National Tequila Day!

Sunday, July 24th! Yes, this is a real holiday and you should definitely join us for it! We’re celebrating at all Arizona locations with Create Your Own Margaritas for $8.00!

Step 1: Select Your Premium Tequila: 1800 Reposado, Don Julio Blanco, Partida Blanco or Sauza Blue Reposado

Step 2: Choose Your Ingredients

Rim: Salt, Sugar or None

Muddle: Cilantro, Cucumber, Mint, Serrano, Strawberry, Watermelon 

Flavor: Desert Pear, Mango, Peach, Pineapple, Strawberry 

Float: Cointreau, Ginger Beer, Grand Marnier 

That’s right…it’s up to you! Don’t worry, you make the selections and our team takes care of the hard part – making it! See you all Sunday!

Macayo Cares, Macayo In Our Community

When Woody & Victoria Johnson first started their American dream in 1946 they promised each other that they would always give back to the community. As with their passion to delicious food with quality ingredients, that commitment to supporting our community remains the same today. Help us celebrate 70 years of supporting our community!

pch-giveathon

supporting-PCH-Logo_CMYK

 

 

 

The Phoenix Children’s Hospital Give-A-Thon falls on Wednesday, August 17th and Thursday, August 18th this year. We are proud to team up with this wonderful team in hopes of beating last year’s efforts of $1.47 Million!

$0.70 for 70 Years: Join us at any Arizona location Monday, August 1st through Thursday, August 18th as we will donate $0.70 of every Kid’s Meal sold! Help us help the kids! Our goal is to raise $7,000.

Incentive Gift Cards: Tune into KTAR News and Arizona Sports throughout the 19 Hour Simulcast for information on how to win a $20 Macayo Gift Card with your generous donations! We are providing these as gifts to everyone who pledges to give during designated segments.

SJ_vert_tag_founder_full_color

Another great opportunity to give back! September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and you can join the fight. Help us raise $50,000 for the St. Jude Walk/Run to End Childhood Cancer on Saturday, September 24th.

Macayo Family Team: As we strive for our goal of $50,000 we’ve put together a team of over 200+ Macayo teammates, all accepting donations at our Macayo Family Donation page. Help us pledge for our efforts at the Walk/Run on September 24th. Join us and join the fight against Childhood Cancer.

Macayo’s Tequila Experiences!

TEQUILA EVENTS AT OUR SCOTTSDALE & MESA LOCATIONS 
One of our goals this year is to make tequila more approachable for our guests. We want you all to experience the excellence of this artisinal spirit! Not all tequila will take you back to that memory of slamming a shot and then the headache the next day. Some tequilas should be consumed as a shot, others mixed in a cocktail and others sipped neat. We want to take you along that journey and show you the difference! Walk you through the hand-crafted process and passion behind producing this spirit and share stories with you from some of the most famous tequila producers around the world. 

In order to do that, we’ve put together a few different events for you all to join us at! 

Tequila Cocktail Dinners 

Our Tequila Cocktail Dinners are not just your ordinary Tequila Dinner, these events are more of experience where guests can enjoy sampling different tequila expressions along with a four to five course Chef Inspired menu. 

  • Tickets vary from $20 to $40 per person, depending on the tequila brand and the menu and guests enjoy 
    • Four to five Chef Inspired menu complete with tequila expressions or cocktails paired with every course
    • Fun, tequila education provided by the tequila brand ambassador
    • Live entertainment  by Nick Hranek of B&B Music 

Tequila Happy Hours 

Our Tequila Happy Hours are a less formal event, where guests can join anytime during the event and mingle with other guests and the tequila ambassador 

  • Tickets vary from $10 to $20 per person, depending on the tequila brand and guests enjoy 
    • A tableside Mexican Fresca made with the silver or blanco tequila expression 
    • Samples of each tequila expression 
      • For example, the silver/blanco, reposado and anejo 
    • Chef Inspired appetizers
    • Fun, tequila education 
    • Live entertainment by Nick Hranek of B&B Music 

