The Drink: Mexican Melon

The Location: Indebleu, 707 G St. NW, (202) 333-2538

The Price: $12

The Buzz: Recent Liquid Assets blogs, plus reader comments, have involved discussions of the “girly” drink. As a respectable scotch-sipping, wine-loving, beer-guzzling gal, I loathe the girly drink. It makes me think of freshmen girls in pleather pants and tank tops. But then my feminist side kicks in, and I bristle when a drink gets derogatorily dubbed as “girly” just because it’s not brown. Or clear. On a mission to reconcile these feelings, I head to the French-Indian fusion Indebleu, where I know there’s a wealth of cocktails to choose from. The drink menu is printed on glossy paper that unfolds like a map (and is infuriating to re-fold). Once open, there is a map of the Metro, but each line is a drink category, and each stop is a drink. (Examining my “map” prompts one man at the bar to ask me if I’m in town visiting.) I forgo the Bleu Line (house cocktails), the Shot Line, and the Champagne Line, and head straight to the Martini Line. I settle on a manly tequila-based drink, the Mexican Melon. The mixture of Jose Cuervo gold, Midori, Blue Curaçao, and a splash of sour mix produces a sea-green drink in a salt-rimmed martini glass. By appearances, this could pass for girly, but I feel no shame. The Mexican Melon is basically a glorified margarita: The orange-flavored Curaçao (which is blue just for kicks) replaces the Triple Sec, while the Midori adds just a hint of fruit. The smokiness of the tequila is still present, but its edge is curbed with the not-too-sweet melon liquor. The bartender explains that she prefers to add more Midori than Curaçao in her version. A good call: It’s delicious, it still tastes like liquor, and, I must admit, it’s a rather pretty drink.