Subscribe
Subscribe & Save!
Subscribe now and save 50% off the cover price of the Indianapolis Monthly magazine.
×
longform icon

Cinco de Drinco

Looking for a 5-star margarita for your Cinco de Mayo sipping this Saturday? We’re not talking newfangled margaritas with fresh-squeezed guava juice or tequila aged for 20 years. We’re talking margaritas as big as your head, served up in giant bowls that could house a whole school of fish, rimmed with salt and big wedges of lime. For a margarita you can spend the whole night drinking—or split with the whole table—try one of these 5 big pours:
 
1. Mexican food lovers on the Westside know that Wednesday night is margarita pitcher night at Puerto Vallarta Mexican Restaurant and Cantina (5510 Lafayette Rd., 317-280-0676), but you can get one any night, and this one might just contend for the largest in town.
 
2. Served in a curvy tall glass that probably holds as much as the big glass bowls at other Mexican joints, the margarita at Los Chilaquiles (3712 Lafayette Rd., 317-293-1111) is definitely a looker, with plenty of chunks of lime. Some interesting dishes you don’t always find elsewhere, including great sopas, huevos rancheros, and the name sake chilaquiles, served with plenty of
sour cream and queso fresco.
 
3. If you operate nearly a dozen (currently 11 and counting) restaurants in a single metro area, you have to be doing something right, and the margarita at El Rodeo is definitely the right size and a perfect quencher when you’re digging into a super spicy plate of shrimp diabla!
 
4. With several bright and cheery locations sprinkled around Central Indiana, as well as on the west and south sides of Indianapolis, El Meson Mexican Restaurant and Cantina may have one of the largest selections of combo platters in town—and salt-rimmed and frozen margaritas that won’t leave you wanting.
 
5. If you want some of Indy’s most authentic and beloved Mexican cuisine to go along with your margarita, stop in at El Sol de Tala (2444 E. Washington St., 317-636-1250), where the margaritas are some of the biggest around and almost as good as that guacamole the regulars rave about. Now in its 33rd year in business.
 
Bonus—Specials:
 
Get started early on some tasty and plentiful Cinco de Mayo specials at Adobo Grill (110 E. Washington St., 317-822-9990). Shrimp crepes, pan-seared Ahi tuna with a mango salad, and a chocolate sponge cake in the shape of a pyramid stuffed with plum mousse may just prove that May 5 is as much for dining as it is for tying one on.
 
Cinco de Mayo isn’t just one day at On the Border, which has been unveiling daily drink and dinner specials (including free meals for kids) for the 30 days leading up to the holiday.

Terry Kirts joined Indianapolis Monthly as a contributing editor in 2007. A senior lecturer in creative writing at IUPUI, Terry has published his poetry and creative nonfiction in journals and anthologies including Gastronomica, Alimentum, and Home Again: Essays and Memoirs from Indiana, and he’s the author of the 2011 collection To the Refrigerator Gods.
Latest

1. The Feed: Doc B’s Restaurant, Cardinal Spirits, and More

2. Dexter Clardy Is Bringing Nerdy Back

3. Dining: Valentine’s Day Love Connections

logo

X
X