The essence of finding bottle of tequila that suits your palate is similar to that of a bottle of wine: The subtle flavors are determined by the soil the piña was grown in. Then, of course, it's off to the distiller whose use of varied processes for distilling and aging the final product are what make each bottle unique.

The owners of Lazaranda, the modern Mexican kitchen in Addison, are more than familiar with all these intricacies. Because of this, they keep bottles of Patrón slightly out of sight in hopes they can introduce customers to new brands of estate-grown agaves that are unquestionably the pride and joy of Mexico.

"If customers want to shoot tequila, then we have the stuff for that," says Doug Wright, general manager at Lazaranda. "But if customers want to enjoy tequila the same way they sip scotch or whiskey, with that same level of appreciation, then we would love to help them with that too."

One of Wright's favorite tequilas is a Herradura reposado that the owners of Lazaranda had double barreled after hand-selecting it while visiting the distillery in Mexico. Lazaranda now has a limited quantity of bottles. (And it was, hands-down, the smoothest tequila, or liquor for that matter, I've ever sipped.)

This trend is part of an emerging new appreciation for tequilas. Wright sees a lot of his customers slowing down to enjoy tequila by sipping it from snifters. Recently, they hosted a tequila dinner that sold out; they're hosting another one this week and hope to make them a regular monthly affair.

"The cheap tequilas have a lot of additives, but a good tequila is actually great for digestion," Wright says. "We really want to teach people how not to drink tequila."