Tequila Tuesday

One Tuesday before school was out for the year, I subbed in the library and came home hot and tired.  I was looking forward to a nice dinner that I hoped my husband would plan and cook, but NO.  When I asked him what was for supper, he just said, "Leftovers, I guess."

That made me mad.  I fumed for a while, and just when I had decided that perhaps I should take a walk to cool off, my knitting friend, Linda, called.
"You know what I was just thinking of?"
Well, no I didn't but I suspected it was a knitting question.  Linda and I knew each other from our mutual knitting group that met each week, but we really didn't KNOW each other very well.
"What?"
"A big cold margarita."
"Perfect!  I need to get out of here."

NORTH BAY GRILLE

 We decided to meet at North Bay Grille, a restaurant with a full bar in the center of Kalispell and try their margaritas.  We were overwhelmed by the variety of specialty drinks, especially the wide variety of vanity margaritas (pomegranate, mango, orange, lime) and finally asked the bartender if they had a classic margarita on the menu.
"Sure, and they're on special - two for one - for Happy Hour."
That made us very happy.  We both ordered one and it was excellent.  Linda got a blended one and mine was on the rocks.
As the evening progressed, we ordered dinner from the bar menu.  I especially liked their Blues Burger - a big burger stuffed with a bacon Gorgonzola sauce.  Yum.  I even had a second margarita.


APPLEBEES

Linda and I enjoyed our outing so much that we decided to do it again sometime, but that's where we left it until a couple of weeks later at knitting.
"Hey, we should continue our Great Margarita Search,"  one of us said (great minds think alike).  So we planned to meet on Tuesday at Applebees to assess their 'Perfect Margarita.'

Well, in my opinion, Applebees 'Perfect Margarita' is damn near perfect.  It comes in a big bar shaker on the rocks and pours out nearly three good sized glasses of yumminess - tart but crisp - and with green olives as a garnish.  I always order this drink - unless their Moose Drool is on special.  Linda ordered a Perfect as well and we tried the Two for One entrees that comes with a shared appetizer.  Oriental Chicken is what we chose and chips with spinach/artichoke dip was our appetizer.

The Perfect Margarita is never on Happy Hour and is a little pricey, but I'm not sure I could handle two anyway.  We were satisfied with our meal and our margarita and in a 'duh' moment, decided to make our great margarita search a regular weekly event.  Our summer search for the best margarita in the Flathead Valley.  What could be more fun in the summer?

At our knitting meeting that week, we were met with indignation by the other knitters demanding why we had kept our little margarita search to ourselves.  Foolishly, I had mentioned it on Facebook without issuing any other invitations.  Linda and I just looked at each other, innocently, and agreed that the more, the merrier when it came to margaritas.  More people with ideas and locations, that is.  We talked it over and decided on the El Topo Cantina in Bigfork, MT for our next dinner.  I opened my mouth and "Tequila Tuesday" popped out, so that's what our search is known as now.

EL TOPO CANTINA

Linda, Deb and I met at the Rosauer's parking lot and carpooled down to beautiful Bigfork, Montana to the El Topo Cantina.  I had never been there, but had always wondered what it was like every time I drove by.  It's a smallish building.  Inside the bar takes up a lot of space and the chalet-style ceiling echoes noisily as the people crowd in.  Their margarita menu has a classic, a Cadillac and an "Ultimate" margarita and stupidly, we all ordered the Ultimate.  I felt that it was a little too citrusy - due to an orange liqueur - but after a couple of sips, it started to grow on me.  It was fairly pricey but it did pack a punch.

I had the pork carnitas which was excellent.  Deb and Linda each had a different special dish but both included mahi-mahi.  They each complimented the dish that they ordered.  I think if I go to El Topo again, I'd take someone who eats there a lot and follow their suggestions - like our friend Mary who wanted to go but was out of town.

BLUE CANYON RESTAURANT

At knitting the next week, we discussed our next location and decided on the Blue Canyon Restaurant attached to the Hilton Garden Inn in Kalispell.  I had eaten in the restaurant but never really noticed the enormous bar that they have.  It is quiet and roomy and we filled up one of their oversized booths.  Attending the big search this week was Marylane, Mary, Deb, Linda and me.  The bar has an extensive menu, including several margaritas and a great food menu.  I ordered a sugar free margarita (just because they had one) but it was heavily flavored with a citrus liqueur and I didn't like it at all.  Deb, Mary and Marylane got the classic margarita and it was delicious.  Linda ordered the Cadillac which I thought was the best, but it was $12.00.  Gulp.  That's a lot of moola.   We all had a great meal - various dishes from the bar menu at a reasonable price.  I ordered a second margarita - this time one of the classics.  Liked it much better!

SERRANO'S MEXICAN RESTAURANT IN EAST GLACIER, MT

Our knitting group is really getting into this Tequila Tuesday idea.  We went on a knitting road trip to East Glacier, MT to sit and knit on the gorgeous lawn of the Glacier Lodge in East Glacier.  Fun, fun, fun.  When we got hungry we toddled over to the best after-hike restaurant in the area, Serrano's for Mexican food and margaritas, of course.
We sat on the front porch and were the first ones in so we got a big table on the deck in the back.  Carol knew the owners, so she got a 'special' mango margarita that had a big kick.  She generously passed it around for all of us to taste and it was really good!   We heeded the recommendation of those who had been here at Serrano's before and ordered the classic margarita.  Perfection!  It was delicious and that opinion was unanimous.

As to the food, it was excellent too.  Most of us ordered either the Enchilada Especial or the Veggie Combo Plate. 

The Enchilada is on the left and it was wonderful.  Of course we had chips and great fresh salsa, too.  As there were nine of us, the level of merriment was pretty high.  We all just had one margarita because we had to drive back to Kalispell - about two hours away, barring road work, which we unfortunately did have.