This week's cover story is the cocktail issue, or L.A.'s Best Cocktails, in which Jonathan Gold considers, as you can probably infer from the title, the best cocktails in Los Angeles. To celebrate the happy event, we're giving you a cocktail a day here on Squid Ink, starting with Border Grill's Tequila with Sangrita. Here's what Gold has to say about the drink (below), and if you turn the page, we've gotten the recipe so you can make it at home. Who says you have to read your morning paper with a cup of coffee. Cheers.

Tequila With Sangrita:

In Jalisco state, a shot of tequila is almost impossible to conceive without an accompanying sip of sangrita, a chaser of mixed juices, often dyed the color of blood with a bit of pomegranate, and dosed with chile heat. The lime-and-salt thing is for beginners. It is sangrita, whose bracing tartness does so much to intensify the smoky agave dancing around your mouth, that does justice to the glass of Don Julio before you. At Border Grill, whose cocktails are fine in so many ways, the spicy, citrus-based house sangrita is just right.

Sangrita

From: Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, chef-owners of Border Grill.

Note: Sangrita is the proper accompaniment to straight shots of tequila. Grenadine, a sweet, red, pomegranate-flavored syrup, adds color and sweetness to this potent chaser.

Makes: 18 shots

2 1/4 cups freshly squeezed orange juice

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

5 tablespoons grenadine syrup

1 generous teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process or whisk in a bowl until blended. Refrigerate.

2. Serve cold in shot glasses with corresponding shots of tequila.

Tip: Slamming back shots of tequila is definitely not the way to go. Try slowly sipping tequila with sangrita to really appreciate how delicious tequila can be.

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