Patch Picks for Cinco de Mayo

Ever drink fresh cactus pear margaritas? Scoop your tortillas in guacamole stuffed with goat cheese and fresh trout? Chow down on quesadillas filled with mushrooms and garlic?

Now is the perfect time.

You can saunter up to your favorite bar any other weekend and order some domestic bottles, mozzarella sticks and a couple dozen wings slathered in sauce. But Cinco de Mayo – the day and, this year, the whole weekend – is different. Granted, most folks don’t even know its origins, but they celebrate it nonetheless. And why not? Cinco de Mayo is about the only time of year when you can pop open a bottle of Jarritos and not look like some painful hipster.

Cozumel, 16512 Detroit Avenue – This is the Mexican food you expect when you head out to a restaurant, but better. Enchiladas, fajitas, quesadillas and various combination dinners fill the menu. So do margaritas, which you can order by the glass, half-pitcher or full pitcher. Cinco de Mayo specials include $2 bottles, $10 Dos Equis pitchers, $15 lime margarita pitchers – and $9 lime margarita pitchers from 10 p.m. until midnight. Also, spend $50 and get a free T-shirt.

, 14224 Madison Avenue – This is where you can drink that fresh cactus pear margarita – just show up early. Owner Antonio Carafelli said the line stretched out the door last year on Cinco de Mayo, with most folks waiting more than an hour. Most didn’t eat, though. They just wanted to imbibe. “I didn’t expect to get hit like that,” Carafelli said. “I’d never seen the line like that before.” Also on the margarita menu: fresh squeezed mango, fresh squeezed lime, and hot jalapeno.

, 12906 Madison Avenue – This Colombian spot is so new and still such a hole in the wall that there is little Web presence and little promotion. Enjoy the down time while you can. Father and son Carlos and Juan David Vergara opened the restaurant about a month ago and have been building steadily ever since. Go for the signature arepas – corn flour patties filled with chicken, steak or vegetables – and stay for the local art hanging on the walls. Not Mexican, but definitely worth a stop.

La Plaza Grocery Store, 13609 Lakewood Heights Blvd., Cleveland – Having a Cinco de Mayo party of your own? This is your first – and probably last – stop. The store is stocked with Mexican staples and favorites, from chorizo at the meat counter to Mexican Coke and Pepsi (made with real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup) to the aforementioned Jarritos soda in all its glorious flavors. Time your visit right and you can even grab lunch at the indoor taco stand.

Cinco de Mayo Parade and Festival – This is a first. The parade will start at 1:30 p.m. Sunday and wind down the Detroit Shoreway toward West Side Ecumenical Ministries (5209 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland), where it will run into a Mexican culture and arts festival. Eat some lunch (and dinner) at the local vendor stands, then watch the Mexican folkloric dancers, listen to the mariachi bands (but don’t accept fewer than a dozen players in the band) and take a whack at a piñata. The festival is scheduled to run until 8:30 p.m.

(Oh, and for the record, a bonus for those of you want to impress your friends: Cinco de Mayo actually commemorates the Battle of Puebla, an unexpected 1862 victory for the Mexican army over the French. The Mexicans were outnumbered about four to three, but under Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza, wrapped up the win in about four hours. There. Now just try to remember that after your third margarita.)