Event Schedule 

  • Scottsdale Tequila Experiences
    • Thursday, August 25th
      • Herradura Tequila Happy Hour
      • Between 5:00 and 7:00 pm
    • Saturday, September 24th
      • El Tesoro Tequila Dinner
      • Cocktail hour starts at 5:30 pm
    • Saturday, October 29th
      • Don Julio Tequila Dinner
      • Cocktail hour starts at 5:30 pm
    • Saturday, November 19th
      • Tequila Dinner featuring Small Batch, Handcrafted Brands
      • Cocktail hour starts at 5:30 pm
  • Mesa Tequila Experiences
    • Tuesday, July 26th
      • Azunia Tequila Cocktail Dinner
      • Cocktail hour starts at 5:30 pm
    • Tuesday, August 30th
      • Paradiso Tequila Dinner
      • Cocktail hour starts at 5:30 pm
    • Thursday, September 29th
      • Siete Leguas Tequila Happy Hour
      • Between 5:00 and 7:00 pm
    • Thursday, October 27th
      • Azunia Tequila Happy Hour
      • Between 5:00 and 7:00 pm
    • Thursday, November 17th
      • Siete Leguas Tequila Happy Hour
      • Between 5:00 and 7:00 pm

We hope you’ll join us at one of our upcoming events! Buy tickets online! 

Margarita de Macayo!

We’ve all enjoyed plenty of margaritas through the years. It’s a right of passage here in this great state of Arizona. In the last 70 years, we’ve estimated to have sold more than 20 million margaritas. Now let’s think about that…if our average margarita is 16 ounces and the average swimming pool is 14,500 gallons, that means in our seven decades as a staple of Arizona Mexican Cuisine, we have sold enough margaritas to fill 174.41 swimming pools!

Chips, salsa and a margarita – it’s an easy order (and one we love)! Through the years of original Margarita de Macayo has stood the test of time with the simple recipe of a great tequila and our Macayo Sweet and Sour. These days, more and more margarita recipes are being created and we are happy to be a part of the trend! Today, our Classic and Specialty margaritas look much different than the originals sold by Woody Johnson in the 50’s and 60’s. Different, but Sharisse Johnson, our CEO and Woody’s daughter, maintains that Woody would be over-the-moon with the innovations we have made during the last 15 years with our beverage program. Woody, himself, was a master innovator, and had one of the first frozen Margarita machines in Arizona.

“In the old days, most of our margaritas included our own Macayo’s Sweet & Sour,” said Johnson. “It was developed years ago, sold online and in-stores. We still use it today in our classic margaritas like the Texas Margarita, Arizona Sunset Margarita, Prickly Pear Margarita and Blood Orange Margarita. These are recipes that our guests have loved for years – would never want to change the flavor profile for them and disappoint our guests.”

A lighter, less sweet mix of sweet and sour stars in the new margaritas, however. And guests now are exploring new options, such as the Skinny Strawberry margarita, made simply with Casamigos Blanco tequila, fresh squeezed lime juice, and fresh strawberry puree. “The profile of skinny margarita consumers is actually different from what you would expect,” said Ashley Negron, Director of Marketing & Brand Management. “It isn’t always those who are watching their calories. Skinny consumers are actually those who are looking for a less sugary and sweet margarita – something a little more tart with a more prominent tequila flavor.”

Accordingly, Macayo’s has upped the bar – quite literally – with its tequila offerings. All the stores now serve superior brands like Herradura Silver and Espolon Reposado, while the Scottsdale location – the official test-kitchen/cantina for the brand – also serves ultra-premium labels like Tonala Anejo, Casa Dragones and Patron Anejo 7 Anos.

“One of our biggest goals is to make tequila more approachable,” Negron said. “Tequila is a very artisanal, handcrafted spirit, and when you try better quality tequilas, you can really taste the difference. A great tequila isn’t going to cause a headache the next day, either.”

With our long-popular Margarita of the Month program, we feature a different flavor and tequila, and those specials usually account for about 40 percent of total margarita sales, Johnson said. Those numbers confirm her idea that it was time to introduce bold new drinks.

Join us at any of our Arizona locations and enjoy a margarita today!

How to Make Macayo’s Cheese Crisp

Crispy flour tortilla layered with melted cheeses and baked to perfection…sounds simple right?! These ingredients make up our famous Cheese Crisp. If you haven’t tried one yet, get to one of our 12 Arizona locations now! You’re seriously missing out!

Throughout our 7 decades of service to Arizona this menu item has stood the test of time and although it is among the top sellers, it modestly sits back and let’s our Chimichanga take all of the Macayo credit and fame. Not only is the Cheese Crisp raved about by our guests, it is also a dish native to this great state.

Like we said earlier, it’s a crispy flour tortilla layered with melted cheeses and baked to perfection. A seemingly simple recipe, but a mystery to many who try to repeat it. Words like “What’s the Macayo trick?” “I’ve tried at home so many times but it always tastes better at Macayo’s!” are ones that we hear quite a bit. Well, the moment you’ve all been waiting for is here…are you ready to learn the trick?!

