Beverage

There are many stories about the invention and naming of the margarita. Two of the most popular accounts locate the cocktail's beginings in Mexico and Texas. According to one legend, Pancho Morales was working at Tommy's Place in Juarez, Mexico, in 1942, when a woman ordered a "magnolia." Morales could not remember any of the ingredients in the drink except cointreau. After mixing in tequila, he named the new concoction after the daisy, "margarita" in Spanish. The second story says the drink was created by Dallas socialite Margarita Sames for her 1948 holiday party. Sames wanted to combine tequila and cointreau to make a soothing drink that was neither too sweet nor too sour.  Eventually she added lime juice and a little salt on the rim to give it a kick. 

The culinary and cultural distance between Austria and Mexico is at least as great as the geographic gap, so how did an Austrian restaurant in Missouri earn a reputation for great margaritas?

The secret is fresh-squeezed lime juice, according to Scott Beskow, who manages the Wunderbar at Grünauer in Kansas City, Missouri. “We’re an Austrian restaurant known for our margaritas, which is weird. But it’s all because we juice them to order.”

The Wunderbar, located inside Grünauer but branded and licensed separately, is known for its fresh handcrafted cocktails. Beskow, who worked for over a decade as a corporate trainer at McCormick and Schmick's, a chain recognized for its innovative approach to mixology, has a thing for freshly juiced cocktails. He notes, “we sell a lot of beer and Riesling, but those don’t bring people back.” He observes that the bar gets more repeat business from the margaritas, greyhounds, and signature drinks like the “Flüssiger Strudel,” (shown below) made from fresh lemon juice, rum, egg whites and leftover strudel syrup.