It was a slow Tuesday at Salt (4216 Washington Avenue, 713-868-5155), so I didn’t feel too guilty asking Sonali to invent a tequila drink for me. It took her a couple minutes to balance the equation, but the result was fine — a little like a Tequila Sunrise, though better in both the taste department and the not-serving-as-the-title-for-an-Eagles-song department. Sonali christened it a Tequila Twilight.
Using the word “twilight” was appropriate, because a giggling jailbait parade nearly 20 strong (featuring shirtless boys for the ladies!) had just ambled past the bar’s open door and on down Washington Avenue. It was open-mike night, and the current singer had to interrupt his cover of “When You Say Nothing at All” to warn a guy who tried to wrangle the kids into the bar: “They’re about 18-ish, man.” If that old. My friend Chris wondered aloud if we’d hear the guy’s version of “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.”
No such luck, though we did hear a serviceable cover of the Stones’ “Dead Flowers.” (It couldn’t compare to Townes Van Zandt’s finger-picking interpretation, but what the hell can?) As with betting on horses and shooting heroin, it’s better to quit an open-mike when you’re a little ahead, so shortly after that we made like the teens and moved along.
1 ½ ounces Herradura Blanco tequila
½ ounce Fruja tangerine liqueur
Splash orange juice
A couple squeezes of fresh lime juice
Combine ingredients over ice in a rocks glass.
This article appears in Jun 3-9, 2010.