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 Entertainment | Restaurants & Dining | April 2005 
The Legend Of Margarita
 Claudia Sternbach - Sentinel
| The Spanish translation of daisy is, ta da, Margarita!
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We had been on the road for days, four of us traipsing around the mountains of southern Mexico, exploring ancient Mayan ruins.
Now we were headed to a small town we had circled on the map. We would arrive in the early evening. We were going to stay in a hotel we had heard about: The Hotel Margarita.
I imagined Jimmy Buffett playing at happy hour. I was dreaming of a frosty glass filled with an abundance of ice — a tangy Margarita to top off the day.
We hadn’t seen ice for more than a week, let alone anything resembling the drink with the woman’s name: Margarita.
I’d been dreaming of it as we traveled over dusty roads and hiked through sweaty jungles.
Margarita. Sweet Margarita.
Just who was Margarita? And why was the drink named after her?
Mystery and myth arise when it comes to tracing the history of the tangy cocktail, according to Cocktailtimes.com.
One story involves a wealthy Dallas socialite, Margarita Sames.
It seems she had a pretty elaborate get-away home in Acapulco, where she loved throwing Christmas parties for her pals. Every year, she got behind the bar and began to experiment.
She would then let her guests sample and rate her liquid inventions.
It was in 1948, the story goes, that Sames mixed three parts tequila and one part lime juice to come up with the first Margarita. Her buddies, thrilled with the results, couldn’t wait to get back across the border and spread the news.
Margarita Sames had created the Margarita. Or not.
Explore the Cocktailtimes Web site further, and you’ll see some say the drink was invented in 1930 in a bar in Tijuana. It was never given a name at all.
And then there’s the tale of a showgirl named Marjorie King who claimed to be allergic to any alcohol other than tequila.
An interesting allergy indeed.
King was spending some time away from the stage, relaxing in Rosarita Beach, Mexico. She found herself at the Rancho Del Gloria Bar and asked bartender Danny Herrera if he would create something a bit more interesting than just a simple shot of tequila to sip.
Filling a glass with shaved ice he poured the tequila, added a bit of lemon and then some triple sec. It was a hit with the showgirl from up north.
The bartender decided to name the drink for her. Using the Spanish translation of her name. Margarita.
But then again.
Picture Tommy’s Place in Juarez, Mexico, 1942. Pancho Morales is working behind the bar. A lovely woman enters the joint, belly’s up to the bar and places an order in a sultry voice for a "Magnolia."
Morales, perhaps having had a rough evening the night before, knew of the drink but couldn’t remember the ingredients. Deciding to wing it, he threw together some tequila and Cointreau and called the new libation a "Daisy," as opposed to the Magnolia.
The Spanish translation of daisy is, ta da, Margarita.
In any case, perhaps tracking down the history of the drink isn’t as important as tracking down the drink itself. At least that’s how my friends and I felt as we drove our rusted station wagon into that small Mexican village years ago searching for the hotel with the same name as the drink were hoping to enjoy.
The hotel stood on a corner. The sign hung at a tilt. The paint was peeling. But inside there was, off to the left, a small, dark bar. Our footsteps echoed on the tile floor. Widows were open, letting in the street sounds, a late day breeze, and a few flies. Jimmy Buffett was nowhere to be found.
The bartender shook his head when we asked for a pitcher of Margaritas. A couple of patrons laughed.
We cooled ourselves off with a few cervesas, wedges of lime squeezed down the neck of the bottles.
And I had to give up on the notion that our home for the night had been named for a tart Mexican cocktail. And that whoever the Hotel Margarita had been named for would forever remain a mystery.
CLASSIC MARGARITA
2 ozs. tequila
1 oz. Triple Sec
½ oz. lime juice (Mexican limes if you can find them)
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, cubes or finely crushed ice. Strain and pour into chilled glass rimed with salt. (To "salt" a glass rub the rim with a cut lime, then dip into salt.)
PALAPAS’ SPECIAL MARGARITA, THE ‘PULP FRICTION’
2 ozs. Hornitos Tequila
½ oz. Cointreau
½ oz. fresh squeezed lime
½ oz. fresh squeezed orange
1½ oz. sweet and sour mix
Combine ingredients in mixing glass and shake. Pour over ice in glass rimmed with salt. Garnish with orange and lime.
MANGO MARGARITA FROM COCKTAILTIMES.COM
2 ozs. 1800 Reposado Tequila
¾ oz. Grand Marnier
1 oz. fresh mango nectar
¾ oz. fresh lime juice
¾ oz. fresh orange juice
1 tsp. sweet and sour
Combine ingredients in a mixing glass and shake. Strain into chilled Margarita glass. Garnish with mango slice.
*For a virgin mango Margarita eliminate the alcohol. |
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