Cabo San Lucas Nightlife

Article by Sabrina Lear - March 2006 - Continued - Page Two of Two - Page One of Two

Mambo Cafe

Mambo Cafe is the place for live Latin-Caribbean and Latin pop in Cabo. Since opening over a year ago, Mambo Café has become the place for Latin dance rhythms, with 10-piece bands the standard at this large venue next to El Tesoro Los Cabos (formerly Plaza Las Glorias) on Boulevard Marina in downtown Cabo. Mambo Café features Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Colombian and Caribbean bands playing mambo, salsa, merengue, cumbia, bachata and Latin pop. Closed Monday, Ladies Nights are Thursdays and Sundays, when ladies drink free from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Live bands play Friday and Saturday nights, expect a cover charge and lineups, this is a hugely popular dance club, especially on weekends. The Mambo Café group operates 10 other clubs all over Mexico; the Cabo location is the group’s newest. Doors open at 9 p.m., with sets starting around 10.

Sancho Panza

Sancho Panza Wine Bistro Restaurant & Night Club is set back from Cabo’s marina behind El Tesoro Los Cabos (formerly Plaza Las Glorias) on the Cabo marina in downtown Cabo San Lucas. It’s a Boomer hangout known for good food and wine, but it’s the live Latin jazz, blues, and Latin dance music that makes it a good alternative to the more boisterous clubs. Low key enough for conversation, with some of Cabo’s best musicians, including Daline Jones, a jazz singer who headlined at San Francisco’s Starlight Lounge, Sancho Panza provides a cool hangout for singles of a certain age to meet and mingle. The ambiance combines Picasso, Dali, and Miro-inspired décor with Cuban original art, a good supply of vintages (owner Ron Kleist pioneered fine wines in Cabo) and a premium bar in a casually upscale atmosphere. Live music sets begin at 8 p.m. nightly, with the kitchen closing at 11 p.m. The lineup of musicians changes frequently, and reservations are suggested.

Las Varitas

This high energy Mexican nightclub celebrated its fifth anniversary in early 2005, with the original La Paz location still going strong after more than two decades. Las Varitas features local acts and occasional top Latin rock bands, so you never know who’s playing. If you love Mexican and Latin rock like Los Enanitos Verdes, El Tri, Jaguares, Café Tacuba, Maldita Vencidad, Molotov, Mana, etc., Las Varitas is the place. Tuesday is Ladies Night, with no cover for ladies from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., and national drinks just $5 pesos and cerveza two for one until 11 p.m. DJ Terkko keeps the music coming, with emcee Don Pepo holding wacky contests and surprises. Cover is about $5 U.S.; the club opens at 10 p.m. and rocks until 3 or 4 a.m. Usually very crowded and popular with young Mexicans, Las Varitas is not a tourist hangout, so it’s best to go with Mexican friends and “libera tu expresion” in Las Varitas’ “zona prohibida.”

The Nowhere Bar

Also known the House of Shots, this indoor-outdoor hangout, open daily from 10 a.m. on the Cabo marina at Plaza Bonita, has a good DJ, dance floor, edible sushi, and a cool mix of locals warming up before club hopping. “Nowhere” is well known as one of Cabo’s top bars. The daily 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. happy hour packs ‘em in, and the action can go late, late, until 3 a.m. Tuesday is Ladies Night, with free national drinks and beer for women from 8 to 10 p.m. Nowhere has a great location on Cabo’s marina and is perfect for meeting new people to club with.

Hard Rock Café

A more upscale décor and all that rock ‘n roll memorabilia makes the Hard Rock Café, fronting Plaza Bonita across from El Squid Roe, a favorite with the vanilla Boomer crowd. A restaurant-bar with tried and true Hard Rock food and drinks known the world over, the house band plays rock covers almost every night. Accented with plenty of brass and wood with that classic Hard Rock feel, it can be a great, albeit more sedate, place to party. Open 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., with a t-shirt boutique out front, and a pink ’57 Caddy over the entrance.

Don’t see the club or bar you’re looking for? Check back frequently for more nightlife coverage.

Gay Friendly Nightclubs

Now a decade old, the Rainbow Bar, Cabo’s only alternative nightclub, caters to gay and lesbian clientele and also draws a cool straight crowd. Gorgeous waiters, great drinks (try the house special the Mango Magico Margarita or their seriously good martini), good ambiance and prices, with a disco feel and techno music. Don’t go early, you’ll be disappointed, this club gets going around midnight, even though the doors are open from 4 p.m. Find this rainbow at the other side of the Cabo San Lucas marina, at Marina Cabo Plaza, past the Marina Fiesta Resort.

Karaoke

What’s Up?

If you must, you must at What’s Up where you’ll find an extensive selection of songs in English and Spanish, and a group of polished regulars at Cabo’s best karaoke club, across from Puerto Paraiso on Lazaro Cardenas. If you’re feeling brave, try a tune in Spanish.

