartment for an interactive evening that provided good food, wine, laughs and an opportunity to learn about local culture.

Word spread, and he was soon doing these interactive dinners for people other than G Adventurers. Among them was a local man with money to invest . . . and a business was born. Leon traveled all over the country sourcing the wine and beef he would serve. He found a perfect location in an up-and-coming neighborhood. He smartly used social media to spread the word. His backyard business – The Argentine Experience – is now #5 of 3,260 restaurants in Buenos Aires. And Leon loves what he’s doing.

I made a quick trip to Argentina this week to do a site inspection for a group I will be leading in September. On Tuesday night, I dined with two sheep ranchers from New Zealand, a Parisian couple of Tunisian descent, a Mexican couple who own a restaurant in Texas with their adult daughter who works for Disney in Orlando and four best buddies from Switzerland who had come to visit their friend who was living here on a language immersion experience. We were all appropriately attired in chef hats and black-and-white check aprons. After some yummy tapas including melted mozzarella topped with delicious chorizo, we each made empanadas and learned how each filling has a uniquely defined shape. (Which was helpful when I ordered empanadas at a little corner cafe the next day!)

My empanadas were a thing of beauty – and they tasted good, too!

We were taught a bit of useful Spanish and, at his suggestion, I ordered my lomo (thick filet mignon) “muy jugoso” (very juicy).

It was probably the best piece of beef I have ever eaten.

Leon taught us some helpful Argentinian hand gestures – similar, but different, than Italian

As you can guess, the wine, too, was delicious. The white was a variety I’ve never heard of, from the Mendoza region, Torrentés. And of course, the red was a fabulous Malbec.

Dessert was those melt-in-your-mouth alfajores: a light, buttery cookie that’s sandwiched with dulce de leche (a milk-based caramel). Just to be even more decadent, we dipped them in chocolate!

And then we learned more about the interesting Argentinian tradition of mate – it’s like tea, but different. There’s an entire ritual involving a special cup, traditionally made of gourd, with a special metal straw called a bombilla, and a thermos of hot (but not too hot) water.

It’s a homemade communal ritual: a group of people share a mate. When you’re finished sipping, you pass the mate cup back to the mate-maker (called a cebador) who tops off the cup with more water and passes it to someone else. And this is the weird part for us germ-averse Americans, the bombilla is shared among friends. You don’t change the straw.

I saw big, burly guys with a thermos tucked under their arm, sharing mate with their buddies. A typical Sunday afternoon activity is to get together with friends, drink mate and eat pastries, often at a park or other scenic place. Mate is such a big part of life that people take it with them almost anyplace they go, have elaborate carrying cases for it, and drink it anywhere and everywhere. Where there are people, there is mate.

But the weirdest part of all, as far as I’m concerned, Starbucks has not figured out how to monetize it. You can’t get mate at a Starbucks!

And that is a very good thing!

Images of Buenos Aires: colorful La Boca neighborhood, whimsical papal blessing, abandoned coffins in a family tomb at Recoleta Cemetery, mate cups for sale at the Sunday market at San Telmo

Me and my guide, Maria Julia, at the Argentine Experience

Thanks for reading!