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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsFifty Years Ago a Texan Changed Happy Hour Forever
In the cantina the cocktail servers were adjusting their sequined miniskirts, while waitresses in black lace-up vests, gaucho pants, and tall boots chatted and laughed in the simulated moonlight of the dining room. A gregarious young man named Mariano Martinez rushed around in white leather bell-bottoms, setting out bottles of tequila and fresh limes. The date was May 7, 1971, and it was opening night of the much-anticipated Marianos Mexican Cuisine, in the tony Old Town shopping center of Dallas. At five oclock, the doors swung open, and the crowd surged in and immediately started ordering frozen margaritas. In less than two hours, everything had gone straight to hell.
It wasnt that everyone was drunk, but it did have to do with the margaritas. The first round was great, but pretty soon the bartenders were so backlogged they just started throwing ingredients in the blenders. No two drinks were alike, and everybody was complaining. One worker snapped at Martinez, Ive got cramps in my hands from squeezing those damn limes. Im going back to Steak and Ale, where all they want is bourbon and Coke. The 26-year-old proprietor was terrified, imagining his reputation going down the drain along with gallons of lousy margaritas.
Martinez, now 76, takes up the story he has recounted with gusto for five decades. I tossed and turned all that night, he says. The next morning I went to 7-Eleven for coffee and a pack of gum. While there, he glanced at the stores Slurpee machine, and it came to me in a flash, like a gift from God. If that thing could make a slushy soft drink, surely it could make a frozen margarita. When the Southland Corporation, the parent company of 7-Eleven at the time, declined to sell him one, he and a mechanically minded friend named Frank Adams bought a used SaniServ soft-serve ice cream machine and lugged it to the restaurant. We tinkered around with it, he remembers; they installed a stronger motor and compressor to swirl and chill the ingredients, and then Martinez experimented with different amounts of tequila, orange liqueur, and fresh lime juice. A few days later, on May 11, as they were setting the industrial-looking apparatus on the bar, he recalled a bit of advice from his friend Norman Brinker, the brains behind Chilis. The restaurant guru had cautioned that people wouldnt pay much for a drink made by a machine. Hed also warned him not to destroy the mood. So Martinez covered the shiny stainless-steel box with wood-grain contact paper. The icy green slush that would soon emerge from it was about to make cocktail history.
Born in Dallas in 1944, Martinez grew up in a family with deep roots in the Mexican restaurant business. His mother, Vera, was related to the Cuellar family, which founded the Dallas-based El Chico chain, in 1940. She worked as an administrative manager in the office of the Oak Lawn location, and his father, Mariano, put in eighty hours a week managing the upscale Lakewood-area restaurant.
Read more: https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/fifty-years-ago-a-texan-changed-happy-hour-forever/
cinematicdiversions
(1,969 posts)TexasTowelie
(111,915 posts)for their margaritas including violet, pickle, and orange cream.
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)beverages:
One margarita,
Two margarita,
Three margarita,
FLOOR!
TexasTowelie
(111,915 posts)I thought that the story was worthy of being posted in the Lounge.
Cha
(296,781 posts)Cha
(296,781 posts)what an interesting, amazing success story in the Mexican Restaurante business!
Muchas Gracias, TexasT!
TexasTowelie
(111,915 posts)Last edited Wed Apr 14, 2021, 10:13 PM - Edit history (1)
I was having a craving for an icy drink since I have difficulty getting to any restaurants .
It's a change of pace to read an article that is pleasant and informative. Those margarita machines have become so commonplace that it is easy to forget that somewhat had the ingenuity and mechanical skills to make his idea come to fruition.
Cha
(296,781 posts)before.. this is all fascinating news to me!
And, the restaurant business is always interesting having worked in them for many years as a waitress and a cook.
What is "Sonid" where you had your Slush from?
