Pizza Tango?

I just got leafletted by Pizza Tango, an argentinian pizza place in east Pilsen.

Anyone familiar with them? Should I bother giving them a shot?

Along with the standard pizzeria fare (pizzas, italian beef, etc) they've got "Argentinian Gourmet Pizzas".

The really funny thing about the pizzas listed in that category are that almost all of them involve green olives. The napolitana is tomato sauce, mozzarella, tomato slices, green olives, and oregano. The "Mozzarella" is the same, but lose the tomato slices.

So, anyone been, or do I take one for the team?

If I could take on Durango, you can handle Pizza Tango. (And in the end, by the way, I was glad I took the gamble at Durango, which ain't half bad for the price and the neighborhood.)

JiLS

P.S. Pizza Tango appears to be a chain

Gotta say, nothing special. I had the Calabresa: tomato sauce, pepperoni, pimiento, green olives (and, although not mentioned on the menu, cheese).

It was unremarkable in pretty much every way. The crust was a standard chicago short dough. The olives were whole pimiento-stuffed, the cheese was part-skim industrial mozzarella.

I've got pictures, but the pizza wasn't good enough to justify the bandwidth

-ed

Pizza Tango
(312) 421-2111
1013 W 18th St
Chicago, IL 60608

gleam wrote:The crust was a standard chicago short dough.

Ahh, secret LTH-lingo, thanks to Antonius, I believe.

It is a great description, and we all know exactly what you mean, but would anyone else?

Argentinian Pizza Place? Puhhhleeeeeze.

Wait, I must be fair - ed, pray tell, what made it Argentinian? Gaucho costumes for the staff? Flank steak on the pizza? Chimichurri on the side? Oh, I know - murals of the Pampas.

I must know

Well, I got delivery, so I have no idea what it looks like inside. I would assume the main thing that makes it argentinian is, well, the owners

Oh, and while it was a short dough, it was pie-cut, not square-cut.

dicksond wrote:

gleam wrote:The crust was a standard chicago short dough.

Ahh, secret LTH-lingo

"Short dough" is a standard baking term for a high-fat dough. "Short"=shortening.

LAZ wrote:

dicksond wrote:

gleam wrote:The crust was a standard chicago short dough.

Ahh, secret LTH-lingo

"Short dough" is a standard baking term for a high-fat dough. "Short"=shortening.

Next you will try to tell me the words standard and Chicago have common usage and meaning too!

Come on, I know they were all invented here, you joker, you. But it did give me a good laugh - thanks.

i spent last year in buenos aires, argentina. i didn't think the pizza there was all that great (but a good bottle of malbec does wonders to wash it down).
one interesting thing they do have is "faina", typically served with pizza. it is a pizza piece-shaped accompaniment that goes on top of your piece, made of chickpea flour. it's bland, but goes surprisingly well with pizza. i've never seen it at any place in the states. i think it is of italian origin.

Rachel B. wrote:i spent last year in buenos aires, argentina. i didn't think the pizza there was all that great (but a good bottle of malbec does wonders to wash it down).
one interesting thing they do have is "faina", typically served with pizza. it is a pizza piece-shaped accompaniment that goes on top of your piece, made of chickpea flour. it's bland, but goes surprisingly well with pizza. i've never seen it at any place in the states. i think it is of italian origin.

Rachel:

Fainà is the Ligurian name for their chickpea cake, mentioned in this thread:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=32973#32973
...about the Niçois version, called soca.

I've seen a couple of Argentine recipes for pizza and their approach to making the dough seems to be like the New York (small amount of oil added) approach, thus not the short style of dough popular here, nor the completely fatless dough of Naples. Does that fit with your experience?

Antonius

"Argentinian Pizza Place? Puhhhleeeeeze.

Wait, I must be fair - ed, pray tell, what made it Argentinian? Gaucho costumes for the staff? Flank steak on the pizza? Chimichurri on the side? Oh, I know - murals of the Pampas."

Wow, that's very underinformed.

Have you read anything here about the enourmous Italian infuence on Argentine culture and food?

Italians speaking Spanish and pretending they are British, you know.

Argentine gelato and pizza places (eg, the Penguin), gnocchi (noquis), panettone, Astor Piazzola, Manu Ginobili, any of this ring a bell.

Kind of like a NY pizza place, or a Chicago Pizza place, only more so.

