For your next happy hour outing, get this mango cocktail modeled after a beach treat
Angelica Arias remembers her first experience eating mango con chile y limon on a Mexican beach when she was a child.
“The mango was peeled and inserted onto a stick, and it was cut like a flower and then we’d have it prepared with lime, some salt and some chile and a chamoy drizzle on top. It was so delicious, that taste,” said Arias, the second-generation co-owner of El Toro.
Juan Pablo De La Fuente, El Toro’s inventory and product manager, recalls that his favorite childhood version of the treat was at the corner store by his high school in Guadalajara. He’d drop by after school and pick up a mango dipped in chile and salt, sometimes flavored with chamoy, the tangy, spicy sauce that flavors a variety of Mexican drinks and snacks.
Today, as co-workers at El Toro, Arias and De La Fuente frequently revisit the snacks they loved as kids.
Their nostalgia for mango con chile y limon grew into a fun project last summer when De La Fuente hatched an idea to turn the flavors of mango con chile y limon into a cocktail. They call it the Mango Chamoy Margarita ($8).
It’s a little sour, a little sweet and slightly spicy. It goes down easy with the restaurant’s chile relleno, made with a poblano pepper ($11.50). Or, if visiting for happy hour (3-6 p.m. daily), pair it with the garlic ($7) or bacon-wrapped prawns ($8).
The mango cocktail only is served at the Puyallup Canyon location of El Toro, which also has restaurants in Tacoma, University Place and Lakewood.
One sip had me thinking it was a grown-up version of a mangonada, which is an icy mango-chamoy drink served at Mexican markets that typically also sell raspados, tostilocos and esquites (locally, check out Raspados La Pasadita or Erica Peace, Love and Ice Cream in East Tacoma for those snacks).
De La Fuente initially designed the cocktail with mango-flavored tequila because it added concentrated flavor, but the brand was discontinued so he and Arias switched the tequila to Lunazul, which is 100 percent agave tequila. They alternate between making the drink with blanco and reposado Lunazul.
The rest of the ingredients are mango puree, a splash of the house citrus blend and a drizzle of chamoy, which imparts a bit of spice and an almost pickled flavor.
They serve it over ice in a margarita glass.
The rim of the glass is salted with Tajin, the classic chile-salt-lime condiment that is added to a wide range of Mexican snacks, including mango con chile y limon.
The final decorative touch on the drink was De La Fuente’s idea— a tamarind straw. That’s a typical adornment to sweet Mexican street drinks. A plastic yellow straw is coated in a chewy, sour tamarind candy.
Tip: All El Toro restaurants recently debuted a new menu of the restaurant’s classics rebuilt to be friendly to those who are gluten intolerant.
El Toro Mexican Restaurant & Cantina
Locations: eltorofamily.com
Find the drink: The Mango Chamoy Margarita only is available at the Puyallup Canyon location.