Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Recipe: A Lime-Free Margarita With Shrub, The Cocktail Ingredient Du Jour

For lovers of margaritas, the recent lime shortage has been a pretty grim situation. Cases of Mexican limes are now selling for an average of $100 per case, up from $14 a case previously, affecting restaurants and bars that use the limes to make margaritas and guacamole.
Bartenders across the country are coping with the situation in varying ways -- from completely 86ing cocktails that require the citrus to creating workarounds that utilize other acidic fruits.
Over at Gracias Madre in West Hollywood, Beverage Director Jason Eisner is using shrub to balance out his cocktails. A shrub is a fruit and vinegar maturation that was originally used during Provincial times to preserve fruit.
Shrub can be mixed with soda water over ice for a nonalcoholic sip, or spiked for a delicious, refreshing cocktail. If you're into the flavor of kombucha, you'll totally dig the delightful refreshing flavor.
Eisner shared his recipe for shrub and the Belleza Margarita, a carbonated cocktail that you can sip during the heat wave or Cinco De Mayo, sans limes.
Here's how it's done.
La Belleza Margarita
Ingredients:
2oz Organic Highland Tequila Blanco
.75oz Strawberry Basil Balsamic Shrub (see below)
.5oz Lemon Juice
1oz Rose Wine
Basil leaf and a strawberry for garnish
Directions:
Add all ingredients into a shaker, shake, and strain into a single rocks glass. Add one large rock. Garnish with a leaf of basil and one strawberry, sliced and placed on the rim off the glass.
Strawberry Basil Balsamic Shrub:
2 cups of Strawberries hulled and cut into quarters
2 cups of Organic Sugar
1 cup Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
1 cup of Organic Balsamic Vinegar
Combine the strawberries and sugar and mash them together with a potato masher to release some of the juice from the strawberries. Store the mixture in the fridge overnight. On day 2, add the entire mixture to a mason jar, along with the vinegar and macerate once more. Seal the mason jar and let sit refrigerated for one week. When ready, strain out the fruit pulp using a fine mesh strainer. Then go ahead and jar your shrub.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.

-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars.
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.