Can a restaurant make its name on one dish, especially if it's really a side dish? Well, think about it. Food mavens never say McDonald's puts out a good hamburger, but even Julia Child adores its french fries.
Tango, an Argentine steakhouse along the restaurant row of Arlington Center, puts out addictive fried potatoes. Thin circles of potato are crisp and browned outside, yet mealy inside; a touch of salt lingers on the tongue, but no hint of grease mars the taste. They come gratis with the flank steak, or with the swordfish, or with almost anything else, presented simply and humbly. But they're consistently great, real stars.
However, meat is center stage in this small restaurant, which opened eight months ago in the space that used to be Village Fish. The open kitchen showcases the cooking as two chefs, big men wearing white toques, or poufed hats, work, grilling steaks, chops, and organ meats. But there's plenty of other action in the long, narrow room, with walls decorated with Argentine sombreros, paintings, and ceramics surrounding the tile-topped tables. Tango music, at times almost painfully loud, plays over a sound system, and the managers and waiters, all of whom intersperse attending to customers with chatting on cellphones, move through the tables.
We start one evening with empanada de carne, half moons of pastry dough encasing a flavorful ground beef mixture, gently spiced and studded with raisins. A tortilla Espanola, or Spanish omelet with potatoes, is tasty enough but rather leaden in texture.
A gazpacho needs a brighter color and a cooler temperature, especially since the room is almost as humid and hazy as the weather outside on a deep summer evening. It's tempting to spice up the soup a little with the chimichurri rojo dipping sauce offered with bread at the beginning of the meal. Basically olive oil spiked with hot peppers and garlic, this reappears in a green version over meats and fish, and is always welcome.
That boldness of color and flavor is found in red peppers stuffed with mozzarella, a rich, cheesy and delicious appetite brightener.
Argentina's cuisine, like its culture, reflects many European influences. So I shouldn't be surprised that the chicken breast, flattened into a thin fillet and grilled, is covered with a creamy, yellow wine sauce flavored and tinted with lemon juice and rind. It's actually quite good. But I think it would be even better with less or no sauce since it masks the grilled flavor of the chicken.
Flank steak served with herb-flecked green chimichurri is meaty cut, tender and deep flavored and wonderful with the fried potatoes. A less lean cut of beef is also nicely grilled. But the parrillada, or mixed grill for one, has a less appealing and fatty piece of steak. However, the accompanying meats - a fat blood sausage, grilled sweetbreads, heart and chorizo - make up for the steak. Of course, you have to enjoy the earthy flavors of the organ and variety meats to appreciate this most Argentine of treats.
The chefs at the grill also did a good job with a big swordfish steak, managing to sear the edges while preserving the moistness of the fish under its chimichurri sauce. Unfortunately, though they are lovely to look at, the jumbo shrimp on a skewer have overstayed their time on the grill and are too dry.
Unlike the fancier steakhouses, Tango slips in plenty of accompaniments along with the very reasonable costs for entrees. Besides the fried potatoes one evening, we try a timbale-style vegetable dish of eggplant, zucchini, and red pepper baked inside a ring of zucchini and served with a creamy mushroom sauce. It's a little heavy but tasty all the same.
Only Argentine wines are served, making them reasonable, if a little limited in scope.
Service can be an issue at Tango. As the evening progresses, our affable waiter's attention sometimes drifts - maybe the warmth of the room has affected him. Or maybe it's the kitchen on one busy night when the two chefs seem stretched to get plates out in a reasonable amount of time. Anyway, by the time we get to dessert and coffee, we're checking our watches.
But we order coffee and desserts. The bread pudding is off the menu, the waiter says, suggesting instead a black forest cake. We choose that and a flan with dulce le leche, the goat's milk caramel. The flan is very successful, the tanginess of the caramel adding to the mild and creamy flan. The cake is forgettable. Also forgotten is the coffee, but by that time we're headed for the door. The next time, dessert is a simple plate of quince paste and mild cheese, a tangy and light ending to a heavy meal.
You want to remember that at Tango, the lilt of the music, the intrigue of the unusual dishes like the mixed grill, and the grilled meats and fish with chimichurri sauce.
And, most of all, the fried potatoes. 