Happy Hours

Any time is time for happy hour in Cabo San Lucas, and for a small town, the list of watering holes is staggering. Some places offer happy hour as early as 9 a.m., while others favor the more traditional cocktail hours. Since you can’t go far in Cabo without running (or staggering) into a bar, take your pick of what’s around the marina and try Baja Cantina Dockside, Solomon's Landing, Justo al Gusto, and Captain Tony's. Nearby, Tanga Tanga, the Jungle Bar, Cabo Wabo, The Elbow Room, Casino Real, and the Giggling Marlin will keep you well lubricated until you get to the northeast end of town where Zoo Bar & Dance, El Squid Roe, Hard Rock Café, Margaritavilla, The Nowhere Bar, Olé Olé, Harley Davidson Bar and Grill, Houlihan’s, Los Deseos and the Rainbow Bar, if followed in that order, will get you almost all the way to Medano Beach. On the beach, where happy hour imbibing can begin at breakfast, check out Baja Cantina Beach, Billygan's Island, The Office, Mango Deck, The Sand Bar and Las Palmas. Every place has a different look and feel, and almost all of these bars do double duty as popular restaurants. Around the marina, you'll also find floating bars: from rowdy sunset booze cruises to elegant motor yachts, and quieter, more romantic charters perfect for lovers and honeymooners.

For happy hours with the best sunset views, western facing vantage points are in order. At Solmar Beach, you’ll feel like you’re on the edge of the world, watching the tangerine sun sizzling into the quicksilver Pacific. Solmar Suites, Terra Sol Resort, and Playa Grande Resort have oceanfront bars with snacks and wandering trios or Mariachi. While you’re doing your Happy Hour “research,” stop in at Playa Grande’s elegant lobby piano bar, with excellent martinis and two for one on all drinks from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Up above Solmar Beach, perched on the craggy cliffside, is the Hotel Finisterra's Whale Watcher Bar, with good margaritas, appetizers, and a taste of “Old Baja” hospitality.

Margaritas

Nearly all bars featuring happy hours have a special house drink and the most popular is the margarita. While the traditional margarita is made with tequila blanco, limejuice and orange liquor, and served in a salt-rimmed glass, its origin is claimed by several sources. Whether it was invented in 1942 by Pancho Morales of Cuidad Juarez, or in 1948 by Margarita Samas in Acapulco, one thing's for certain, margaritas can pack a potent punch. Most of Cabo's bars feature seasonal fresh fruit varieties like mango and papaya, in addition to the lime stand-by. For our own take on this signature Mexican cocktail, check out this link.

Mexican Beer

Happy hour is also the perfect time to sample Mexican beer, called cerveza, at two for one prices. German immigrants began brewing in the late eighteenth century and Mexico’s beer is some of the best in the world. The Femsa Group's Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, and Grupo Modelo dominate the market, and are among the largest beer producers in the world. Mexico produces about 25 different beers in three categories: Pilsner or Lager (light); Viena (semi-dark); and Munich (dark). Most favorites are lagers or pilsners like the award winning Dos Equis Lager Especial, Superior, Tecate and Carta Blanca, all produced by Femsa. Whatever your preference, Grupo Modelo's lager Corona Extra is the biggest seller in Mexico, and biggest exporter, to 120 countries worldwide. For a fuller bodied beer, try regular Dos Equis, an amber, in the brown glass bottle; or the darker, Munich-style Negra Modelo. All bars carry at least the top favorites, for lesser-known brews, like Sol or Indio, finding them is half the fun. Pacifico, brewed in Mazatlan, Sinaloa by Grupo Modelo, is one of Cabo’s most popular brews.

Tequila

While bar hopping for the best margarita may be fun, true tequila connoisseurs sip it straight, and there are hundred of brands to sample. Quality tequila, made from 100% Weber blue agave, is distilled in three categories: blanco or plata (white or silver), reposado (rested) or añejo (aged). Anejos and reposados are generally smoother than blancos, but when you get into the premium brand category, like Chinaco, for example, the blanco is every bit as smooth as its older brothers. If you’ve been drinking the sugar cane and agave blends available in the U.S. and Canada, sampling the “real thing” will surprise you. Be prepared for sticker shock, the better brands can command $50 bucks or more a shot.

While many assume that tequila is made from cactus, the blue agave is actually related to the lily. Agave plants need up to ten years to reach maturity and produce a 100 to-pound core called a piña. Piñas are split in two and cooked in large ovens. Once cooled, they're crushed and strained to produce a juice called agua miel, which is then fermented and distilled.

Most agave is grown within a hundred or so mile radius of the town of Tequila in Jalisco state, where almost all of Mexico's tequila distilleries are located. Much of the gold tequila sold north of the Rio Grande is a blend of 51% agave and 49% cane sugar with added caramel coloring. The added sugar can produce agonizing hangovers, and tequila drinkers swear that drinking 100% Weber blue agave tequila keeps hangovers at bay.

Tequila bars have become de rigueur over the past few years in Los Cabos, and two to try in Cabo San Lucas are Pancho’s on Hidalgo Street, and Los Garcia on the marina level at Puerto Paraiso. For more on the world of tequila, visit our tequila web pages.
 © 2006 Sabrina Lear, All Rights Reserved

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