Maracas - Mexican bar and grill - Somewhere around day 20

Let the fiesta begin -

And with Maracas, this would not be too difficult. There is no shortage of specials at this casual west village eatery which offers both traditional mexican and nuevo latino dining options.

Get saucy -

Walk by any monday night and you will see a large crowd of people both inside and outside on the patio. Margarita Monday is the big attraction. For 3 bucks, you can start saucing yourself (responsibly, of course) with a regular lime marg; for an extra .50 cents, you can add a flavor: strawberry,raspberry, mango, prickley pear, and passion fruit). If you like your margs sweet (the lime one is the least sweet of them all), these are the ones for you. if you're trying to pick up the guy standing by the bar, a few Maracas margs will definitely loosen you up and at those prices, you can afford to get saucy.

My fiesta began with a frozen lime margarita which i enjoyed. The lime ones are my favorite (with salt around the rim); and they come with little animal toys. Sabina, my waitress, suggested the salad camerones de mendez: a salad with shrimp, jalapenos, cilantro, mayo, avocado,pepper, with pico de gallo and chipotle sauce. Sounds good doesn't it? Next time, i shall have that. I chose nachos mostly because i love them and was in the mood for them. I asked to add a little guacamole on them. Really enjoyed them.

Next was the main course. I ordered the chicken suizas enchiladas (with cheese and tomatillo) accompanied by rice and refried beans. Good.

I asked the women sitting behing me what they liked here and they replied they like weekend brunch because it offers unlimited margaritas. Unlimited, wow! I exclaimed. "That's quite a brunch." "I like the chickenn bacon melt," one of the women said.

The women sitting in front of me seemed to be very friendly with people who worked there. "Laura used to work here," the other woman said. "THe mango and raspberry margaritas are flavorful. I like the prickley pear, " she said. The busser, whose name was Octavio, took a sip from Laura's drink. "here, you want to try," she offered me a drink, "It's a diablo roja."

I looked up diablo roja in the menu: vodka, slo gin, triple sec, amaretto, southern comfort mixed with cranberry juice and o.j.. (little red devil).

Next, Sabina suggested dessert and i accepted. Sopapillas. "Very popular," she said. Crispy fried tortilla strips with cinnamon,sugar, and topped with vanilla ice cream, honey and whipped cream. Great combination!

The menu includes a variety of dishes.

A few day later i went back and spoke with Fabian, the barback, who explained more specials. "there's a happy hour. today it's frozen cosmos.Tuesday, pina coladas. Tuesday night, there's gringo bingo. David is the host."
"Are there prizes?," i asked. "3 prizes. Shots, brunch for 2, huge margarita," he said.

Maracas
on Greenwich st. near 6 th avenue.