Paloma

I saw this on two different menus as the name of a drink.

On one, the ingredients were pomegranate (it was called a “Poma Paloma”), tequila, mezcal, grapefruit, and pink peppercorn.

On the other it was Hornitos Reposada (a brand of tequila), lime and grapefruit juice, with salt.

Clearly, one of the definitions is a tequila-based cocktail. But I knew I had heard it in other contexts.

Sure enough, there are a lot of definitions for it.

• It’s a place name in both California and Illinois
• It’s an archaeological site in Peru
• It’s a woman’s name
• It’s a color; kind of a reddish brown
• It’s a class of shark (according to one source; I couldn’t corroborate this)

Why I Looked It Up

As above – I saw it on two menus, but was sure it had some meaning beyond that context.

Postscript

I saw it again on a menu – two different drinks. The only thing they seemed to have in common are grapefruit juice and lime.