TEQUILA PARADISE
Blue Agave Republic offers 130 tequila varieties and cocktails, food
Walking through the doors of Blue Agave Republic is like walking into a tequila heaven.
You will not find your typical college-night discounted tequila shots found at many other bars. Instead, this is a place for tequila enthusiasts who prefer to savor and appreciate fine blancos, reposados, añejos and more. If you cannot decide on a tequila, Blue Agave offers some help with its tequila flights. The flights offer three pre-selected tequilas that cater to different palates.
“You don’t want to come in and ask for a flight of tequila and have them be the most random things ever,” said Carri Phillis, owner of Blue Agave Republic. “If you look at the menu, there’s one for like earthy blancos or caramel reposados. We try to put them together in a way where you really get the flavor out of the tequilas and you enjoy it.”
Blue Agave Republic also offers several handcrafted cocktails and margaritas, including the classic, strawberry, blueberry, and the jalapeño, which features a reposado tequila, muddled jalapeño and cucumber, housemade sweet-and-sour topped with mezcal. The specialty cocktails have been a hit at the venue. One of the most requested is the Lavender Limón, which includes Casa Noble Crystal Tequila infused with lavender, Tempus Fugit Liqueur De Violettes, fresh lemon juice and cane syrup. Another popular request is the Cazuelo, which is made to be shared by two people and features blanco tequila, lemonade, Sanpellegrino Pompelmo soda, fresh lime, grapefruit and orange. For those who prefer something other than tequila, Blue Agave Republic offers many local and regional craft beers, Mexican lagers, ciders, vodka, gin, rum, scotch, bourbon and more.
Phillis realizes there are many places that you can get Mexican and New Mexican food and wanted to try something fun with her wide range of venue offerings. The menu includes wonton chips that can be used to scoop up tomatillo, red, and pico de gallo salsas or the guacamole, which can be boosted to the next level with your choice of add-ons of mango, pineapple, pomegranate, bacon, feta cheese, cojita cheese, or basil. Hungrier guests can choose from several taco offerings, including pastor, asada, shrimp, grilled or fried fish, and chicken tinga.
Vegans have a menu of their own, which Phillis said she tried to make similar to the non-vegan menu. Offerings include barbacoa mushroom tacos, chile lime tofu tacos, carne asada tacos that replace the meat with jackfruit, and a pastor taco that replaces pork with jackfruit. All are served in gluten-free corn tortillas that are made in-house.
“When you cook (jackfruit) down in something, it starts to shred like a pork,” Phillis said. “It’s very popular among vegans around the world, and I started playing with it a couple years ago. I’m proud of it.”
The food fun continues with Legs & Eggs on Sundays. Phillis teamed up with performer Vanessa Patricks to put together the drag queen brunch production.
“I honestly have always wanted to do a drag brunch, and it’s hard to find a cool place to do it, and I really haven’t had a place that would work for it until now,” Phillis said. “We are going to just have a lot of fun with some gorgeous queens on Sunday brunches. They’ll be doing some performances. They might serve some food. They might just dance around. We’re just going to have fun and see where it takes us and enjoy Sunday brunch again.”