200+ Margaritas

Maria's New Mexican Kitchen in Santa Fe offers a fabulous menu of more than 200 Margaritas, using their large collection of 100% agave tequilas with other slight variations on the basic recipe. Some have triple sec, some Cointreau, some Grand Marnier, some a combination. Most have the lime, lemon, and sugar mixer but some have other citrus fruits.

The heart of the list, though, is the wide selection of tequilas -- blanco, reposado, anejo. The Margaritas start at $6.50 with the house special and go up to $42 for the 24-karat Gold Reserve, made with very special hand-crafted Jose Cuervo, special Grand Marnier, etc. The drinks arrive well-shaken, ice cold and served in pear-shaped Margarita glasses.

Someone had a good time making up the names and writing the descriptions. Here are the ones we tried:

The Merry Margarita - Featured in the 2008 Christmas edition of The New Mexico Magazine, it is made with Corazon 100% agave Silver tequila, Cointreau and Blood Orange Juice served in a glass rimmed with green sugar (though in requesting no salt we lost out on the sugar).

The Grand Old Soul -- Alma 100% anejo tequila and Grand Marnier. A great addition to our list!

The Elizabeth-Two -- El Tesoro 100% agave plata tequila, a 1/2-shot of Cointreau and a 1/2-shot of Grand Marnier.

Moon Over Santa Fe -- Dos Lunas 100% agave silver tequila with Cointreau - Romance on the Rocks!

I'm not sure there is a greater selection of Margaritas anywhere, and in any case this has become one of the obligatory stops in our visits to Santa Fe. The food, btw, is supposed to be good, but the green chile meatballs we ordered as an alibi to sit at a table were fairly bland.