Tango in Naperville, good lunch...long

On Saturday my family and I decided to try Tango in downtown Naperville. Tango has been open now for a few months, billing themselves as Argentinean, and recently opening their rooftop patio. Since it was in the mid 70's the patio sounded like an ideal location for us to dine.

The patio is quite small with 7 tables each only able to accommodate 4 guests. The kind hostess assembled two of these tables together in a diagonal fashion to accommodate our party of five and to make room for both umbrellas. When seated we were presented with a nicely composed lunch menu, a tapas/dessert menu, and from what I saw in a short period of time a reasonable wine list.

Being only 12:00 we decided to abstain from alcohol and chose our beverages from a selection of soft drinks and iced tea (We did enjoy watching the tableside mixing of sangria at the table next to us.)

Then we decided to start with a selection of Tapas. (Note: I did not bring a notepad or camera so the names from the menu might be changed to protect the innocent.) The Fried calamari was served with a tangy marinara and a slightly spicy aioli. Large tubes and tentacles lightly breaded. IMHO this was slightly overcooked and rubbery, but still the aioli was a wonderful addition.

Next on the list were grilled bacon wrapped scallops served with a spicy apricot sauce. The sauce was rather bland IMO, but the scallops were large and succulent nicely accented by the smoky bacon. Overall this was my favorite starter, but it was very rich.

Our last selection from the tapas menu was the bruschetta. This dish left me completely underwhelmed. I found no discernable flavors and didn't care at all for this preparation.

Our entrees included items from each section of the menu except pastas. My brother and I ordered the skirt steak. This dish is billed as Tango's signature item, and at dinner is served whole weighing in at 3 lbs. The lunch portion of about 12oz. was perfectly grilled to a medium-rare. Lightly seasoned and served with your choice of mashed potatoes, fries, baked potato, or baked sweet potato. I had the mashed potatoes, which were nice and lumpy, but seemed to be lacking anything other than butter in the mix. Overall, I completely enjoyed this selection though the potatoes were on the mealy side.

My mother ordered the grilled portabella sandwich. First I would like to say that this thing was huge. Two large portabella mushroom caps, each filling 1/2 the sandwich, along with grilled red peppers, onions, and a tangy vinaigrette. This was served on a large bread of which I am not familiar with, but was crusty and chewy. The mom enjoyed this, an I enjoyed my 1 bite.

My sister ordered the grilled salmon. Slightly overcooked for my tastes, but the light sauce pleasantly moistened the fish. Served with sauteed veggies a very tasty and light meal for my dietician sister.

The father ordered the spinach salad with steak. A bed of baby spinach, eggs, bacon, and onions tossed in a light vinaigrette then topped with the above mentioned skirt steak. This salad was eaten to completion and deemed good.

Since the tapas and lunch entree portions are quite large we decided to share two desserts. Our first selection was a plain crepe filled with dulce de leche, bananas, and served with vanilla ice cream. My description lends nothing to the description from the menu, but after sampling we were left wondering were the flavor was. Our other selection was a apple cinnamon flavored crepe wrapped around sauteed fresh strawberries, peach slices, and bananas. This was also served with vanilla ice cream. By far the latter crepe was a tremendous finish to a wonderful meal.

Overall, Tango lived up to my expectations with cordial service, modest lunch prices ($4-$10 tapas, $6-$12 entrees, $6-$9 desserts), and good food. We will definitely return to sample more of the selections.

Flip

Sounds like a good lunch choice, if one sticks with the entrees. Here is a web link for more information and a coupon.


http://www.tango-usa.com/

I had to go back to CH and see what I wrote about Tango in April. A group of 4 of us went for lunch on a Saturday, 2 of our group had just returned from spending 3 weeks in Argentina and Brazil so they were eager to try. We arrived right as they opened so there was a little confusion on the servers part as to what menu to bring us as they were serving a brunch (omlettes) as well. We ordered a smoked salmon entree and the lunch skirt steak, the rest were tapas. We had mussels, about 20 in a very good garlic broth, a potato salad that had peas and carrots and was bland, grilled sweatbreads which my friends grew to like in Brazil and were declared good, an empanada trio of beef, chicken and cheese and the best of all was salmon bruschetta with capers, a wonderful garlicky, buttery taste. Both the entrees were very good, the steak came with fries that were mushy but we weren't interested in them anyway. The service started out flaky but improved in part because we asked questions and had a interest in how the food was prepared. Haven't been back though, N'Ville is a major journey and the parking is horrid but when the Farmer's Market starts up, perhaps will try again. There are so many good places to eat in Naperville, I hate to get hung up on one.