 

 

Happy 1 Year Macayo’s Mexican Grill & Cantina!

MACAYO’S R&D TEST-KITCHEN, MACAYO’S MEXICAN GRILL & CANTINA 
Has it already been a year?! This day, 365 days ago, was a big day for us as we quietly reopened our Scottsdale & Shea location as our R&D test-kitchen with a soft-opening on May 19th, 2015. Looks like it has indeed been a full year, and what a year it has been! 
As you all may know, over the last few years we have been on a journey, a Culinary Evolution. This strategy has truly been in the spirit of Woody Johnson, our original founder, who without a doubt was one of the most innovative men of his time. When it came to Mexican food, outstanding hospitality and restaurant operations, no one set groundbreaking standards like him. 70 years later as Woody’s children carry on his legacy, they enjoy doing so buy continuing that innovative spirit. 

THE LAST 12 MONTHS
Let’s take a look back! Culinary Additions: 

  • Chile Trio Cheese Crisp . Pulled Chicken Cheese Crisp 
  • Queso Fundido . Deconstructed Nachos 
  • Jicama Shrimp Tacos . Fire-Roasted Albondigas 
  • Fried Avocado . Mexican Corn 
  • Latin Chopped Salad . Grilled Chicken Taco Salad 
  • Short Rib Enchiladas . Tinga Quesadilla 
  • Chicken Tinga Street Tacos . Short Rib Street Tacos 
  • Green Chile Pork Stew . Rolled Tacos 
  • Verde y Roja . Bosio’s Shrimp 
  • Homemade Churros . Dulce de Leche 

Being able to use our Scottsdale & Shea location as a test-kitchen for the entire company has been extremely beneficial, and a lot of fun too! Just recently we featured a special menu at all locations, our Oldies from Woody & Chef Inspired menu. The Chef Inspired side featured several of the most popular new items from the test-kitchen. We were very proud to see you all enjoy them! 

We want to thank our entire team at our test-kitchen for all their hard work, energy and commitment to this journey. We could not do any of this without them! 

Thank You!

Thank You for Making Us Your Arizona Tradition for the Last 70 Years! 
As we celebrate this milestone, and look forward to our next 70 years, we want to thank our amazing team, loyal guests and the communities that have helped us thrive. We look forward to seeing you again soon!

With Cinco de Mayo and Mother’s Day in the same week, this last week has been one for the record books! Taking a look back at these last seven days and 70 years truly brings a smile to our faces. And that is because of all of you! We would not be where we are today without each and every one of you; our Macayo team and family, the best guests on earth and the most welcoming communities across Arizona.

We are so honored and thankful to everyone who joined us to celebrate these two holidays.
Looking forward to spending many, many more with you all! 

Cheese Crisp

 Spinach con Queso

Cinco de Macayo!

    • Cinco FB Post JPEGIt’ the most wonderful time of the year! Well besides the November, December Holiday season…Cinco de Mayo is almost here and as we celebrate our 70th year, we could not be more excited!
    • Our 5 Days of Cinco de Macayo will be back in full affect from
    • May 1st to 5th with some awesome beverage specials!
    • We will also be inviting everyone to try a brand new enchilada plate, the Enchiladas Bandido! This delicious dish is the perfect opportunity to sample our homemade red chile, green chile pork stew and Baja spinach! Is your mouth watering yet?
    • Join us at one of our 12 Arizona locations!
    • Sunday, May 1st through Thursday, May 5th!

Throwing It Back to Fried Zucchini

Zucchini 2
THROWBACK THURSDAY! This Thursday we’re throwing it back to our delicious Fried Zucchini! Currently featured on our Oldies from Woody special menu.
 
Have you tried these yet?! Pure bliss…
– Fresh zucchini, coin cut
– Battered in our seasoned flour
– Deep fried until golden brown
– Served with homemade Cilantro Ranch dressing
Good enough to stay on the menu? You tell us…

Margarita Monday! Create Your Own!

As you all know, National Margarita Day is among one of our favorite holidays of the year! This year we decided to try something a little different and offered a Create Your Own Margarita special. The results are in, our wonderful guests have spoken and it was a HUGE HIT! We are so happy that you all enjoyed it so much! It is so exciting for us to find something that truly excites our guests!
With that, we have decided to continue this special for Margarita Monday EVERY Monday! Join us and become your own mixologist! Don’t worry, we’ll do all the hardwork! But with this Create Your Own Margarita you get to select your own rim, tequila, flavor, muddle and float!
Come help us celebrate Margarita Mondays! Available at all Arizona locations.