Reviews

The next few posts collectively may be called “The Best Margarita in Aspen”, as I am spending a few days in Aspen, CO. No, it’s not ski season. I’m here to participate in the filming of an episode of the National Geographic TV show, Diggers, as we search for the “Lost Aspen Time Tube” that contains Steve Jobs’ mouse from his “Lost 1983 Speech“. Aspen may not be known for Margaritas, but I’m going to try a few while I’m here anyway. If I come away finding Steve Jobs’ mouse and am also recognized as the authority on Aspen Margaritas, then this will all be worth it!

After a 2 hour plane trip (not including travel to and from the airports), getting a car rental, and a 5 hour drive through harrowing mountain passes (at least I was treated to some beautiful mountain scenery), we got into Aspen around 8 PM. The first order of business was getting something to eat. I found a Mexican restaurant close by called Su Casa. I had read a little bit about Su Casa prior to the trip and it sounded like it should have a decent Margarita. Either way we were hungry so my travel partner and I headed out.

The food I ordered seemed to be above average for a Mexican restaurant, however hunger may have influenced that perception! The restaurant itself was nice although a little small. I ordered their house Margarita, but I read some reviews that suggested I try their “half-and-half” Margarita which was a mix of regular and strawberry Margarita. I may try that the next time I come by Aspen because I was simply too full after my meal to have another!

Su Casa’s house Margarita had a nice, soft flavor. It wasn’t too tart or sweet and went down smoothly. As the picture indicates, it had a frothy appearance, which I’ve observed that some people appreciate. However, the finish was a little bitter. Overall, the flavor was nice, but it wasn’t great. I’d give the Margarita a 7. It was a nice Margarita to have with a meal, but I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to get it.

One of our favorite restaurants, my wife and I were again at Five Bistro this evening. I had previously written about a Margarita I had at Five Bistro, but the former bartender at Five Bistro left to manage another restaurant. A new bartender is a good enough excuse for me to try a Margarita, as if I need one!

This Margarita had a strong hit of citrus up front, but very little sweetness to balance it out. It had a nice finish with what tasted like a combination of tequila and triple sec. I describe this as more of a “classic” Margarita where there is very little sweetness other than the triple sec. I prefer a tad more sweetness, but I know some people may not. I asked and the tequila used was El Jimador. Overall, I give this Margarita a 7, better than the 6 I gave last time.

A simply good Margarita

I met my wife for lunch on her birthday at The Cheesecake Factory in St. Louis. It had been a few years since we’d been here and of course it was a good excuse to try a Margarita. If you’re not familiar with The Cheesecake Factory, it doesn’t serve just cheesecakes! Their food is very good and I’m happy to report so are their Margaritas.

The Margarita I had was very nicely balanced with a crisp citrus flavor, light sweetness, and a good tequila flavor. I don’t have much more to say other than it was simply a pleasure to drink. I give it a solid 8 on my scale. Make sure to try one the next time your stop by The Cheesecake Factory!

This is a pretty Margarita – with a taste to match!

The Crossing was were I came up with the idea for this blog and the first Margarita I wrote about. My wife and I came back here tonight and of course, I wanted to try another Margarita.

This time I’m happy to say the Margarita was much better than the one I previously had. This Margarita had good sweetness which was nicely balanced with the citrus flavor. The tequila flavor came through but it was not overpowering. Overall it was a very good Margarita, registering a 7.5 on my scale.

As I mentioned last time, my wife and I absolutely love The Crossing. This time we had the Grand Tasting Menu. Eight courses of pure deliciousness. If you enjoy food, you must treat yourself to the Grand Tasting Menu at The Crossing at least once. Trust me, you will love it!

Check out this crazy cup!

I have never in my life taken a boat to get to a restaurant. I hoped there would be a Margarita in my future that would match this special outing. Fortunately for me, there was.

Jolly Rogers Grub & Grog is a restaurant on the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Literally on the lake. Like you can park your boat in their docks to go eat. Pretty cool. As the name implies, this restaurant is pirate and nautically themed. So much so that they bring out a parrot you can have sit on your shoulder. The ambiance is very fun and they have a huge drink selection.

