Hot sauce

Holiday spirits Carlos Alferez (pictured) likes a challenge, so he must have had a blast developing Topolobampo's Holiday Margarita. Hoping to create something seasonal, he had trouble finding fruits that survive winter before coming across the prickly pear. Alferez uses the pears—which come from cacti and are in season November through January—to infuse blanco (white) tequila. He then adds a dash of passion-fruit puree and garnishes it with a pomegranate Jell-O ball. "This drink is tropical, it's intense and it's exotic," Alferez says. We'd have to agree, and luckily for us, it's not half as challenging to drink as it was to create. 445 N Clark St between Hubbard and Illinois Sts (312-661-1434).—David Tamarkin