John Danza wrote:Interesting, I've never seen that line of "stuff" before in the steaks I've had there.

Looking over the menu listed on menupages for Tango Sur, the Vacio that Panther pictured is - as mentioned - the option designed for 2 which is in the Chef's Special section ("Vacio half slab of range grown flap meat sliced and filled with olive oil, garlic, parsley sauce, then cooked and served on a grill with mashed sweet potatoes ideal for two"). The Vacio for 1 from the "Parilla - Grill" section of the menu is a completely different preparation ("Vacio flap meat, cooked on the grill and served with salad").

ucjames wrote:

John Danza wrote:Interesting, I've never seen that line of "stuff" before in the steaks I've had there.

Looking over the menu listed on menupages for Tango Sur, the Vacio that Panther pictured is - as mentioned - the option designed for 2 which is in the Chef's Special section ("Vacio half slab of range grown flap meat sliced and filled with olive oil, garlic, parsley sauce, then cooked and served on a grill with mashed sweet potatoes ideal for two"). The Vacio for 1 from the "Parilla - Grill" section of the menu is a completely different preparation ("Vacio flap meat, cooked on the grill and served with salad").

Now I understand. The one I was referring to is indeed the Vacio for one from the "Grill" section. Interesting that the other one is essentially filled with chimichurri sauce, while they all have the chimichurri sauce served on the side. I also don't like sweet potatoes, which is why I've stayed away from the special one.

John Danza wrote:Now I understand. The one I was referring to is indeed the Vacio for one from the "Grill" section. Interesting that the other one is essentially filled with chimichurri sauce, while they all have the chimichurri sauce served on the side. I also don't like sweet potatoes, which is why I've stayed away from the special one.

I am not a fan of sweet potato either and on our last visit we were able to substitute regular potatoes. Perfect!

Went to Tango Sur last night for the first time and I can't say I was terribly impressed.

We started with and antipasto plate and empanadas. The antipasto was fine. The empanadas I thought were quite good.

I got the mixed grill for one. I'm not sure who this "one" is that the mixed grill is meant for but he's probably 5 times my size. I didn't come anywhere close to making it through the steak, shortribs, sweetbreads, sausage, and blood sausage that were placed in front of me. The sausage, blood sausage, and sweetbreads were definitely the highlights. The steak and shortribs were not great. Actually the steak was pretty bad (overcooked and bland). Then again the whole thing was $19, so sometimes you get what you pay for.

Service was rushed and quite eager to have our table back as quickly as possible. I wasn't going to play their game so I sent our waiter away several times when he pestered us for dinner or dessert orders (no I am not ready to order having been seated and looking at the menu for 2 minutes). I was with a good sized group celebrating birthdays over multiple bottles of wine, so no one was in the mood to be rushed.

For me at least, Tango Sur falls into that category of places where I would go with a group if someone suggested it, but probably wouldn't go if I were making the decision.

ucjames wrote:

John Danza wrote:Was this the standard Vacio from the menu, or the ever-present Vacio on the "Special" list? I've had a lot of the former at TS, and have never seen the butter/garlic/herb mixture you've got pictured here.

That's the Vacio for 2 people - I cannot recall which menu area it is listed under. It always looks like it does in that picture, and it is pure goodness.

I took my nephew to Tango Sur back in April. He really enjoyed it and it was the talk of the trip. I thought the meal was somewhat uneven.

The empanadas were excellent. They were freshly prepared and very hot.

We also had the Vacio for two people. Personally, there was easily enough meat for three people. The steak had a great flavor, especially with the chimichurri sauce which was pretty strong but fit well with the meat. The steak was not real tender and was rather chewy which was not a problem with me at all. However, it was hard to cut and I was afraid that with the shaky table, we were going to spill the plate.

The service was rather disappointing. We were the FIRST customers of the day (Monday night) and every time, I needed something, it was hard to get the attention of the five or six servers in the dining room. Also, since we were not drinking that night, we got the usual 2nd class treatment reserved for non-drinkers. And the service was VERY slow which nearly caused us to be late for our evening show.

jlawrence01 wrote:The service was rather disappointing. We were the FIRST customers of the day (Monday night) and every time, I needed something, it was hard to get the attention of the five or six servers in the dining room. Also, since we were not drinking that night, we got the usual 2nd class treatment reserved for non-drinkers. And the service was VERY slow which nearly caused us to be late for our evening show.

Since Tango Sur is BYOB, there especially shouldn't be any 2nd class treatment for non-drinkers...perhaps it was an off day for service there?

I haven't been in a while, but don't recall super-attentive service the last time I was there. We were a group of 6 though, so between our many bottles of wine and our various conversations, it didn't faze us. If it had been just two or four folks, we might very well have been annoyed.

Sorry for the delayed report.

We ate at Tango Sur around 9:30 Thursday night. We weren't the last people seated, and it was hopping in there until we got to dessert. We brought a nice Zin and a half bottle of Muscat that claimed to pair well with flan.

