margagogo

the friendliest margarita in town

Ofrenda’s website (ofrendanyc.com) says that Ofrenda means an “offering” or “gift”.  I’ll just say Ofrenda means “awesome”.

Ofrenda is kind of the birth place of my blog. After a 10-year incubation period, when my subconscious was baking, creating and multiplying margagogo‘s cells but my conscious was all talk and no blog, I sat down at Ofrenda and banged out my first blog post. (Yes, they have wifi!)

Saying I “banged out” my first post makes my effort sound more robust and focused that it was. My work was circular, swirling around the edges of the project, flowing inward until the only possible result was a blog post.

And though my path wasn’t direct, it got me where I needed to be. I didn’t post any pictures and margagogo was (and still is) the startling green of a mix-abused margarita. But it was up. When I left Ofrenda, my first words were floating in the blog-o-sphere.

I also left with pants full of salsa, and not because I was taking it to go.

When I took my computer out and tried to slide a salsa weighted place mat to the side, I miss-judged the bar depth and led bowls of red, green and burgundy sauce off the bar edge and into my lap.

The Ofrenda staff, who may be the nicest people in Manhattan, jumped into action. I had a clean dish towel and a can of club soda in seconds. They moved our seats, cleaned the mess and delivered fresh salsa to our new spot. They did it all with smiles and jokes, waved off my embarrassed apologies and made us another round of margaritas.

And their margaritas are excellent! My friend was drinking the Smokey Jalapeno Margarita. I know she’s a fan because she had more than one. Mine was the Traditional, rocks, no salt. And it was awesome – Fresh lime, enough tequila to taste but not overpower, and a balance of flavors.

Ofrenda’s drink list is creative – cucumber, pepper, watermelon, hibiscus tea … they mix a little clever into their concoctions. And the guac is great too.

When we left, me with my jalapeno spiked pants and blooming blog, everyone from the bartender to the waiters to the hostess said “good bye” and thanked me for coming. I felt like one of the gang.

So yes, to me, Ofrenda means awesome.