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Drink Wed Jul 21 2010
The Happy Margarita Summer Project 2010, Round 6: Zocalo
Recently Chicago Reader readers voted Zocalo's margarita the best in Chicago. Have they done my job for me? On Monday night, I went with a friend to find out.
Goldmine!
Read my review after the jump.
Gotcha! I meant the food deal we scored was a goldmine: Zocalo offers half-price appetizers on Mondays. For just $14, we feasted on a trio of guacamoles, crabcakes and tamales. (Even-Better-Deal Alert: Tuesdays are all-you-care-to-eat tacos night, for $12.)
The food was good, especially the chicken and poblano tamale, which had a rich mole sauce. But our mission was margaritas. The Zocalo Margarita ($8) was up there with my favorite (so far). They keep it nice and simple with fresh lime juice, triple sec and Herraduro Antiguo Blanco Tequila. I would have liked a bit more lime flavor because I like my margaritas on the tart side. Putting my own preferences aside, this is the most balanced margarita we've tasted thus far on our incredible journey. It was neither overly sweet nor sour, and it wasn't too hot, in the "I'm breathing fire from the tequila after burn" sense of the word. This puts Zocalo's margarita in the "dangerous" category; I could have had way more than one, which would have been ill-advised on a Monday, given the mild buzz I had after one. (Well, I guess it depends on what I was doing Tuesday. Unfortunately, I was going to work.)
If you're into flavored margaritas, this is the place to order them. Choose from pomegranate, prickly pear, passion fruit-mango, and guava, all $9. My friend chose passion fruit-mango, and it was refreshing.
Adobo Grill and Frontera were runners-up in the Reader awards, and don't you worry - we'll get there. Next stop, however, is El Cid, where I hear the margaritas rival the awesome patio.
