And Here's to You, Ms. Claire Robinson

Grapefruit Margarita – Barrio Chino
Barrio Chino

After our foray into French Onion dumplings, we are pretty sure we want to be Claire Robinson’s friend.  And once we try Barrio Chino’s grapefruit margarita, the BEST THING SHE EVER DRANK, we are sure of it.

Upon squeezing into our places at the bar in the smaller-than-expected Barrio Chino, Ginger whispers, “Everyone here is a hipster.”  And then there's us: on a self-created Food Network tour.  Decidedly not hipster.

Barrio Chino’s “menus” are placed in front of us, although they are not so much “menus” as smeared pieces of soft cardboard with faint renderings where marker used to be.

Menu a la Roadkill Cafe

We hunker down to read them and order a grapefruit margarita… and a dark ginger mojito?

Ginger seems to have forgotten the rules of the tour: only order the items featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate.  However, being that she never met neither a ginger nor a mojito she didn’t like, the combination of the two is too much for her to pass up.

Meanwhile, Vodka is hesitant because she hates grapefruit.  But as she is mildly OCD with such matters, she orders the drink.

It is the Best Thing We Ever Drank.

Perfectly concocted by the bartender (who was unimpressed, though mildly humored, by our Food Network-induced reason for coming), the drink is biting and sweet with just a hint of tequila flavor.  Not only does it make Vodka like grapefruit, but it also makes her like the salt along the glass rim that she usually detests.

“That’s sugar,” Ginger informs her.

Can't win them all.

So THAT'S what sugar looks like

In any case, it is all we can do to not mold our butts to our bar stools and drink grapefruit margaritas until the end of time (in her defense, Ginger’s dark ginger mojito is pretty good as well, even if it is not on the itinerary).  Claire Robinson has some mighty fine taste buds.

It takes every ounce of strength we have to pry ourselves from the bar and head back out into the tundra of Manhattan, visions of alcohol-infused grapefruits dancing through our heads.

Barrio Chino’s Grapefruit Margarita: 5 stars*

*Certifiable Best Thing We Ever Ate