I have a confession to make. Even eating out with the stupendous frequency I do, I've gotten behind. Due to my abiding love of Roma's pizza, I have yet to make it to any of the new, hot pizza places I keep hearing about. Due to well, no reason at all, I've also fallen behind on wine/tapas bars. They say the first step is admitting you have a problem. The second step for me was Tango Bistro.
Tango is the newest venture in the Smuggler's Inn building. It's been open about a year, and I was pleasantly surprised with what it's turned into. Smuggler's is legendary for it's 70's decor as well as it's prime rib, and Tango is also retro, but in a different way. Whereas Smuggler's is dark and cavernous, Tango is quite light and California-mod. You could picture it being in an episode of Hart to Hart, if you want to date yourself the way I just did. The neat thing is, they've done all these renovations but kept to me what was the most quintessentially Smuggler's thing about the space - the gigantic fireplace that's raised about three feet off the floor.
While the space may have touches of the 70's, none of the staff appear to have been alive during that decade. Maybe it was just the night we visited, but everyone we saw was under 25. They were all very pleasant, but fumbled some pretty straightforward questions. A little more knowledge wouldn't hurt, and that will likely come with experience. The menu, like the staff, is modern. All tapas, all the time. Though there are a couple of 'mains' on the menu, even those are specified 'small'. This is a chance to share many dishes, and that's exactly what we did.
Of the two platters we ordered, the seafood was our favourite. On it, the ceviche stood out because there was no fish in it whatsoever, just scallops and shrimp, which made it seem more special than a typical ceviche. We also loved the shrimp fried crispy, not greasy, in a wonton wrapper crust. The calamari was well done. Surprisingly, I wasn't crazy about the ahi tuna, which I normally Iove, but this just wasn't that flavourful.
The cheese platter was a nice set of mild varieties (a blue, a cheddar, a chevre) - nothing too funky. The homemade preserves alongside were definitely the most unique thing on the plate. They contained caraway seeds, which I normally find overpowering, but it worked pretty well with the raisins.
An update on a traditional Hawaiian pizza was in the capicolla ham and pineapple flatbread. The spicy and sweet flavours danced well together, and the crust was thin, but still nicely chewy.
The dates were another unique riff on an item that's pretty popular these days. In addition to being stuffed with chorizo sausage, they were wrapped with bacon and served with a tomato sauce that was quite liberal on the smoky paprika.
Probably the most typical item we tried were the boar-bacon-wrapped skewers of beef tenderloin served with blue cheese cream. Done medium-rare, they were tender and juicy.
Since we're doing true confessions in this column already, I'm going to go ahead and admit the Cajun chicken egg rolls were my favourite dish of the night, and why. I love Chili's southwestern egg rolls. They are one of my favourite chain-restaurant menu items anywhere. Tango's version are what Chili's want to be when they grow up, creamier and more subtly-flavoured. They're sided with the same chipotle aioli as the yam fries we tried, which are a solid, mid-thickness, mid-crispness fry.
We washed all of this down with some beverages off a short wine, and fun martini list. It's a given due to the tapas concept that the portions are small. The prices are commensurate with most of the menu items, including the platters between $8 - 20. To give you some idea of what your party might need to order, three of us gals finished without leftovers but didn't need dessert.
I may have a long way to go in catching up on the wine and tapas spots around the city, to say nothing of the pizzerias, but if they're all the same quality as Tango, it won't be too much trouble.
On the ratings scale:
4 out of 5 Stars!
For more:
Tango Bistro
6920 Macleod Trail South
(403) 252-4365
Though it has nothing to do with Tango, I thought I'd go the full monty with my chain-restaurant confessions and admit I also have a soft spot for the Hunan kung pao at Earl's.
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