The warm rolls were tasty, and it was tempting to eat too many since we were really hungry. We started with a ham and cheese and a spinach and cheese empanada. Both were very good - the ham and cheese was the winner, though.

We decided on the Vacio for two, medium. The piece of meat ranged from medium rare in some sections to well-done one one edge, which was OK, as we could eat the pieces we preferred (my bf would rather have had it medium rare).

The chimichurri was excellent, but the beef didn't seem to be hugely flavorful (perhaps it was overshadowed by the chimichurri)? The grilled sweet potatoes were a nice accompaniment, and also tasted good with the chimichurri (though what wouldn't)?

We finished up with the flan, which was a very fine specimen of that dessert.

All in all, while the main dish wasn't as amazing as we'd hoped, the appetizers and dessert were very good, and we would definitely go back and try another cut - at the prices they're charging, and the BYOB, it's definitely worth another shot.

It's funny, there's loads of posts about this place, just not in its own thread: but Argentine, Steak, Wrigleyville, BYOB, Sheeple... all terms that will find you posts on Tango Sur.

I was looking for reasonable-priced steak (Thing2's request for his birthday), in a reasonable drive from his Loyola apartment, and TS fit the bill. Prices are higher than reported in a thread from last year (items such as Vacio for one are $19, not $13, but that thread said they were quoting an old price).

We split the beef, chicken and spinach empanadas. Nicely crisp, rich fillings, chimmichuri is a great accompaniment.
Salads are minimalist: some leaf lettuce and large slices of tomato and onion with oil and vinegar provided.
But you're here for a major beef application: Thing2 got the Bife Vesuvio: stuffed with spinach and cheese with the oil/garlic vesuvio treatment (not sure how different that is from the little container of chimmichuri it came with, but whatever). He loved it.

SueF had the boneless strip. It came out blue, but they re-fired it and it was fine, but had a large amount of fat on the edges. My Entrana (outer skirt) had similar problems: it should have been trimmed a little better, there was a lot of unchewable membrane on the outside.

Portions are enormous: all three of us took home leftovers (Sue and I about half, about a quarter for my son).
Service on the other hand is spotty: we were asked if we wanted more bread, but it never appeared until we asked again (twice). The place is VERY noisy, both from crowd and music (it didn't help that we were seated right under a wall-mounted subwoofer -- had I realized I might have requested a different table).

I would go back again (maybe with earplugs), it's a good value, but they could use a little polish, for a place that's been around for a while. They certainly are doing plenty of business, being full-up on a Sunday night.

This has been said before, but the whole package - noisy, crowded, big hunks of well-seasoned and not overtrimmed beef, spotty service minimal thought given to vegetables - is precisely authentic. (Actually, any "salad" not involving pickled vegetables and mayo is not very Argentine steakhouse; that's a salve to the gringos.) The place is so incredibly successful and has been for so long, I doubt anything is going to change, which is fine by me.

NB, also well documented- they upsell toward the grass fed beef, but I actually prefer the "regular" beef here, which is several bucks cheaper. I also can't imagine visiting TS without ordering any housemade sausage (fresh chorizo, morcillas) from the family butcher next door. I still marvel at the coolness of the place, even though I don't always have the time or patience for it: sleepy corner meatmarket run by a gruff Porteno begets wildly poular churrascaria that makes virtually no concessions to Yankee expectations and hums along on a client base of South Americans, protein dieters and steak and wine lovers on a budget.

JeffB wrote:This has been said before, but the whole package - noisy, crowded, big hunks of well-seasoned and not overtrimmed beef, spotty service minimal thought given to vegetables - is precisely authentic. (Actually, any "salad" not involving pickled vegetables and mayo is not very Argentine steakhouse; that's a salve to the gringos.)

I had no problem with the salad, it was a light cleansing breath before the onslaught of nicely charred flesh. Hey it could be worse: When the online menu says "with salad" and shows a platter with but a single leaf of lettuce and slice of tomato, that could have been it Thing2, however, thought the salad looked more like what he'd top a burger with, and actually the tomatoes were decent for November.

JeffB wrote:NB, also well documented- they upsell toward the grass fed beef, but I actually prefer the "regular" beef here, which is several bucks cheaper. I also can't imagine visiting TS without ordering any housemade sausage (fresh chorizo, morcillas) from the family butcher next door.

I didn't see any mentions on the menu of grass-fed beef, but it was rather dark in there. I'll have to try the chorizo next time. I don't know that I'd want a meal of the morcilla, and I wasn't in the mood for the giant combo platter that is the parrillada.

Don't sleep on the sweetbreads - mollejas - which TS prepares in excellent fashion, and which come with the parillada. Their vacio is one of my favorite steaks in Chicago. And I totally agree with JeffB on the righteousness of their morcilla and chorizo. Wash all that down with an inky BYOB Argentine red, and you've got one of the best, most affordable meals in Chicago.