TexasTowelie
(111,915 posts)It's a restaurant chain based out of Oklahoma. The early restaurants were drive-ins where you would park and order your meal over a speaker. The food is delivered to the driver's vehicle and some of the servers even wear skates while delivering your food. Sonic probably has about 20 different types of slushes and now they even have add-ins ranging from bits of candy (like Jolly Ranchers) or a slush with soft-serve ice cream in the slush. Sonic has also changed their menu to not only include hamburgers, but now there are chicken sandwiches and breakfast food.
I'm surprised that you never heard about Sonic, but I guess that the Hawaiian paradise can't have everything.
Cha
(296,781 posts)Margarita Machines.
But now Sonic's either.. sounds like delicious & fun for those who eat like that.
I've been a vegetarian & now Vegan for years.. but if there had been any in Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, or Asheville was I was in my 20s I would have been there!
Thank you for explaining that, TexasT!
Phoenix61
(16,992 posts)If you had a beer and wine license you could have a frozen margarita machine and use tequila. So much better than wine based.
TexasTowelie
(111,915 posts)When I was a college student in Georgetown, the part of town which was east of I-35 was "dry" while the west side of town was "wet". Since the campus was on the east side of town we had to make that extra effort to get the booze and if we wanted to go to a real liquor store then we had to drive to either Round Rock or Granger.
SarcasticSatyr
(1,177 posts)...
Cha
(296,781 posts)niyad
(113,048 posts)TexasTowelie
(111,915 posts)The story caught my attention so I decided to share it. Hopefully the people that read this on DU will have a story to tell their friends the next time they go out for drinks.
RestoreAmerica2020
(3,434 posts)Paz
TexasTowelie
(111,915 posts)Now you will know the answer to who invented the frozen margarita machine the next time you play a trivia game at a bar.
getagrip_already
(14,616 posts)But few people are willing to share it.
Interesting story!
LudwigPastorius
(9,095 posts)and nearly getting thrown out of a "family style" restaurant later that evening.
By all rights, I shouldn't have made it past the age of 26.
TexasTowelie
(111,915 posts)"To Kill a Longneck" (we pronounced it Tequila Longneck) party where the liberal arts students enjoyed their libations. The campus was nearly dead the following day as the students nursed their hangovers.
My brother has a bottle of tequila here, but it has over a decade since I did any tequila shots.
sheshe2
(83,637 posts)I always preferred a straight shot with salt on my hand and lime to suck on with a beer on the side. That is how I celebrated my 18th birthday in college.
We were a tad wasted when we got back to the dining common.
TexasTowelie
(111,915 posts)One of my supervisors liked to do tequila shots so she took us out drinking for the Christmas party. I'm the type of drinker who knows my limits, but there were a few other colleagues that went overboard and shouldn't have been driving afterwards. Thank goodness I was riding the bus back then so I didn't present any danger to other people.
NotASurfer
(2,146 posts)Yeah..historical research, that's how I'd describe it. Educational, I say!
TexasTowelie
(111,915 posts)It's about a 3.5 hour bus ride to get to Dallas, but I am thinking about travelling now that I have been vaccinated. I'm hoping to get up there after I get a prosthetic limb. I'll probably have some extra time to conduct the research. It's been over seven years since I've seen my friends in the Metroplex.
BobTheSubgenius
(11,559 posts)Bits of history, small or large, turning on a dime.
TexasTowelie
(111,915 posts)and rooting for Mr. Martinez. I'll be thinking about this story when I have my next margarita.
BobTheSubgenius
(11,559 posts)I probably would think of this story too, but I rarely drink Margs.
Upthevibe
(8,009 posts)What a great post! As a native Texas (but having lived in my beloved California for most of my adult life), I just love the way this whole story unfolds.
Thank you so much for sharing it! I may not have ever read or known about how this really cool part of history.
TexasTowelie
(111,915 posts)post. I also don't want to come across as promoting alcohol since I know that there are members here that have dealt with sobriety issues. It's the ambition, ingenuity, and ultimate success of Mr. Martinez that makes his story interesting. I'm glad that I could share the story since I consider it a learning experience for everyone.