The cocktail menu at the new Chulita restaurant in Venice focuses on tequila and mescal, spirits that beautifully complement the restaurant’s botanas y mezcales, or Mexican drinking food.
This blood orange margarita is about balance and roundness, the interplay of tart (blood orange), bitter (Campari) and sweet (sweet vermouth). It is also an ambitious drink to create at home, requiring you to make at least one simple syrup, and to concoct the blood orange liquor. A better idea might be to stop in at Chulita’s, on your way to or from LAX, take a seat on the street-facing patio and enjoy California-style modern Mexican dishes like squash blossom quesadillas, beef cheek tacos and a ceviche with a jalapeño-fueled kick.
INGREDIENTS:
—1-1/2 oz. Angelisco Tequila Blanco or your favorite blanco or mescal
—3/4 oz. blood orange liquor (combine 1 cup sweet vermouth, 6 oz. blood orange juice and 3 oz. Campari)
—1/2 oz. agave syrup (3 parts agave, 1 part water)
—1/2 oz. lemon juice
—1/4 oz. Liquid Alchemist Ginger Syrup (or make your own with 4 parts sugar, 2 parts ginger juice and 1 part water)
DIRECTIONS:
Combine all ingredients, shake and strain over fresh ice. Garnish with a blood orange wheel.
Courtesy of Chulita Venice
