Dusty Foothills of the Andes, the French update!

I woke up in a pool of sweat on the breaking edge of predawn, my heart overwhelmed by a fit of arrhythmic palpitations. Taking deep breaths, the pounding would quiet down, then cycle up again as I was about to sink back into sleep.
The first night in my apartment share did not go too well. I'm not sure I can last the whole month I've committed to paying for, here: Summer's barely getting started & Mendoza finds relief from its dry, desert heat in bouts of sweltering humidity as storm fronts push over the Andes & unload their rain on the way down the slopes before they reach the dusty, smoggy bowl of a valley that cradles this city of open ditches, abandoned railway tracks & wild apricots...
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Four days later I'm much better & actually enjoying a gusty, blustery Christmas afternoon, with thunder rumbling around low, swirling stormclouds. I missed meeting up with 'los hermanos Garramuño', Frank & Santiago, yesterday. Santiago & sister Valentina both live in Puerto Rico; Valentina works for Argentina-centric wine importer/distributor Bodegar.
A second cup of espresso meant to kill some waiting time downtown kept me up all night & got me out for a daybreak run after a light Nochebuena dinner (Mesclun salad with an artichoke & pimento vinaigrette, smoked Boar & Ñandu cold cuts & a loaf of grilled garlic bread on the side, washed down with some so-so Sauv Blanc) --shared with Leandro, the flatmate I'd yet to meet as he was gone to Tucumán on work-related travel when I moved in. Now he's off to Perú for his three weeks' vacation: January to Argentinos seems like August to the French...
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Speaking of the French, I need to make a red-faced correction to this little write-up:
it seems Restaurant Trois Cent Onze, my home base for fine dining in Old San Juan, has had a website up since 2006!
Christophe-- désolé, je t'en prie de m'excuser...

Meanwhile, there's a little French restaurant name of 'Sans Souci' here in Mendoza, on the edge of the goverment office quarter. As I can attest from personal experience, it's not the most welcoming area at night, & their business mainstay is 'executive lunches' (closer to the 'platos combinados' of Spain than to the de rigeur, legally mandated, three-course prix-fixe lunch every restaurant must offer there) catering mostly to personnel from the Provincial & National courts nearby.
The two partners will celebrate their year in business when they get back from vacation on February 5th-- seems everybody working in the judicial system, from judges & lawyers down to the lowliest assistant & dictation taker, gets 45 days paid vacation, and though- of course!- there is some staggering of schedules so the system doesn't completely shut down, the slowdown during January, the peak Summer month, is dramatic enough that it's just not worth the expense of staying open...
Sans-Souci had been attracting attention for holding regular winemaker events last Spring so I look forward to February. The kitchen is young but they've wowed me with a great salad featuring Salmon Tartare, & some fresh & tasty Chicken Liver Mousse. I'll have to cultivate a more carnivorous mood to dive into their hanger steak-- 'onglet' en Français, 'entraña' en Castellano.