In my experience in Argentina (and in the US in FL and Chicago) Argentine pizza is very much like Italian pizza, if one gets the "thin" version. The thicker pie is like focaccia. Ingredients lean toward ham and cheese, little or no sauce. Vegetables, as elsewhere in Argentina, are not much used save bottled mushrooms. I have a pizza menu around here somewhere from Los Imortales in BA. I'll try to find it and perhaps image it if someone really cares.

Penguin is not atypical.

Jeff:

I get a kick out of the combo-dish RachelB describes above. It is as if the Ligurians and Neapolitans couldn't decide what should be the fast/street food and they compromised by putting fainà and pizza together.

I think I'm in the mood for una milanesa a la napolitana...

Chau a todos,
Antonius

JeffB wrote:"Argentinian Pizza Place? Puhhhleeeeeze.

Wait, I must be fair - ed, pray tell, what made it Argentinian? Gaucho costumes for the staff? Flank steak on the pizza? Chimichurri on the side? Oh, I know - murals of the Pampas."

Wow, that's very underinformed.

Have you read anything here about the enourmous Italian infuence on Argentine culture and food?

Italians speaking Spanish and pretending they are British, you know.

Underinformed or cynical. Given the popularity of all things latino, it could be more marketing opportunism, possibly using the origin of the proprietors, than a genuine exposure of the Argentine spin on Italian cuisine. Time will tell, and I look forward to you exploring more and reporting back. After you, my friend.

I suppose since we have Neapolitan Pizza, Chicago Pizza, California Pizza, New York Pizza and probably many more that I am momentarily forgetting, it is fair to have Argentine Pizza.

Still, I cannot wait to hear about the decor .

dicksond,

Perhaps you missed the line in gleam’s original post saying where Pizza Tango is. It’s not in some trendy part of the world like Lincoln Park (or Naperville?), where your cynical imaginings about a pizza place cashing in on a new fashion for things South American might be justified. No, Pizza Tango is in Pilsen and I venture to say its clientele is 90% Mexican. I drive by Pizza Tango pretty much two times a day, have never been tempted to go in, but the fine web site “Picturing Chicago” has a picture of the establishment in question:

http://www.picturingchicago.com/images/ ... sen_50.jpg

As you can see, it makes even the most humble stop on the beefathon tours look like the Taj Mahal. (Hey, note that Pizza Tango also offers Italian Beef!) I don’t imagine there’s much décor inside of any type.

*****
I’d further venture a guess that in Mexico itself, the Argentine style of pizza is at least as widespread and familiar as any variety of US style, or traditional Italian styles. As a small piece of evidence let me link to Antonius’s post on Oscar’s taqueria and pizzeria on the southwest side, a real hole in the wall place which is thoroughly Jaliscan in its menu (tortas ahogadas, carne en su jugo) and, yes, décor, yet which offers chimichurri salsa as one of its options for pizza toppings. I’m not surprised that a place in Pilsen, marketing itself to a Mexican neighborhood, advertises Argentine pizza (which is not to say that Pizza Tango’s pizza is Argentine in style, just that they apparently claim it to be).

****
gleam: you are braver than I am, to try Pizza Tango. What’s next on your exploration of 18th St. pizza? Pizza Nova? Benny’s? Chubby’s?

You have me there, Amata. If Argentine pizza is a commonly accepted style in Mexico which I have somehow missed, then I completely withdraw my cynical doubts and apologize for my stupidity.

Amata wrote:gleam: you are braver than I am, to try Pizza Tango. What’s next on your exploration of 18th St. pizza? Pizza Nova? Benny’s? Chubby’s?

Actually, I've already tried Benny's.. a few weeks before Pizza Tango. Frankly, Benny's was better. Not great, but charming in its own way. I'd be more likely to order again from Benny's than Pizza Tango, but I'm not rushing out to try either.

I live two blocks from pizza nova, but haven't tried it yet.

I'm also going to see, I think, if Aurelio's will deliver. I only get pizza cravings once in a while, though, so who knows when I'll get to try any of the other places.

From today's Dish:

While lurking on lthforum.com (http://lthforum.com), we learned about Pizza Tango (1013 W. 18th St.; 312-421-2111), an Argentinean pizzeria in Pilsen. Ivan Radevski, the owner, told us Argentinean-style pizza is thin-crust, and has ham, pimientos, olive oil, and oregano. “There are two types of Argentinean pizza,” Radevski says. “You can stretch or roll the crust. A la piedra, that’s thinner. That’s how I make it.”