I chose the Swashbuckler’s Gold Margarita. The description claims it is the Ultimate Margarita. You can choose to have it made with a variety of tequilas: Patron, Don Julio, Cabo Wabo, Herradura, or Jose Cuervo. I had mine made with Don Julio on the recommendation of our server. It was served in a very interesting container, as the picture shows. The Margarita itself was very good. It had a good citrus taste and good tequila flavor. Gran Marnier adds some sweetness but not too much. Overall it had a bit of a light taste, which makes it a bit more refreshing and good on a hot day, which I would expect most lake goers would appreciate. Some people might say it is a little weak, which I won’t argue with, but I didn’t think it was too weak. In fact, I had a second. That one wasn’t served in the crazy container, but it was still good. Overall, I give Jolly Rogers’ Margarita a 7.5.

Same Margarita, different glass.

If you’re visiting the Lake of the Ozarks, make sure to stop by Jolly Rogers. The food is good and the Margaritas are worth the visit. And get a picture with the parrot.

The house Margarita was good …

My wife and I found ourselves kid-free on this Sunday afternoon so we took a little trip into St. Louis for some Margarita sampling. I did some research and we settled on Milagro Modern Mexican in Webster Groves. I’m glad we did because not only was the food excellent, but they also had some very good Margaritas.

I started with their house Margarita, while my wife had a “Top Shelf” Margarita with Riazul tequila. My impression of the house Margarita was that the tequila hit a little bitter at first taste. I would have preferred more of the citrus and sweet flavor to come through. However, it was still very good. But I took a few sips of my wife’s Margarita and I could tell the difference right away. The overall flavor was much smoother with a good hit of citrus flavor, a subtle sweetness, and the tequila balanced just right.

… but the Top Shelf Margarita was better!

I went ahead and had a second Margarita, opting for a Top Shelf but this time with Tres Generaciones tequila. Our server Natalie suggested that the “Tres Gen” would have a little more tequila bite, so I wanted to experiment. She was correct, as I could tell that the tequila did have a more prominent taste at first. With the Tres Gen tequila the Top Shelf Margarita was just a little less smooth due to the tequila bite, but it was actually a little sweeter with the citrus coming through at the finish. Still, an excellent Margarita. Given the various Margaritas I tasted that afternoon, I would give Milagro’s house Margarita a 7.5 and their Top Shelf Margarita an 8.5.

I mentioned their server Natalie, who was very knowledgeable about the Margaritas and tequilas. Regarding the choice of tequilas for their Top Shelf Margaritas, she said that Riazul was the smoothest (which my wife liked), she wouldn’t recommend Patron, Don Juilo had a “regular” bite, and the Tres Generaciones was not as smooth as Riazul but had less bite than Don Julio. Natalie also recommended that we try their Tuna Ceviche, which was an excellent appetizer that we had as a main course. Their guacamole was also very, very good.

If you’re in the Webster Groves area, I highly recommend stopping by Milagro Modern Mexican. I know we will again soon.

I had an opportunity to visit some friends at the TGI Friday’s in South County St. Louis. It helps to know the manager at any restaurant, and Megan made sure we were well taken care of that evening. TGI Friday’s has Margaritas on the menu so of course I had to try one … or two.

The menu showed two main options, “The BFM” or “The Best Friday’s Margarita” and the “Ultimate Margarita”. Which one should I try? The “best” or the “ultimate”? I was suggested that The BFM was the better option, so that is the Margarita I chose for that evening. I will later return to try the Ultimate to see if in fact it is worth of that title.

The first thing that struck me about The BFM was that it had a good full body. In other words, it wasn’t a thin, watery drink. Too often Margaritas taste watered down but this was definitely not one of those. The flavor as described in the menu, “ultra-smooth, perfectly balanced”, was pretty close in my opinion. It had a nice smooth flavor with the components all well-balanced. My only nitpick was that the finish was just a little on the bitter side. Obviously this was not too big of a problem as I ordered a second. My only other wish was that the drink was bigger! Overall, I give The BFM at TGI Friday’s an 8 out of 10.

Oh so good!