Inspired by this thread, just finished lunch at Tango. Was thinking that you had posted on this, LTE while dining there, and somehow I ignored that. Thanks to both of you (Flip & LTE) for the tip.

Used the coupon to get the empanadas - chicken with slightly creamy (maybe a touch of cheese?) chopped peppers and vegies. Quite pleasant. Creamy ham, cheese and onion empanada also good. Steak with similar vegies as in the chicken, but a touch of vinegar to them. Also tasty, though not much steak flavor. Side of creamy corn salad, with red onions, peppers and a nice touch of vinegar, was excellent.

Had the chicken sandwich, and the Tango steak sandwich, with some additional chimichurri on the side. Fries were, at best, okay. Steak sandwich was large and excellent. Good, latino style rolls. Generous, slightly pink, skirt steak. Hard boiled eggs, and a generous dose of chimichurri. Definitely a contender for best sammy in N'ville, and at $6.95 a real steal.

The grilled skinless chicken breast was nothing memorable, good bread, good dose of oregano, reasonably tender. A little better than okay with a bunch of chimichurri, but why buy that when the steak is the same price?

My work companion insists we go to Heaven on Seven for lunch next, LTE, so I guess my temporary boycott of downtown N'ville food - for reasons that are not clear even to me - is officially over.

D's tip: get the steak sandwich and see if they will substitute the corn relish for the fries.

LikestoEatout wrote:N'Ville is a major journey and the parking is horrid but when the Farmer's Market starts up, perhaps will try again.

I think that the farmer's market started this weekend, not sure, but I thought I saw a sign. About parking the top level of the old parking garage is generally available(entrance on Jefferson). The new lot at washington and Benton is also open and this has eased the parking situation greatly.

Flip

My wife and I headed out to Naperville this past weekend to visit some friends. Ended up at Tango for dinner, which was a good experience overall, but with a few oddities.

I was a little confused by the menu at first, until I read their self description as "the spirit of Miami Beach meets Buenos Aires in Naperville." OK, I'll tag along.

We shared two appetizers -- the bacon wrapped scallops and the crabcakes. As mentioned earlier, the bacon was smoky, the scallops well-prepared (if tiny) and the accompanying spicy apricot sauce was pretty good, but didn't add too much. The crabcakes were dull, not as crabby as I'd like and they were served with a sauce that tasted too much of plain ol' mayo.

The dinner portion of the Tango Signature (Skirt) Steak was silly and ridiculous and wonderful. It comes rolled up and you unfurl as you eat (Tango: Home of the World's Longest Steak"). Great seasoning, juicy, reminded me that skirt steak doesn't equal flank steak. Can get choice of potatoes, sweet potatoes, or veggies as included side...

Wife had the lamb chops, which were OK, but just OK. But what they lacked in taste, they made up for in bulk. Her plate had a huge portion of mashed potatoes, mushrooms, asparagus and three double-chops of lamb.

Had a banana filled crepe for dessert, which was dressed with a dulce de leche type of sauce and came with a scoop of ice cream. Tasted fine, but left scratching my head when we realized that the bananas were raw. Do a guy a favor and get some butter, brown sugar, and heat to those things?

And while I'm on the verge of a rant, is there any good reason for prices at a restaurant like this to try to sway me with nickels? Every item on the menu seemed to be listed as xx.95. This doesn't make sense to me at a place where most of the dinner entrees are over 20 bucks.

A decent meal at Tango. Good company always helps. Seems like a much better deal for lunch.

Zee

Went back for lunch at Tango last week, and had the worst meal I have had there - some fish filet, snapper I think, francais (battered, pan fried, lemon and capers, think veal francais). Too salty and just not too great. And I have become bored of their skirt steak which is not quite burnt enough on the outside, and a tad too greasy for me after eating it 4 or 5 times. But at $7.95 (yep, nickels), still a bargain

The sandwiches are very good across the board, and the pastas and other fish are also quite tasty. It delivers a good meal, and at lunch the prices are absurdly low - you can have a streak sandwich sitting down with good chimichurri for about the same as a Whopper combo. And for dinner it is a pleasant space with good drinks and nice music. Having introduced a number of people to the place, the feedback has been universally positive, and the last two times I have been they finally seem to be filling the tables.

But I need to go to Hugo's.