Thursday Happy Hour: Cocktail Recipes, Drinks, Music, and Good Times

Tequila Sunrise

What's Your Tequila Story? 

Here's mine: I was a 19-year-old cocktail waitress who didn't drink. When guests asked "what's good?" I suggested a Tequila Sunrise. Because it was pretty. And easy to carry on a tray.

I pushed a lot of Tequila Sunrises. I bet I made a lot of tequila stories happen. I don't think I actually tasted a Tequila Sunrise till recently. Surprisingly, they're really perky, happy drinks.

I should have suggested the cocktail for Sunday brunch.

What Does Your Mexican Margarita Taste Like?

Happy Hour at Air Conditioned Lounge, San Diego, CA

We heard rumors of the AC Lounge's 1/2 price everything weekday happy hours from 4pm to 8pm. We've also heard about their off-menu to-die-for margarita, Joe's BurritoRita. We head over to take advantage.

The bartender is called Burrito Joe -- after a cartoon character he used to draw in college -- and he takes his margarita-making seriously. No sweet and sour in sight. Just limes, sugar, salt, a fine reposado, and a lot of elbow grease to bring it together. At 5 bucks, it's seriously the best not-at-home happy hour margarita we've had in San Diego in a long time. Click to see Joe shake it up.

Margarita

En Fuego

It's not the time of year for a margarita ... wait a minute. It's always the right time for a margarita. This Thursday, I met three friends (and smart business people) for happy hour on the patio at En Fuego in Del Mar, California. It sounded good, considering we're still under the deep heat of a false summer down here and it's impossible to think about baking, scarves, or hot beverages. A round of tangy margaritas -- on the rocks, with salt -- later and we momentarily forgot about the workday and talked fast about the future. Good times ahead for sure.

It's fairly easy to find delicious margaritas and foot-tapping latin music in U.S. border states, but not so much in the rest of the country. That's why we keep this playlist -- Limes, Salt, Sand & Spice (from Mexico to Brazil) -- on the iPod and this margarita recipe in a back pocket at all times.