Drink of the Week: Break Time’s BT-Rita

THE BT-RITA 2 ounces habanero infused Espolon Blanco (see recipe) Splash margarita mix (see recipe) 1 ounce Aperol Splash agave nectar (preferably Milagro) Dash orange juice To make the tequila: add 3 sliced habaneros to 1 bottle Espolon. Let sit for 1 to 3 days. To make the margarita mix: Combine equal parts lime and orange juices. Refrigerate. To assemble, add all ingredients over ice in pint glass, shake and serve. Yield: 1 drink NIK BLASKOVICH / NEWS-PRESS
THE BT-RITA 2 ounces habanero infused Espolon Blanco (see recipe) Splash margarita mix (see recipe) 1 ounce Aperol Splash agave nectar (preferably Milagro) Dash orange juice To make the tequila: add 3 sliced habaneros to 1 bottle Espolon. Let sit for 1 to 3 days. To make the margarita mix: Combine equal parts lime and orange juices. Refrigerate. To assemble, add all ingredients over ice in pint glass, shake and serve. Yield: 1 drink
NIK BLASKOVICH / NEWS-PRESS

Though Break Time is a quintessential dive bar in all the best senses of the word – strong drinks, jovial atmosphere, free popcorn, pool tables, carousing customers – owners Liz and Carl Quinn like to mess around with the cocktail menu, whipping things up to please the college crowd, and dare them. This is what we discovered one recent night when we stopped by.

The BT-Rita was our challenge, a margarita designed to be as spicy as possible but without becoming undrinkable. Carl Quinn knew habanero was the way to go. But the first habanero-infused tequila they produced was so hot it made them ill, Mr. Quinn laughed. Several experiments later, the right amount of peppers was determined, and resulted in an interesting mix of Espolon tequila, Aperol, their margarita mix, a bit of agave and orange juice for color (and just to cool that thing down). In a pint glass, this was a lot of cocktail to take in, but as with spicy drinks, one sip leads to another. It was not too sweet or heavy on the tequila, but we were glad we weren’t driving.

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Break Time’s Blood on the Water

Nik Blaskovich/News-Press Photo
Nik Blaskovich/News-Press Photo

We predict that, in the not-too-distant future, Shark Week will be some sort of unofficial holiday. People get very excited about this week, at least in lip service, and there’s so many televisions in bars now, it begs the question: Why not have a week when we can raise our glasses in toast while footage of great whites spool behind us?

That was the impression we got, anyway, when we left Break Time, the hidden bar on Encina Road in Goleta. They were just coming off shark week, and we couldn’t help but notice the amount of plastic sharks hanging about. When we first visited Break Time a few years ago, the bar was about to be transferred to the daughter of the Michel family, Liz, after years in the family. Liz Michel still runs the place, along with husband Carl, and they’ve been making a fair go of it.

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