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It’s a little after 2 o’clock on a Monday afternoon, and it seems all of Stonington has congregated in Sylvia Tate’s rose-colored dining room. A few people are sitting on the porch, taking in the harbor view and watching the tourists walk down Main Street. More gather around the spread of lobster quesadillas, spicy nachos and homemade guacamole inside.
Soon, Nancy MacKay and Ardis Cameron arrive with a flourish, one by one, because they couldn’t fit through the door together in their sombreros. They make a beeline to the kitchen, where the day’s hostess and guest of honor, Tate’s daughter Gretchen Jost, is pouring tequila, Cointreau and homemade sour mix over ice in a shaker.
“To the margarita master,” MacKay cries, raising a salt-rimmed plastic cup in the air. “Cheers!”
Not that they needed a reason to party, but the dozens of people that streamed in and out of Tate’s house on Main Street had one – Bangor Daily News readers voted Jost (who pronounces her name “yost” – rhymes with ghost) Maine’s best margarita maker in a recent poll totaling 18 respondents.
Jost, who took the afternoon off from her job as a real estate appraiser, won by a landslide. Readers from around the country, all with ties to Stonington, sang Jost’s praises through e-mail and snail mail. Nancy Maupin even sent a poem from Missouri:
They’re the best ones in Maine,
Perhaps even the nation.
Gretchen Jost’s margaritas
Are the WORLD’ s best libation.
When she pours her concoction
Of tequila and lime,
It’s a festive occasion,
Absolutely sublime!
The crowd at Tate’s house couldn’t agree more. Conversation flowed like tequila, punctuated by the occasional “Ole!” After a morning of cleaning, Christine Custer burst through the kitchen door and declared, “I need a margarita!”
Within seconds, Jost had solved her problem.
It was a laid-back gathering of old friends and new faces, summer people and year-round residents. Nobody really cared who was a native islander and who was “from away.” They just came together casually in the way that has become customary since Jost moved to Stonington from her native Texas 11 years ago.
“I love this little small town life,” said Jost, who sported a festive yellow apron emblazoned with red and orange chili peppers. “Everybody here is so kooky.”
And they’re all crazy about Jost’s margaritas. Dozens of people cast eloquent votes in her favor. A year-round Stonington resident dubbed her “the weaver of enchanted tequila spells,” while another praised her “cocktail chemistry.” A man from Pittsburgh said upon tasting Jost’s margaritas, “memories of all previous Margaretic encounters instantly faded. This was nirvana.” An Oklahoman who has known Jost for years said the Southwest’s loss is Maine’s gain: “Again kudos to Maine, on having the World’s Best Margarita maker as a resident.”
This is not the first time Gretchen’s sweet and salty concoctions have been lauded. Trudy’s, the Austin, Texas, restaurant where she worked for 15 years, consistently took the Austin Chronicle’s “best margarita” honors. One year, her Mexican martini, which was essentially a margarita, served straight up in a martini glass with a jalapeno-stuffed olive, took the prize.
When she inherited a house and moved to Stonington 11 years ago, she brought her shaker skills with her. Several years later, Tate moved to town and the mother-daughter duo soon became known throughout the area for their hospitality, their informal gatherings and Gretchen’s “to-die-for” margaritas
“Think the smoothest, sweet lime you’ve ever tasted, and blissfully slide off your chair,” Jost’s friend Michie O’Day wrote in her nomination.
So what’s her secret?
“It’s not really secret,” Jost said. “It’s just about fresh ingredients and the right blend of fresh ingredients.”
She starts by making simple syrup – equal parts sugar and water heated until they blend together. Then she squeezes “a gajillion fresh limes;” the day before the party, Tate bought every lime on the island, about 200, so Jost could make the five gallons of sweet-and-sour mix necessary for the gathering. She then lets the limes and syrup blend – she works more from her own taste than from a recipe.
“If you don’t have fresh limes, just don’t even bother,” Jost said. Later she reconsidered. “If you don’t, a mix will do, but no dry mix. Blech. And no freaking egg whites.”
When party time arrives, she adds Cointreau and anejo tequila to the mix. “You can’t use cheap tequila,” Jost cautions. “And it has to be Cointreau.
