One Drink, Five Ways: Sangria

El Patio

611 37th St., 274-2303

Out of the few places in Des Moines that have sangria, two of them happen to be within a 20-second skip of each other. Located across the street from Black Cat Café, El Patio offers a carafe of sangria sure to please penny-pinchers who just need a drink that sounds foreign to go with their scrumptious heapings of Mexican food. We found our waitress chucking slices of lemons and limes into grenadine, sangria-flavored wine, orange juice, and lemonade. The carafe is presented with glasses adorned with a slice or lime and a cherry that matched the neon-red color of the drink.

The Price: $4.50 a glass, $15 for a carafe that pours about six drinks.

The Verdict: 2 out of 5 stars. The restaurant manager admitted sangrias aren’t their specialty, margaritas are. The bottom-shelf ingredients were reminiscent of our underage days of mixing up Jungle Juice in an oversized tub and hoping our parents didn’t come