3001 North Henderson Avenue
Dallas, TX 75206
(214) 252-8595
www.victortangos.com
Price: $$
I went to a birthday dinner on Saturday at Victor Tango's. It's located on Henderson and 75 next to Hibiscus and Hector's on Henderson. I've been wanting to try this place so I was pretty excited. Hibiscus and Victor Tango's share the same valet, and it's complimentary! Yay! :)
There was a ton of people there when we walked in. It's a small place, with the bar on one side (close to the entrance) and the dining area on the other side. There were so many people at the bar we had to squeeze our way to the back of the restaurant, looking around for other people in our party. Soon most of the party arrived and we stood around waiting for our table. For a tiny restaurant, there sure was a lot of large groups...mostly celebrating birthdays as well. Our group had 11 people...and we were wondering where the heck were they gonna put us??
Even though we had a reservation for 7:30, we didn't get seated until an hour later. The host or manager guy was really nice though. Kept checking up on us and giving us updates for our table. He also informed us that he'll make sure we get some food as soon as we were seated. Hey...you can always win me over with free food! haha.
So we finally got seated and they took our drink orders. The restaurant is just a mad house...more and more people kept coming in and very loud and lively...I wonder if they get large birthday groups all the time, or just coincidence that EVERYONE decided to go there that day.
The way Victor Tango's is, is that all the dishes are meant for sharing. Even though the menu divides it into different categories, the portions and prices were generally the same in every category. It's kind of like tapas style, but the portions were slightly bigger.
The free food didn't come as soon as I had hoped...I was pretty hungry by then. We had actually made our orders and were waiting for our dishes when they arrived...which created some confusion because we were like "we didn't order this!?!" They gave us 2 of each of the Ahi Tuna Nachos $13~
and JB's Tempura Green Beans with Wasabi Aioli $8~ The tuna nachos were pretty good. There was a good amount of tuna on the plate, but I thought the portion wasn't enough for the price. But for free...it was great! hehe. 
The green beans were good as well. Nicely fried and still had good texture. I did not taste any wasabi in the aioli though. It was basically like mayonnaise.
We divided our party up in groups to make sharing easier. 4 of us were one group. We ordered the Wild Mushrooms, Asparagus, Fontina & Truffle Oil Flatbread $12~
This was really good, there was lots of mushrooms and asparagus on there. You can really smell the truffle oil. The presentation was nice as well on the wood platter. The flatbread was nice and crispy and didn't feel too heavy. I liked it a lot.
My choice was the Crispy Niman Ranch Pork Belly, Seasonal Greens, Soft Boiled Egg $12~
I love me some pork belly...and this dish did not disappoint! It was prepared in a way that I haven't had before. It was almost like thick cut bacon...full of flavor, crispy edges and fatty! YUM! The pork on its own was a tad salty but I ate it with the egg and it was an awesome combination. So simple, yet so good. The light taste of the egg with the salty meat, and the softness with the crispy ...wow! :) Then to make it even better, the greens were really fresh with a nice touch of vinaigrette on it. The entire plate went together very well, and I think all the elements are meant to be eaten together. This was one of my favorites of the night.
Another choice of mine was the Braised Short Rib, Rutabaga mash and Crispy Shallots $15~
You should know by now...my weakness for braised short ribs. YUM-O! I usually have to order it if I see it on the menu. Also, ever since I saw Paula Deen make rutabaga mash on the Food Network, I've wanted to try it. haha. Never had rutabaga before. The short rib was pretty tender and had good flavor. Some parts of it was slightly dry but paired with the mash was great. The only thing I didn't like about the dish was the sauce. It had really strong flavor...and overpowered everything. So I just tried to eat the parts that weren't covered with the sauce.
Finally, we got a side of the Crab, Mac & Jack Gratin with Pancetta $12~
It's basically their take on mac and cheese. Throw in crab and pancetta only makes it more decadent. haha. This was my other favorite dish of the night. The macaroni was cooked perfectly al dente and super cheesy. I didn't really see any crab or pancetta at all (bummer) but it didn't really matter. It was still delicious. I definitely recommend this dish!
