SO and I decided to splurge a bit, and went to Tango Sur, an Argentinian steakhouse. OMG. They don’t take reservations, and we were given a 1 hour wait estimate, but, get this, they put you on the list, take your cell number and call you when the wait time is down to a few minutes! Fantastic! We walked down Southport a bit, looking at the yuppie shops, stopped in CVS, picked up a couple of things we needed, and my phone rang 36 minutes after we left them our name. Boogied back up to the restaurant and waited only 3 or 4 more minutes for a table.
(Next time, we’ll pick up a bottle of wine, too. BYOB, darn it. Didn’t know.)
Chose to sit outside, nice weather, plants just overgrown enough to provide a nice cozy South American ambiance, but still a nice people watching view.
The food was made of awesome. Rolls were pretty basic white rolls, but nice a crunchy outside, fluffy inside. Had a beef empanada each, which came with their homemade deliciousness sauce (a type of chimichurri - olive oil, garlic, parsley, a teensy bit of red pepper and a hint of vinegar). Next time, I’ll wait on the bread to have the excess chimichurri on it, instead of butter! A simple salad followed.
And then. Oh…and then…
LOMO RELLENO (pictured second column, third row down; click for a bigger picture)
half slab argentine fillet sliced and filled with chimichurri, ham sauce, then cooked and served on a grill with portabella marsala ideal for two
Medium rare (a compromise - my SO likes medium, I like mooing, so he had the edges and I took the center), and cooked to perfection. A huge, huge portion. Just divine. So much garlic, it was almost, but not quite, too much garlic. The mushrooms were sliced and cooked perfectly.
The deserts looked amazing, but I just didn’t have room in mah belly.
We have one of those 10" “to-go” aluminum round dishes plum full of leftovers. We’re going to make pasta tonight, toss it with those amazing mushrooms and sauce and just slice the leftover beef and lay it on top to heat, not cook.
Oh, and the bill was $48 for the two of us. Now, granted, that was without booze or desert, but that’s still pretty damn affordable for a once in a while splurge! Especially as we’ll be getting a second dinner out of it with the addition of 99cents worth of pasta.
So. Great restaurant. Highly recommended. But…
We’re still looking for an *American *style steakhouse. Y’know, baked potatoes with the works, great slabs of mooin’ meat. Preferably something that doesn’t break the household budget (ie, no Ruth Chris’s, Trotter’s. Thanks, but…no.) Any recommendations? We live at Irving Park and Western; we don’t like driving (parking!) downtown much, but if it’s really worth our while, we will.
MikeG still around? pulykamell?
