The Bar
Z'Tejas. 1110 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78703.
Visited 1/18/17 @ 7pm.
UPDATE: Z'Tejas has closed.
The Millionaire martini: José Cuervo, Grand Marnier, OJ. $12.
I don't think I'd ever thought to put any of these ingredients in a martini before. Purists would of course violently object to calling this a martini at all. But form follows function, and if you put something in a martini glass then I guess in some way it does takes on some aspect of a martini, right? This is just a variant of the famous Mexican martini that is beloved of cheap college bar patrons around town. Trudy's makes the most famous variant of the drink, and Z'Tejas classes it up a bit with some Grand Marnier. I don't care what you call it, it's a solid drink.
Travis, Rome, Sonali, Kyle, Aaron, Michael.
We started off the night at Z'Tejas, where I hadn't been since just after high school. Austin has many many Tex-Mex restaurants, and I had vaguely remembered Z'Tejas as falling somewhere in between Chuy's and Chili's on the food spectrum, while being almost exactly on Trudy's wavelength in terms of drinks. Turns out I had the right drink frequency, but I don't think either restaurant would offer something like the Bananas Foster French Toast I saw on the chalkboard by the entrance. That shift towards more of an Iron Cactus vibe is not coincidental, as due to a bankruptcy filing both places are now owned by the same Arizona holding company.
While that's sad news for a local chain originally founded in 1989, for the consumer it just means that the profits from the queso will be flowing to their desert instead of to our hills. I liked their queso a lot - it had a smoky ancho/chipotle taste to it that went well with my "martini", and had we not had both 24 Diner and Hut's on our agenda their food looked great. I was too busy scoring guac and queso to drink at a reasonable pace, so I had to basically pound my martini as everyone else was finishing their drinks and paying tabs. Then I discovered that it came with a tumbler with enough for a whole second round! Luckily, the Grand Marnier and OJ made it smooth enough to go down easy.
The Drink
The Millionaire martini: José Cuervo, Grand Marnier, OJ. $12.
I don't think I'd ever thought to put any of these ingredients in a martini before. Purists would of course violently object to calling this a martini at all. But form follows function, and if you put something in a martini glass then I guess in some way it does takes on some aspect of a martini, right? This is just a variant of the famous Mexican martini that is beloved of cheap college bar patrons around town. Trudy's makes the most famous variant of the drink, and Z'Tejas classes it up a bit with some Grand Marnier. I don't care what you call it, it's a solid drink.
The Crew
Travis, Rome, Sonali, Kyle, Aaron, Michael.
Notes
We started off the night at Z'Tejas, where I hadn't been since just after high school. Austin has many many Tex-Mex restaurants, and I had vaguely remembered Z'Tejas as falling somewhere in between Chuy's and Chili's on the food spectrum, while being almost exactly on Trudy's wavelength in terms of drinks. Turns out I had the right drink frequency, but I don't think either restaurant would offer something like the Bananas Foster French Toast I saw on the chalkboard by the entrance. That shift towards more of an Iron Cactus vibe is not coincidental, as due to a bankruptcy filing both places are now owned by the same Arizona holding company.
While that's sad news for a local chain originally founded in 1989, for the consumer it just means that the profits from the queso will be flowing to their desert instead of to our hills. I liked their queso a lot - it had a smoky ancho/chipotle taste to it that went well with my "martini", and had we not had both 24 Diner and Hut's on our agenda their food looked great. I was too busy scoring guac and queso to drink at a reasonable pace, so I had to basically pound my martini as everyone else was finishing their drinks and paying tabs. Then I discovered that it came with a tumbler with enough for a whole second round! Luckily, the Grand Marnier and OJ made it smooth enough to go down easy.
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