3 groovy pieces of Dallas art return to Greenville Avenue after 40-year absence

Head to Dallas’ new Chuy’s to see the Tango Frogs re-installed on Greenville Avenue.

By Sarah Blaskovich Senior Food Reporter

Dallas Morning News May 8, 2025

If it takes two to tango, Chuy's in Dallas has one to spare. The three  'Tango Frogs'...
If it takes two to tango, Chuy’s in Dallas has one to spare. The three ‘Tango Frogs’ sculptures were installed at the outdoor patio roof of the new Chuy’s at 1520 Greenville Ave., in Dallas, on May 8, 2025. (Steve Hamm / Special Contributor)

For the first time in more than 40 years, all six dancing frog sculptures have boogied back to Dallas’ Greenville Avenue.

Artist Bob “Daddy-O” Wade‘s Tango Frogs are a band of larger-than-life steel amphibians weighing hundreds of pounds each. Once commissioned to dance atop a Dallas nightclub called Tango on Greenville Avenue in 1983, the six sculptures lasted there a year before traveling around Texas and beyond, broken into two sets for much of the past four decades.

The Tango Frogs famously survived a fire at Carl’s Corner, the truck stop south of Dallas on Interstate 35, in 1990.

Then, three of them danced their way to Nashville after being purchased by Chuy’s restaurant group.

The other three moved back to Greenville Avenue, installed atop a Taco Cabana. (Surely, it was a strange sight for those ordering late-night queso in the drive-through. But in fact, the Greenville Avenue Taco Cabana was the original address of the Tango club and its famous Frogs, hence their return.) Related: Why are there giant frogs on top of a Lower Greenville Taco Cabana? Curious Texas investigates

After Taco Cabana closed, the three Taco Cabana Frogs were relocated to Greenville Avenue bar Truck Yard during the COVID-19 pandemic, still just a few blocks from their original home in 1983.

And what of the remaining three?

Artist Bob "Daddy-O" Wade's 'Tango Frogs' really do look like they're having a great time...
Artist Bob “Daddy-O” Wade’s ‘Tango Frogs’ really do look like they’re having a great time back in Dallas.(Steve Hamm / Special Contributor)

On May 8, 2025, the other Tango Frogs were brought back to Greenville Avenue. They had a good run in Music City, offering Texas flair to a Tex-Mex restaurant in Tennessee. But with Chuy’s recent move to Dallas’ Greenville Avenue, Chuy’s reps told The Dallas Morning News it just made sense to return the Tango Frogs to Texas.

Cranes dropped the three frogs into place on Chuy’s patio roof on May 8, 2025.

And thus: The Frogs’ presence on Greenville Avenue, a quarter-mile from their original spot 42 years ago, signals a heartwarming homecoming for the remaining half of some of Dallas’ wackiest pieces of public art.

Look at the Tango Frogs, returned to Texas on May 8, 2025

9 images

A trio of Tango Frogs structures were installed onto the roof in the outdoor patio area by...View Gallery

For a deeper look at the history of the Tango Frogsread this story.

For a history of the artist behind the Tango Frogscheck out Wade’s obituary.

For context on why Chuy’s left McKinney Avenue and moved to Greenville Avenue, dig into this neighborhood explainer.