“Shake the crap out of it, squeeze some more fresh lime in it, and drink it,” she instructed. “It’s kind of an eyeball thing. I think you’ve just gotta play till you have the right blend.”
Clearly, Jost does.
Peggy Zenbrusky, a caterer who considers Jost her best friend, said the secret to Gretchen’s great margaritas is Gretchen.
“She really has a phenomenal personality – and Sylvia’s hospitality,” Zenbrusky said. “And with margaritas, there are always the gourmet goodies.”
As the fog started to lift and a schooner sailed by in the harbor, it was hard to imagine a better place to be on a summer day, but the fun lasts all year.
“The neat thing is, we do this all winter – it’s not just a summer thing,” Tate told a guest.
“What do you do the rest of the day?” he asked.
“Oh, nothing,” Tate replied. “You take a nap.”
Alice McKenna disappeared a while – maybe for a nap – but within an hour she returned, and within seconds of her arrival, she had a margarita in hand.
“I left and came back,” she said, holding up her plastic cup. “That’s how good this is.”
Wendy Rogerson, a professional dancer who lives in New York but summers in Stonington, had planned to take dance lessons all day in Rockland. When she heard about the party, she rearranged her schedule. Rogerson considers herself a Mexican food connoisseur, and she adores Jost’s margaritas.
“They’re not too sweet, and they have just the right amount of alcohol content,” she said. “They have that lime flavor you want in a margarita, and most importantly, they don’t give you a headache the next day. … But Gretchen’s personality – that’s what makes it.”
Anyone with tequila and a blender can make a margarita, but not everyone has Jost’s winning recipe. For that, you need a great attitude, a few shots of Cointreau and Cuervo, all the limes you can find, a pinch of sugar and a heaping helping of good friends. Shake it all up and serve it over ice on a hot summer day, preferably on a porch with a view, and you’ve got Maine’s best libation.
Kristen Andresen can be reached at 990-8287 and kandresen@bangordailynews.net.
The runners-up
. Miguel’s, Rodick Street, Bar Harbor
“It’s the only place I ever go with a group and order a pitcher of margaritas,” an anonymous reader said.
. Margarita’s Mexican Restaurant, Mill Street, Orono
Reader Marlene Doucette writes, “After only a couple visits, the waiters/waitresses know your ‘flavor.’ How can anyone have only one favorite?”
. Pepino’s, Stillwater Avenue, Bangor
Reader Terry Nevells of Lincoln writes, “The best margarita by far is the jumbo margarita at Pepino’s … enjoy!”
. MacLeod’s Restaurant, Main Street, Bucksport
Reader Karen Sorey writes, “They are just the right amount of sour with the sweet.”
. Toby Martin of Milford
Martin’s mother-in-law, Barbara Ward, says his margaritas are the best in eastern Maine: “Toby’s margaritas are sweet and slushy, and a wonderful fruity lime cocktail, which he serves in a chilled, salt-rimmed glass. It is delicious, and I always look forward to Toby’s margaritas at our family gatherings. Toby takes his margaritas very seriously!”
Phil Locke’s Favorite Frozen Margarita
Phil Locke of Bangor wrote to share his favorite frozen margarita recipe:
The following frozen Margarita recipe serves two, but of course can be halved, doubled or tripled as needed. An ice-shaver (not a blender!) is essential, and can be obtained at reasonable cost from any kitchen supply store.
1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice
4 teaspoons grated lime zest
2 tablespoons superfine sugar
1/2 cup 100 percent agave tequila (reposado), refrigerated
1/2 cup triple sec, refrigerated
Fresh lime wedges
Kosher salt
Combine the lime juice, zest and sugar in a covered container. Refrigerate and allow to meld for at least 4 and up to 24 hours.
Moisten the outside rim of two Margarita glasses with a lime wedge. Roll the outside rim in kosher salt and frost the glasses by placing them in the freezing compartment for at least a few minutes.
Combine the liquor and melded lime juice in a medium sized bowl. Place the bowl under the ice-shaver and fill with shaved ice until the mixture becomes thick and “slushy.” Remove frosted Margarita glasses from the freezer, fill them, garnish with a lime wedge and serve.
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