Las Vegas Weekly

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Everyone knows the margarita. Nicki Minaj wants hers with “salt all around that rim, rim, rim.” Jimmy Buffett named a “ville” after it. But what you might not know is where the story of the classic cocktail really began.

In October 1941, a girl named Margarita Henkel walked into a bar called Hussong’s Cantina in Baja California, Mexico. The bartender, Don Carlos Orozco, offered her a concoction, and because she was the first person ever to try the cocktail, he named it after her. Seventy-plus years later, the margarita continues to be one of America’s most beloved libations.

Hussong’s Baja has a sister restaurant at Mandalay Place that carries on the Don Carlos legacy with the Original Margarita ($14). Serving about 150 a day, it’s one of their most popular drinks. It’s invigoratingly fresh and simple. Margarita Henkel must have been some kinda lady.

Original Margarita

Ingredients:

2 oz. Clase Azul reposado tequila

1 oz. triple sec

1 oz. agave nectar

1½ oz. lime juice (from half a lime)

Kosher salt (for rim)

Method: Rim pint glass with lime juice and kosher salt. Squeeze half a lime into mixing glass. Put lime into shaker with ice. Add tequila, triple sec and agave nectar to mixing glass. Shake and pour.