South of the Border Without a Plane

OK, you want to create the perfect Mexican meal. First, you buy a plane ticket to Oaxaca, Michoacan, Mexico City and the Guadalajara region. In those places, you gather all the ingredients — agave for the tequila, chipotle and tomatillos for the sauces, chorizo for the fajitas and so on.

Then, to create an authentic environment, you buy the wares of accomplished local artisans — tile-makers, textile-makers, glassblowers, woodcarvers, furniture-makers and ceramic artists. After that — and here’s the hard part — you ship it home by tractor-trailer.

If it seems like a tad too much work for a Mexican meal, not to worry. Margaritas Mexican Restaurant and Watering Hole — Margaritas, for short — has done it all for you.

Paul Timmons, vice president of marketing for the restaurant, says a few times every year a whole crowd of Margaritas people — owners, executives, managers, employees — travel south to experience modern-day Mexico. “We feel strongly about bringing the culture of Mexico back to the U.S., to our customers,” says Timmons. “We also want to make them aware of how authentic it is.”

One way Margaritas does that is with its “visiting artists” program. Mexican artists tour the 16 Margaritas restaurants in New England (there are six in New Hampshire), demonstrating their crafts. Cesar Velazquez and Erica Corona recently demonstrated the fine art of paper maché sculpture and decorative painting. Other artists will visit in the fall. They also go to area schools with the restaurant’s educational outreach program. For more information, visit www.margs.com. NH