Mesa Grill Cranberry Margaritas originally published on Food and Fond Memories on August 19, 2011 by sandyaxelrod 3 Comments (Edit)

Mesa Grill Cranberry Margaritas

A martini glass filled with cranberry margarita with lime slice on rim of glass.

Mesa Grill Cranberry Margaritas

TGIF! And the perfect day to give you a delicious cocktail recipe. Our party in July was most definitely Southwest themed with most of my recipes coming from Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill Cookbook including the Margaritas. When I plan a themed party I really try to create a menu where everything works well together and builds to the grand finale which are the desserts. This means that I want my bar menu to not only be in keeping with the motif but the drinks need to compliment the food. It isn’t always necessary to have a full open bar but you should have a variety of drinks so that everyone can find a libation that they enjoy. There were three options at our party, well four if you count soft drinks. We served Rose Sangria, Coronas with lime, and Frozen Mesa Grill Cranberry Margaritas.

Frozen Cranberry Margarita

Because our guest list was small at twenty two guests we didn’t hire any staff to serve or tend bar so we need drinks that people could pretty much help themselves to. The only time Steve really had to attend to the bar was to make a fresh batch of the frozen goodies. Since we have the best blender on earth, a Vitamix, he was able to prepare 64 ounces at a time. Plus it only takes a minute or so to make the perfect slushy texture that you get at a restaurant bar. In fact our Vitamix it is the same blender that most bars use to make their frozen concoctions. Wanting the drinks to be as fresh and bright as the food I opted to use freshly squeezed lime juice instead of sour mix and added thawed frozen cranberry juice concentrate for color and a little extra tartness. Honestly the only downside is that the margaritas tasted so good, so smooth and creamy, that they went down too easy. But it made for a very happy crowd.