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.
