Houston's Best Margarita - Introduction

We don't know about you, but when we have out-of-state guests crash on our couch, two primary questions are always posed to us. Those being: "Where do you store the extra toilet paper?" and "Where can I get the best margarita in Houston?"

Apparently folks visiting the Lone Star State not only associate our humble home with cowboys, oil fields, ranches, and the Bush family, but they also expect to get the best tasting margaritas north of the Rio Grande River. The question regarding Houston's finest margarita is often followed by a perfect storm of discussion, debate, arguments, and a full fledged fist fight! Oh, is that just in our house? Regardless, after the group tuckers out from an evening of verbal sparring, everyone eventually settles on dining at the closest Mexican restaurant to home, seeing as how by this time the clock has struck 10:00pm.

To this day, this question has seemingly gone unanswered. If one were to conduct an Internet search of the words “best”, “margarita”, and “Houston” a litany of choices would instantly appear. But the question that begs to be answered is “what are the criteria to select the preeminent margarita in Houston?”

And therein lies the heart of the problem. What is considered a high-quality margarita to us may not be a first rate margarita to you, your buddies, or your zany Uncle Mort and blue-haired Aunt Bea from Cedar Rapids who said they’d be staying to visit for a weekend, but it’s been two weeks and suddenly their subscription to Better Homes and Garden has been rerouted to your address (Alright, that really is just in our household. But seriously, we wish Uncle Mort would at least put on a shirt before coming down to the breakfast table! Is that really too much to ask?)

Therefore, before we dive into the task of ranking margaritas, we commence by defining our guidelines. Now what we consider to be important may be trivial to others, so we caution you to imbibe at your own risk. Our criteria to identify the best margarita in Houston include:

• Taste
• Restaurant ambiance
• Miscellaneous

Taste

Now for obvious reasons “taste” is the primary factor in locating a top-notch margarita. Without taste, the other two factors could register off the charts and you’d still have a poor drink that you’d never again want to expose to your liver. In judging the taste of a margarita, we use the following factors:

• Strength of margarita (relating to alcoholic content)
• Level of acidity
• Smoothness factor
• Amount of salt on rim
• Range of margarita flavors

Now for us, a big problem with consuming margaritas is the indigestion that soon follows thereafter because of the high level of acidic ingredients that wreak havoc on our poor and unsuspecting stomach. Thus the reason for two criteria (acidity levels and smoothness factor) relating to the tolerability of the beverage.

Restaurant Ambiance

The next category by which we judge Houston’s vast array of margarita offerings is the restaurant’s ambiance. There is a big difference between drinking a margarita at a neighborhood bar and an authentic Spanish bistro. The consumption of a margarita is an experience not to be taken lightly, and can only be enjoyed in the proper festive atmosphere. The determining factors for the a restaurant’s ambiance that serves margaritas include:

• Taste of waiter’s recommendation of his/her favorite margarita offering
• Is the restaurant conducive to excessive margarita consumption?
• The ultimate question – “Would I frequent this establishment in the future specifically to drink a margarita?”

Miscellaneous

The final dynamic in the detection of Houston’s finest margarita are various miscellaneous factors, such as:

• “Bang for the buck” – how costly is the margarita in comparison to its taste and ability to impair one’s judgment (i.e. get you drunk enough to make some bad decisions - because, really, isn't that what it's all about anyways?)
• Types of liquor used (is it the cheap stuff or are we talking quality name brand ingredients?)
• Hangover effects (how bad is the next morning? Take an aspirin and you’re good to go? Or stay in bed all day and nosh on a blended mixture of Gatorade and greasy leftover enchiladas?)

Scoring System

To properly compare and contrast the various establishments, we'll use a "1-5" scale to quantify each of the criteria above for the three categories, ranging from outstanding ("5") to unsatisfactory("1"). For example, in the "Taste" category we'll use a chart as seen below:

We'll sum up the numerical ranking for each criteria in each of the three categories to provide an overall score, which will be used in a comparison to identify the best margarita in Houston.

Ready, Set, Drink!

With the determining factors defined, Houstonist will set off to find the Bayou City's premier margarita in the coming weeks. The first restaurant on the docket is Las Alamedas at Katy Freeway and Voss Rd. So tune in tomorrow for the first installment of Houston’s Best Margarita as we make our ways through the gridlocked freeways of Houston attempting to create our very own Margaritaville.

<Houston's Best Margarita Archive
Houston's Best Margarita - Introduction
Houston's Best Margarita - Installment #1 - Las Alamedas (39 of 55 points)
Houston's Best Margarita - Installment #2 - Pico's Mex Mex (38 of 55 points)
Houston's Best Margarita - Installment #3 – Armando’s (34 of 55 points)
Houston's Best Margarita - Installment #4 – Canyon Cafe (21 of 55 points)
Houston's Best Margarita - Installment #5 – El Patio (41 of 55 points)
Houston's Best Margarita - Installment #6 – El Pueblito Place (37 of 55 points)
Houston's Best Margarita - Installment #7 – Kobain (22 out of 55 points)