Picante de la Casa
A Picante de la Casa is 50ml reposado tequila, 25ml fresh lime juice and 20ml agave nectar, shaken hard with a small piece of red chilli pressed in the tin and ten coriander leaves clapped between the palms and dropped in. It is fine strained over ice in a rocks glass, with the cut top of the chilli standing stem up as the garnish. About 2.0 UK units. That is the recipe Soho House publishes. Soho House’s own House Notes say Chris Ojeda, then bar manager at Soho House West Hollywood, first created it in 2012, streamlining an earlier Margarita Picante, and call it the bestselling cocktail across the group’s clubs worldwide. There is no orange liqueur, which makes it a close relative of the Tommy’s Margarita. The coriander moves it on: chilli, lime, coriander and agave together taste of salsa. Reposado rather than blanco is the other choice that matters, because a few months in oak soften the tequila’s pepper and give the chilli something round to sit against.
Glassware: Rocks Glass
Garnish: Red chilli top stem up
Ingredients
50ml
Soho House pours a reposado. A few months in oak round off the peppery edge a blanco leads with, so the chilli is not fighting the spirit. Use one made from 100% agave.
25ml
Squeezed the same day. At 25ml it keeps the drink sharp against the nectar, and it carries the chilli heat forward.
20ml
Straight from the bottle, not cut with water, as the house recipe has it. Sweetening a tequila drink with the same plant keeps the flavours in one family.
1 small piece, top reserved
A piece about 6mm wide from a fresh red chilli, with the cut top kept back for the garnish. Heat varies from one chilli to the next; the seeds and pale membrane carry most of it.
10 leaves, with stems
Clapped between the palms and dropped into the shaker, not muddled. It is what makes the drink taste of salsa, and the ingredient to ask a guest about first.
Instructions
Press a small piece of red chilli once or twice with a muddler in the base of a shaker.
Clap ten coriander leaves, with their stems, between your palms and drop them in.
Add the reposado tequila, lime juice and agave nectar.
Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Fine strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice.
Stand the cut top of the chilli in the drink, stem up.
Expert Tip
Press the chilli; do not pound it. One small piece, about the width of a pencil, pressed once or twice with the muddler gives enough heat to warm the drink. Chillies vary from one to the next, so taste a sliver first, and if it is fierce cut away the seeds and pale membrane, where most of the heat sits. Clap the coriander rather than muddling it. Ten leaves with their stems, slapped between your palms and dropped into the tin, give up their scent in the shake. Crushed hard, the leaves turn bitter and grassy. Ask before you make it. Some people taste coriander as soap, and nothing in the build hides it. For them, leave it out: what remains is a good chilli Margarita on a Tommy’s frame, though not this drink.
Behind the Picante de la Casa
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
Soho House’s own House Notes say the Picante de la Casa was first created in 2012 by Chris Ojeda, bar manager at Soho House West Hollywood. Soho House’s page adds that in 2012 the group’s bartenders and managers met in London to define the cocktails for its bar programme; among the contenders was the Margarita Picante, made by Chris Hudnall, then beverage manager at Soho Beach House Miami, and Ojeda streamlined it so it could be made the same way across Houses. The page publishes the recipe, calls the drink a House Tonic and says it is the bestselling cocktail across the group’s clubs worldwide.
A drink poured in that many places has to be written down closely enough for someone who never tasted the original to make it the same way on a busy night. That is why the recipe counts coriander leaves and sizes the chilli instead of saying a pinch and a slice.
Built on a Tommy’s, Not a Margarita
A classic Margarita sweetens with orange liqueur. A Tommy’s Margarita uses agave instead, so the only sweetness comes from the same plant as the spirit; Difford’s Guide says Julio Bermejo created it circa 1987/88 at his family’s Mexican restaurant, Tommy’s, in San Francisco.
The Picante takes that frame. Orange liqueur would add a third flavour beside the chilli and coriander; agave sweetens without one. Against the IBA’s Tommy’s Margarita, which has 30ml of agave nectar to 60ml of tequila, the Picante’s 20ml to 50ml is a touch less sweet, and the nectar rounds the chilli heat.
Three tequila sours with no orange liqueur; the Picante is Soho House’s recipe and the Tommy’s row is the IBA’s specification
Picante de la Casa
- Tequila
- 50ml reposado
- Lime
- 25ml
- Sweetener
- 20ml agave nectar
- Heat
- Red chilli and coriander
- UK units
- 2.0
Tommy’s Margarita
- Tequila
- 60ml blanco
- Lime
- 30ml
- Sweetener
- 30ml agave nectar
- Heat
- None
- UK units
- 2.4
Spicy Margarita
- Tequila
- 60ml blanco
- Lime
- 30ml
- Sweetener
- 15ml agave syrup
- Heat
- Three slices of jalapeño
- UK units
- 2.4
| Drink | Tequila | Lime | Sweetener | Heat | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Picante de la Casa | 50ml reposado | 25ml | 20ml agave nectar | Red chilli and coriander | 2.0 |
| Tommy’s Margarita | 60ml blanco | 30ml | 30ml agave nectar | None | 2.4 |
| Spicy Margarita | 60ml blanco | 30ml | 15ml agave syrup | Three slices of jalapeño | 2.4 |
The Coriander
Chilli in a Margarita is common, and on its own it gives heat and little else. Coriander changes the drink. Chilli, lime, coriander and agave are the flavours of a fresh salsa, and the glass tastes composed rather than spiked.
The house method claps the leaves and drops them in whole. Slapping bruises the surface enough to release the scent, and the shake does the rest. Muddled hard, coriander turns bitter and leaves green flecks through the drink, which is one reason it is fine strained.
Reposado Rather Than Blanco
Blanco tequila leads with pepper and raw agave. Put fresh chilli on top and the drink gets hot in two ways at once.
Reposado rests in oak for a few months, which rounds off the pepper and adds a little vanilla and weight. The chilli then sits against something soft, and the heat reads as warmth. That choice is what sets this drink apart from most spicy Margaritas.
How to Serve It
Fine strained over fresh ice in a rocks glass, with the chilli top standing in the drink, stem up. It is the only garnish, and a fair warning of what is inside.
It suits food, especially anything grilled, and holds its own against salt and smoke.
Make it at home
The Spirit
TequilaTequila is a Mexican spirit distilled from the blue agave plant, made, the Oxford Companion says, only in Jalisco and municipalities of four other states; our recipes use 40% ABV. A label reading 100% agave means every sugar came from the plant, where plain tequila needs only 51%. Most of our 26 tequila recipes ask for 100% agave blanco.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Picante de la Casa?
How strong is a Picante de la Casa?
How is it different from a spicy Margarita?
Who created the Picante de la Casa?
How hot should it be?
Blanco or reposado tequila?
What if coriander tastes of soap to me?
Can I make Picantes ahead for a group?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- Soho House (House Notes), “Celebrate World Tequila Day with our Picantes” (the group’s own page: Picante de la Casa first created in 2012 by Bar Manager Chris Ojeda at Soho House West Hollywood; the bestselling cocktail across its clubs worldwide; adapted from Chris Hudnall’s Margarita Picante; recipe 50ml reposado, 20ml agave nectar, 25ml lime, chilli and ten coriander leaves).
- Difford’s Guide, “Tommy’s Margarita” (secondary source: created circa 1987/88 by Julio Bermejo and named after his family’s Mexican restaurant in San Francisco, set up by Tomas and Elmy Bermejo in 1965; agave syrup in place of the triple sec).
- IBA, “Tommy’s Margarita” (official specification: 60ml 100% agave tequila, 30ml lime juice, 30ml agave nectar).
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