Margaritas. Just letting the syllables roll off the tongue reminds me of a perpetually 85º desert island where it never rains, a place where I can live off lime trees and handfuls of beautiful women fan me with palms as I lay in the sand, sipping on chilled tequila. Then the roar of the 3:30 Amtrak to DC jolts me back to reality and Brick City.
Fantasies aside, if you’re stuck in Newark instead of your own personal paradise (or maybe Newark is your personal paradise… to each his own), here’s few places I sampled the ‘ritas. You can go bottoms up at Mompou, where they offer a good presentation and a fairly safe drink that isn’t too sweet. If you like your margaritas to have a bit of a snarl, like I do, the tapas bar’s blends lack the teeth you crave, but there’s plenty of bite taken from your wallet; they go for $10 a pop.
Mompou makes a good margarita but your monthly credit card bill will keep you honest.
Green Street Cafe, tucked behind a parking lot across from Prudential Center, delivers the goods. Their margarita ($8), has the perfect ratio of tequila-to-triple sec-to-lime juice for this former bartender (3-1-splash), just the way I make them.
Green Street loses points for the wrong glass.
Just down the road at the Arena Lounge, I spied one of those placards that hype those specials you never drink anyway, caught the words “Brazilian Margarita” and immediately ordered one without bothering to check the ingredients. The drink ($8) seemed stndard, but included enough honey to put Pooh into insulin shock. I was surprised that the cocktail was not devoid of the tart kick I come to expect from a good margarita, and wasn’t as saccharine as you’d imagine. They lose face for adding sour mix, but it was still a decent ‘rita.
Sagres, located just off Ferry Street on Prospect, served the best drink of the bunch ($9). The waiter was the only one who asked if I wanted it up or on the rocks, and if my preference included salt. Every other bar made their own assumptions about my saline intake.
Finally, Brick City Bar & Grill. For starters, they should rename their margarita the Triple Sec Special; that’s all I tasted. Easily the worst margarita I ever drank. BCBG should be ashamed for charging such outlandish prices ($11) for horrendous drinks, but so long as people (me) are stupid enough to spend $11 on terrible cocktails, the bar might as well keep selling them for that much. Oh, and Tanya is hot.
BCBG Triple Sec Special
I happen to be partial to Barbie dolls, so I forgive BCBG’s bartender for the most amateur margarita ever shaken.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Girls over Margarita’s always win. Good stuff Quade. Now to find me this Tanya at BCBG. LOL!!!
June 29th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Some of us aren’t as interested in Tanya…
…but the drinks do look good. Sad that BCBG is serving such terrible drinks! It’s good to know — I’ve only had wine there, and I guess I’ll continue the trend…
June 29th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
it’s such a truth in life…if a hot girl does anything..its okay
June 29th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
I went to Sagres two Friday’s ago, right before Portugal Day. Had a great meal there, sitting outside, taking in the sights, and all of the activity. Great little place!
June 30th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Love Sagres! we go there before Devils games, and the food is fantastic! We usually pound down sangria there, and the clams are to die for. I’ll be there for newark restaurant week and hopefully sitting outside.
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:02 am
Noting against Brazilian girl bartenders but they just can’t make a good cock tail drink.
They always make them weak or forget some of the ingredients that go in the drink.
This comment is directed at Ironbound bars.
July 6th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I would like to see more of your sampling comments. Perhaps The Spot Lounge on Commerce St. or MiSaVi in the Ironbound section.
Thanks for sharing!
July 7th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Is Tanya the busty blonde at bcbg? If so, yes to her being hot, and an extra yes to her not knowing how to make drinks!
July 9th, 2009 at 9:14 am
BCB&G is in a great location and makes a fortune during the Devils season, but their drink pricing is too high.
Great looking bartenders too.
July 11th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Lissie, I wrote about the Spot Lounge a few weeks ago. See the link below:
http://glocallynewark.com/2009/06/the-good-the-bad-and-the-spot/
Because drinking is both a fun and potentially social event, I’ll have a few more of these before the summer is out, and yes, a feature on sangria is necessary.