The other group got a couple things I was able to sample:
- Chicken & Waffles $12~
Now I've never had real chicken and waffles, but I have a good idea that this is not the authentic recipe. Victor Tango's put their own spin on it. First of all the chicken was more like chicken tenders (boneless) instead of the regular fried chicken. Second, they had some sort of gravy on there that I couldn't tell what it was. Didn't really have much flavor to me. The combination was interesting though. The sweet waffles with maple syrup with the salty chicken. It was ok... I would really like to try the real chicken and waffles...like from Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in Cali or something.
- Braised Mussels with Spanish Chorizo $12~ (sorry didn't get a picture). It came in a pretty good sized bowl. Normally I'm not a mussels fan, but it had a lot of flavor and the mussels were fairly big, I thought.
I wanted to order dessert (which looked huge...also meant for sharing I guess), but we had birthday cake so I decided that I'll just have to go back and get dessert next time! hehe. Also, I've heard that their cocktails were very good. I didn't get a chance to try it this time either. But I will definitely be going back. The food was pretty awesome overall. It's a very lively atmosphere, and the prices were pretty reasonable. So next time I will definitely be getting a cocktail and dessert! hehe...and hopefully I can try some other dishes. If you like hip/trendy places, this is the spot to check out.
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I'm not sure what all they were... The 2nd from the left was some sort of apple strudel muffin thing, and the 3rd from left was a cinnamon sugar pastry. They were all very good...buttery, flaky, not too sweet. A good way to start the meal. 
I want to try anything with short rib. haha. It's one of my absolute favorite things. But since the portion didn't sound very big, I also got a side of Applewood-Smoked Bacon (3 strips) $5~ The hash and eggs were actually really filling. The eggs were eggs...nothing really special about it, but paired well with the hash. The short rib hash had a lot of short rib chunks in it. I was expecting more potato and less rib but it was the opposite. The short rib was fork tender...so yummy. But the dish was quite oily and salty. The eggs helped balance the saltiness a bit. 
The bacon was excessive and unimpressive. I expected thick cut bacon but it was normal thin strips you would find in any breakfast places. Totally not worth the money. 
This was really good!! Like my hash, the short rib was quite salty, but paired with the bread and arugula, it was better. The short ribs were sooo tender and juicy, with the fresh and peppery arugula and the bread, there were many different textures and flavors. I liked this dish a lot. 
This was pretty good. The apple butter was really good on it. It was 4 slices of baguette instead of regular toast. The individual pieces of bread weren't very large, but it was a pretty heavy dish so I think it was plenty. Still doesn't beat the awesome french toast I had in Boston though... 
It looked really good. He ordered it medium rare and it looked like it was cooked right. But seems like they cut the steak a little too early because there was a lot of juice on the plate. Also, going back and seeing the picture, I realized that they never gave him any fries!!!! That so totally sucks! Oh well, he also got 2 other sides so he definitely had plenty of food. haha. If the fries had been included I would have to say that this is probably the best deal for your money. Normally steaks in other restaurants are $25+ already so this was a good price. 
There was lots of seafood in the pasta. I was pretty impressed by that. The flavor was pretty light and you can really taste the different kinds of seafood. I liked the calamari a lot, but the scallops were definitely overcooked. The pasta was also overcooked...quite soft. :( The dish was also broth-ier than I had expected. I thought this dish was just ok, but my BF said he liked it.
The ravioli was totally not what I expected. They said it was baked, but it felt /looked like it was fried. :/ I think it was overcooked. The inside was very flat, and the filling was dry...i couldn't differentiate between the veal and spinach, and I felt like there was no cheese in it. On a good note, I liked the tomato sauce. It would've probably be better as a regular ravioli dish with the marinara...no need to "bake (fry)" it.
I really liked this salad. The dressing was yummy. The ingredients were all pretty fresh. The spinach did not have that gritty after-feel which was good. The hearts of palm and artichoke hearts were great with the spinach and dressing. The gorgonzola on top was just icing on the cake. Everything went together very well! 
This also had a lot of seafood in it...and seemed quite soupy. "Some guy I met" said it was really good. :P
This was one of the dishes I read on the reviews saying it was really good. So some people took my recommendation and ordered it. They all seemed to like it. They said the spinach souffle was pretty awesome.
