Cheers to National Margarita Day

National Margarita Day is February 22, which is as good an excuse as any to spend the entire week “practicing” for the tequila festivities sure to take place over the weekend. Fortunately, Chicago is awash with margaritas in all sorts of novel iterations. You can pretend you’re at a resort in Mexico!

Takito Kitchen is a veritable temple of haute Mexican cuisine and beverages. As with the thoughtful, elevated food program, the beverage list is a modernized riff on typical taqueria repasts. Naturally, margaritas form the crux of that potable philosophy. Guests can skew classic with the namesake Takito Margarita made with lime, agave, Cointreau, and Corazon Blanco, or they can veer off the common path with cucumber margaritas, pineapple-serrano margaritas, and seasonal margaritas made with all sorts of different of-the-moment ingredients. Pro tip: if rhubarb margaritas make a return in the spring, they are not to be missed.

One of the most potent margaritas in town is Rosemary’s Margarita via Antique Taco. The crafty taqueria upends the taco shop norm with its upscale treats, vintage knickknacks, and masterful margaritas, like this one infused with rosemary simple syrup and fresh orange juice.

Margaritas probably aren’t the first thing you’d expect to drink at an Italian restaurant, but you’ll get over the trepidation real quick with Francesca’s Forno’s garden margarita. This jalapeño-infused tipple features Tanteo tequila, muddled strawberries, and basil, whose pungent aroma lends some Italian essence to the Mexican libation.

Since margaritas and tacos go together like cake and ice cream, Taco Joint is tops for Margarita Day. The raucous Mexican haunts, with locations in Lincoln Park and River North, are going all out with margarita-marinated shrimp tacos and pitchers of margaritas for Margarita Day. Cocktails are available in both classic lime and tropical flavors, the latter infused with your choice of guava, coconut, mango, hibiscus, or strawberry-mint.

Made with blood oranges and togarashi, the Señora Geisha at sola is a cross-cultural approach to margarita-drinking. Considering sola is heavily influenced by Hawaiian culture and cuisine, a melting pot if there ever was one, it’s no surprise that their interpretation of a margarita would skew exotic with blood oranges, ginger-serrano-hibiscus syrup, lime, and a togarashi spiced rim.

The Jala-Piña margarita at Allium is downright decadent. You’ve got the Don Julio and the jalapeño, but that’s where things stop being standard and start taking on Combier, Pamplemousse, pineapple, and a guajillo-cinnamon ice cube.

Go a little further south of the border and you’ll hit Peru, the country that lays the framework for Tanta. So instead of actually going to Peru, visit the Peruvian restaurant and imbibe. The El Chingon is a worldly riff on the margarita template, made with more of that jalapeño-infused Tanteo tequila, plus mezcal, lime, rocoto ice, and cilantro.

And for dessert, in case you’ve always wanted to eat your margarita in cupcake form, more has those niche cravings covered. The cupcake boutique peddles margarita cupcakes as part of their lineup of cocktail-inspired cupcakes. Made with real booze, these things pack a punch, especially the salted, tequila-infused margarita version.

Takito Kitchen
2013 W. Division Street, Chicago
(773) 687-9620
Website

Antique Taco
1360 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago
(773) 687-8697
Website

Francesca's Forno
1576 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago
(773) 770-0184
Website

Taco Joint
1969 N. Halsted Street, Chicago
(312) 951-2457
158 W. Ontario Street, Chicago
(312) 337-8226
Website

sola
3868 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago
(773) 327-3868
Website

Allium
120 E. Delaware Place, Chicago
(312) 799-4900
Website

Tanta
118 W. Grand Avenue, Chicago
(312) 222-9700
Website

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1 E. Delaware Place, Chicago
(312) 951-0001
Website