Since no lurker has yet to register for the LTHforum 1st Anniversary Party, I wonder if Penny Pollock wants to attend?

gleam - you beat me by seconds ...

Regards,

Cathy and Gleam - wrong lurker. Penny, as far as I know, has never been on LTHforum.com.

I, on the other hand, have been in the shadows for ages. Guess I should stop being such a weirdo and just say hello.

Hello.

I suppose most of you probably aren't fans of Chicago magazine - but I wanted to tell you that LTHforum does an exceptional job of finding hidden treasures in this city. I can't tell you how many times I've scoured these boards looking for ideas. Keep up the good work.

Best,

Jeff Ruby
Chicago magazine

dropkickjeffy wrote:I suppose most of you probably aren't fans of Chicago magazine - but I wanted to tell you that LTHforum does an exceptional job of finding hidden treasures in this city. I can't tell you how many times I've scoured these boards looking for ideas. Keep up the good work.

Best,

Jeff Ruby
Chicago magazine

Jeff,

I am a big fan of Chicago Magazine. I actually read it cover to cover most months. I have suspected for a while that someone over there is taking hints from LTH Forum, since often some place we were discussing suddenly appears in Chicago Mag a month or two later. Glad to hear that you are here. You should post more often.

Jeff:

Welcome. I'm really glad to see that credit was given to LTHForum (special applause for Ed/Gleam) for Pizza Tango and I hope such proper acknowledgement will continue to be given.

Antonius

Actually, I think a rather large number of us are fans. I certainly am. Thanks for posting!

Not to be overly redundant redundant, but I'm also a big fan of Chicago Mag, and I look forward to Dish in my e-mail every week.

Wow, I'm feeling the love here. Thanks.

I don't know why I just assumed that folks here hated Chicago magazine. Maybe because I've been burned in the past on message boards the second I identified myself, as though a magazine backed by the Tribune Co. was pure evil, and anyone who worked for such a publication was an enemy.

I don't presume to speak for others here, but I know that I have always liked ChiMag's restaurant reviews very much. The amount of effort put into them, and the constant reassessments and alerts about closings, the comings and goings of peripatetic chefs, and the misadventures of Jacky Pluton is very much appreciated!

dropkickjeffy wrote:...as though a magazine backed by the Tribune Co. was pure evil

Speaking as someone who occastionally toils for a tentacle of Tribune Co., they ARE pure evil

But that doesn't have to make you evil, especially if you play nice & fill us in on good places to eat

Giovanna

Given the extra attention, here's the pics:

dropkickjeffy wrote:Wow, I'm feeling the love here. Thanks.

I don't know why I just assumed that folks here hated Chicago magazine. Maybe because I've been burned in the past on message boards the second I identified myself, as though a magazine backed by the Tribune Co. was pure evil, and anyone who worked for such a publication was an enemy.

I've always had the impression that what you Penny and DRW do is very highly regarded across the board -- even if the pub itself catches some heat from time to time. The Closer is just about my favorite part of each month's issue. The July installment is especially topical and highly amusing.

=R=

Thanks, Ron. Much appreciated.

I thought I would catch some heat from restaurant publicists for making fun of them in The Closer - but across the board, they thought it was on target. One even told me she plans to use the column as part of her training manual.

Jeff

Count me in as a reader of Chicago mag's reviews and particularly my weekly dish email. I may not always agree with you, Jeff , but the info is great, and I have been known to even laugh at the jokes and links.

Of course, there is a touch of sadness when a beloved favorite is recognized in Chicago, because it does change things. But the good places deserve more business, and it is good that you can make that difference.

How come no item on White Palace, though, or maybe a series on best diners and grills? I think your readers can handle it.

Ah, White Palace. What an original that place is.

As a matter of fact, we did write it up - albeit briefly. Last year, both Penny and I picked WP as our favorite late-night spot in the Best of Chicago issue (August).

Her writeup:

"I haven't pulled an all-nighter in years, but it's nice to know that - just in case - White Palace Grill is there, turning out Belgian pecan waffles 24/7. And they make awfully good salami and eggs."

Mine:

"Pick an omelet, any omelet. A greasy spoon in the shadow of the Loop filled with cabbies, truckers, and other assorted night owls, this place has been the quintessential city diner for 65 years."

I had a bit in there about how it's where Tom Waits, circa 1974, would've hung out if he lived in Chicago, but my editor cut it.