“There weren’t too many Mexican restaurants in the San Fernando Valley at the time,” Cano told OC Weekly in 2011. He turned the space into a restaurant and renamed it El Torito.
That honor belongs to Larry Cano, a former fighter pilot in World War II who took over a humble tiki bar called Bali Hai in Encino, California, when its owner died in 1954. There is, however, no doubt about who popularized the drink, and solidified its name in the annals of cocktail history. (I made contact with Cadillac Bar, but they were unable to answer my questions about the drink.) While the Cadillac Bar chain may have served plenty of Margaritas in the early 1980s-including a claim to creating the world’s largest Margarita, at 15,000 gallons-I could find little evidence to confirm that the Cadillac Margarita originated there. Likewise, the press surrounding the previously opened locations makes no mention of the drink. The New York Times notes that guests enjoyed fajitas and Slammer shots (tequila and 7UP), but it makes no mention of a Cadillac Margarita in either this story, or the press to follow throughout the year. By 1986, an Alamo-themed, graffiti-covered branch of the bar had opened on West 21st Street in Manhattan. In short order, there were Cadillac Bars in Houston, Dallas and Atlanta. When the bar opened a location across the border, in San Antonio, Texas, in 1974, it became a sensation. Many believe that the Cadillac Margarita we know today originated with the legendary Cadillac Bar in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. By 1979, the Cadillac Margarita had appeared by name in Playboy Bartender’s Guide, but its premiumization came by way of cranberry liqueur, not Grand Marnier. By 1975, the Sandpainter Room in downtown Phoenix served a Golden Cadillac-though, according to the Arizona Republic, it was merely a Margarita without salt on the rim. As with many cocktails of the era, the drink’s true origin story is a murky matter of debate and, in this case, some corporate jockeying.Īs early as 1968, Carrousel’s Cantina in Cincinnati served a Gold Cadillac Margarita, specs unknown.
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