My family took a trip to Mexico the first week of June. I know what you’re thinking … sun, surf, and Margaritas! We stayed at the Dreams resort in Huatulco, a destination recommended to us by our travel agent. First off, kudos to the staff of Dreams, as the entire experience was excellent. Everyone was super-friendly and happy to accommodate. The several restaurants on the property were all high quality and of course, the drinks were flowing a-plenty!

Obviously I had to sample the Margarita they served at the resort, which I did on several occasions over our week stay. Happily, I am able to report that their Margarita was absolutely top-notch. The flavor of the Margarita at the Dreams was very smooth. All the flavors blended together nicely and complemented each other perfectly. Rarely does a Margarita make me stand up and take notice, but this one did. I’m normally not a big fan of frozen Margaritas, but even the frozen variety they served had the same excellent flavor. I watched the bartenders make a few of my Margaritas and I believe the reason they were so good was a combination of their skill and the mix they were using. I wish I could have gotten the recipe for that mix!

This was my last Margarita at the Dreams resort. So sad 🙁

Over the course of our stay, I ordered many Margaritas from the various bars around the resort. All but one were excellent, and I think the one that wasn’t so good might have been my fault as I may have let it sit out a little too long in the sun. Sorry – I was in the pool! Because the Margaritas at the Dreams resort were so good, and I was able to confirm this many times over the course of a week, I am giving them a rating of 9 out of 10. Unfortunately, I won’t get to easily revisit these Margaritas given the fact they are over 1600 miles away!

You can see the bright green wall in the background of this picture. I wish the margarita could have borrowed a little of that color.

To wrap up my birthday week, we took a trip to visit some friends in the Kansas City area. While there, of course, I had to try a local Margarita! Being fans of the Food Network show Restaurant Impossible, we were familiar with a Mexican restaurant in Kansas City named Poco’s. We had never visited a restaurant that had been made over by Robert Irvine, so I figured why not kill two birds with one stone?

My first impression was that the restaurant looks so much bigger on TV! Overall, the food had its highs and lows, depending on which meal was ordered. All said and done, I wouldn’t tell you to make a point to visit here, but if you’re curious it’s worth a visit. Interestingly, the same can be said about the Margarita.

My first impression was that the color was very faint, which often means the Margarita will be weakly flavored. Not a good sign to start with. The flavor was nice, with a tequila taste up front followed by citrus. The finish was just a little too bitter for my preference. They do a nice job of blending the tequila, as I could tell this wasn’t light on the alcohol but it was not overpowering. The Margarita was overall pleasant to drink but the taste was, in fact, weaker than I would have liked. I would have preferred if the flavors were a little more prominent. So I give the drink a 7. Nothing to brag about, but it’s fine enough to drink if you’re here.

My birthday Margarita! Or I should say, one of many that day!

So May 22nd is my birthday and I requested that we have lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant in our town, El Maguey. Besides wonderful Mexican food, great salsa, and amazing guacamole, as you can probably guess, El Maguey also has excellent Margaritas. But just how good are they?

I’ve been putting off writing about El Maguey’s Margaritas because I wanted to objectively sample many other Margaritas to confirm my previous thoughts. For several years now we’ve been eating at El Maguey and every time I have one of their Margaritas I’m never disappointed. Whatever they’re doing there, they manage to nail just the right balance of tequila, sweetness, and citrus flavors. I think my favorite part is that the citrus flavoring stands out but isn’t overpowering.

So far on this blog I’ve reserved rating any Margaritas a 9 or higher. This is because there is one factor that I can not account for with just one visit – consistency. I’ve been to various Mexican restaurants in the past and noticed that the quality of a Margarita can vary with each visit. It is quite disappointing to be served a Margarita of a quality less than expected. However, I remember going to El Maguey the very first time and commenting how good the Margarita was. This was in 2008 or 2009. Since that time I can not recall El Maguey ever serving me a less-than-excellent Margarita.

I’ve been taking pictures of El Maguey’s Margaritas for many years now 🙂

For just pure flavor, El Maguey in Edwardsville has one of the best Margaritas I’ve ever tasted. But because they’ve been serving them this way for so long, they rise a notch above the rest. I have no qualms giving their Margaritas a 9 out of 10. If you’re in Edwardsville and in the mood for a Margarita, run to El Maguey. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.