14 MAY 7-13, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Slush Fund ARE SOFT-SERVE MARGARITAS THE DRINK OF THE SUMMER? BY RUTH TOBIAS Is there anything better than a frozen mar- garita on a hot summer day? Well, maybe. Just in time for Cinco de Mayo — and patio season, for that matter — the clas- sic Mexican cocktail got a glow-up. Cold, creamy, and thick enough to eat with a spoon, soft-serve margaritas are a new phenomenon that went viral on social media a couple of months ago and is now beginning to make a splash (or maybe a splat, given the drink’s consistency) here in Denver. As of now, only a few places in town are serving it. That’s because — unlike coarsely slushy frozen margaritas, which can be made in a blender — the soft-serve version requires investing in and fi nding space for a soft-serve machine. One restaurant that’s done so is Pu- pusas y Tacos Los Reyes in southeast Denver. “I saw a video [posted by] a place in Texas called Doña Leti’s,” says Joan Velazquez, whose mother, Maria Carbajal, is the res- taurant’s owner. “It was like two in the morning, [but] I ran upstairs and knocked on my mom’s door: ‘I got a great idea... soft-serve margaritas! We can purchase a machine and try it!’” Carbajal herself wasn’t gung- ho at fi rst due to the expense: The new machine cost a whopping $26,000. “It was a very huge invest- ment,” Velazquez acknowledges. “But it’s defi nitely been the best investment, because on Satur- days and Sundays, we’re probably making over 300 at $17 a pop.” But getting there took plenty of trial and error. “We failed multiple times,” re- calls Velazquez. “We used about 24 bottles of tequila just to fi nd a perfect mix.” They came up with a recipe involving coconut cream and agave syrup as well as tequila and margarita mix. On April 7, they announced on their social chan- nels that Los Reyes was offi cially in the soft-serve margarita game. “That’s when people started coming in, and the next thing you know, we see ourselves on two different TikToks,” says Velazquez. “The next day, we got super- packed, and the machine we had was really, really small. But we saw that the demand was there, so we ended up buying a really big industrial one, and since then, soft-serve margaritas have been blowing up.” They’ve tweaked the recipe since they introduced the drink, and today use fruit purees and xanthan gum instead of coconut cream. They’ll also refresh the available fl avors from mango and strawberry to wa- termelon and lemon drop this month; those will be followed in the months to come by the likes of passion fruit, guava, and, in October... pumpkin spice. The festive (and, yes, immensely Ins- tagrammable) concoction comes topped with chamoy and Tajín, and garnished with lime, strawberry halves, a fl ower, and a tamarind stick. Customers reactions have been just as bright. says Velazquez: “When they take the fi rst bite, they’re just, like, ‘Whoa, this is amazing. . . . This is the best thing I’ve ever tried.’ It defi nitely puts a smile on my face.” He’s not the only one smiling. Moose Hill Cantina in Lakewood actually beat Los Reyes to the punch by serving its fi rst soft-serve margarita on March 29. Owner Mandi Gaschani couldn’t be more delighted with the results. “This has brought a whole new clientele — a younger, fun clientele — and we’ve tripled our sales,” she says. Like Carbajal, Gaschani was initially skeptical when her oldest daughter Elysa, a manager at the restaurant, showed her one of the now-ubiquitous videos documenting the cocktail craze. “We’ve got to hop on his bandwagon,” she recalls Elysa saying. “We don’t know how long it’s going to last, but we’ve got to ride it while we can.” Gaschani, who’s worked at Moose Hill since she was fi fteen and became the owner fi fteen years ago, didn’t want yet another piece of equipment to maintain. But Elysa ultimately prevailed, buying a small machine for $7,000. As at Los Reyes, there were a few hiccups getting the right recipe in place. “Alcohol doesn’t freeze, so it was coming out soupy,” Gaschani says. “Then we found the exact mixture [of] margarita mix, tequila, Grand Marnier, and soft-serve mix, and it came out to a perfect texture.” Since then, the initially skeptical Gaschani has upgraded to four machines, with one dedicated to a nonalcoholic version of the drink, for a total expenditure of about $18,000. But the machines have more than paid for themselves. The morning after posting a picture of Moose Hill’s new, $15 soft- serve margarita on Facebook, she arrived at the restaurant to fi nd a line waiting outside the building that stretched into the parking lot. A few hours later, infl uencer Denver Food Scene showed up. “They posted that night, and they said it was one of their top- viewed videos,” Gaschani says. “From then on, it’s just been crazy. On weekends, we have a two-hour wait.” (A segment on 9News hasn’t hurt business, either.) Pineapple is the most popular fl avor – not least because it’s dairy-free, according to Gaschani – but she’s keeping other fl avors in rotation as well, including blue coconut, strawberry, peach and cherry, while toppings range from chamoy to Tajín, and fresh fruit to Nerds and boba. An extra shot of tequila is also an option. And as of April 30, Moose Hill now offers not only soft-serve margaritas but soft-serve Moose Milk: the restaurant’s housemade cream liquor that’s been a secret recipe for years. Gaschani hints that she might give daiquiris a whirl as well. “This has just been fun and a wild ride, and I’m so thankful that my daughter made me step out of the box,” she says. As with so many trends that spread like wildfi re online, determining the origin of the dessert-worthy drink isn’t easy. Most recent articles credit La Playa Mariscos & Mexican Food in Cleveland, Ohio, with its invention (or at least making it popular). But USA Today reported that a brewery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been making it for years. In any case, given that it’s everywhere you look on Instagram and TikTok these days, you could reasonably expect to fi nd it everywhere in real life, too. The LoHi location of My Neighbor Felix is also slinging the soft-serve sensation, of- fering your choice of orange or pineapple. And expense notwithstanding, we’re will- ing to bet more Denver restaurants will be whipping up their own versions in the months to come. Pupusas y Tacos Los Reyes is located at 10101 East Hampden Avenue, and is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. Moose Hill Cantina is located at 11911 West Colfax Avenue in Lakewood, and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more information, visit pupusasytacos.com or moosehillcantinas.com. CAFE FIND MORE FOOD & DRINK COVERAGE AT WESTWORD.COM/RESTAURANTS Soft-serve margaritas, like the three seen here from Pupusas y Tacos Los Reyes, are a viral hit for the handful of Denver restaurants serving the new drink. COURTESY OF PUPUSAS Y TACOS LOS REYES The soft-serve margaritas at Moose Hill Cantina have attracted the attention of both infl uencers and broadcast media. COURTESY OF MOOSE HILL CANTINA
