Another airport. Another bloody. This time, we were hanging out at MKE’s Mitchell Airport when we stopped in to Nonna’s, a Bartolotta’s restaurant, for a bite.
Nonna’s had two bloodies on the menu, a Chilies and Peppers Bloody Mary and a Habanero Chipotle Bloody Mary, so naturally, we had them both. From a fixin’s standpoint, these were basic and looked the same; however, the flavors were each unique.
We enjoyed them both, but probably preferred the Chilies and Peppers version a little more due to the celery seed and horseradish flavorings. The Habanero Chipotle had that smoky flavor and was a little spicier.
Spice & Mix: Demetri’s: Chilies and Peppers or Habanero Chipotle
Fixin’s: Two Olives & a Pickle
Chaser: No chaser offered.
Price: $ Can’t recall, but they weren’t cheap! I would guess somewhere in the $15 range, which is pretty pricey considering the Ultimate Bloody we had just had with all the fixin’s in Minnesota.
Hello loyal readers! I apologize for the hiatus; we have some bloodies backlogged to review. Let’s get to it!
Back in March, on a flight layover through Minneapolis, we grabbed breakfast at the Twins Grill. We have a thing for airport bloodies in particular, so you know we ordered one! We were pleased to see an “Ultimate Bloody Mary” on the menu that stated this would be a “Mini Buffet in Every Glass!”
Indeed, this bloody hit the spot; a great place to hang while waiting for your flight and during any delays, for sure. A little disappointed they didn’t offer a chaser (this is the Midwest afterall), but hey, you take what you can get.
Our favorite Bloody Mary that we had while in St. Petersburg was the “Hangover Bitch” at a kitschy restaurant called Bacon Bitch. We love us a good themed restaurant and Bacon Bitch did not disappoint. They really leaned into it, but did a good job of not falling in.
Bacon Bitch has locations in the major Florida cities and is known for its variety of breakfast sandwiches and fun beverages. They basically serve brunch all day every day. Of note, one of their signature drinks is the Hangover Bitch:
While the price for this drink seems steep (probably one of the most expensive ones we’ve ever consumed, tbh), we justified this by looking at the prices of their Bitches and other drinks. Had we ordered a sandwich and a drink separately, we’d probably be paying close to that. Instead, we ordered this behemoth since the drink essentially has your entire brunch on top.
Both the beverage and the fixin’s were top notch and while I still think it was a little pricey for what you get, it’s worth it for the rest of the atmosphere, complete with cheeky servers and all the Instagrammable photo ops.
Not a bloody you’re going to order often, but definitely one to seek out next time youre in Florida!
Thirsty First was ranked high on a couple of lists of St. Pete’s best bloody marys, so we had to see what all the fuss was about. Unfortunately, their online menu did not make it clear that their Roaring 20s Bloody wasn’t served every day for brunch, so the first time we stopped in there to check it out on a Friday, they only offered us a basic bloody mary.
This isn’t atypical of many places who bring out their special bloodies for brunch, but most places state up front that the drink is only available on certain days/times. In this case, it was a nuance… the bloody was listed on their brunch menu; however, they also have a “limited” brunch menu on the weekdays. It just wasn’t clear what that limited menu included. Now we know it doesn’t include this drink.
Anyway, no sweat. We found another great bloody on Friday to tide us over (see our post on Bacon Bitch!) and came back to Thirsty First on Sunday.
Spice & Mix: House made bloody mary mix with black pepper and smoked bacon infused Tito’s vodka
This drink was half the price of the bloody we enjoyed at Bacon Bitch and seemingly had more ingredients on it… however, the quality of this bloody and its ingredients were about half as good as Bacon Bitch’s. The picture looks impressive with its towering mound of food, sure, but it’s also very monochromatic and full of heavy, fried foods for the most part.
The fixins we received were also slightly different than what the menu promised, namely we did not receive buttermilk fried chicken (at least I don’t think that’s what that chicken nugget was supposed to be?), bacon, or celery.
The taste of the bloody itself was also a little too peppery for our liking.
All in all, this bloody sounded good in theory, but we were disappointed in the end. Maybe it’s because the anticipation of returning to the dive bar twice in order to get it, coupled with the 25-minute wait for the drink to arrive once we were there, had us building it up so much in our heads it couldn’t live up to it. Or maybe it was just a sub-par bloody.
Earlier this summer, I played at the Oaks Golf Course in Madison, Wisconsin. It was a beautiful day and after, we relaxed on their lovely patio with a couple of post-round beverages.
Upon ordering a Bloody, the bartender asked if I liked it spicy. I said yes, and his eyes lit up. He was happy to mix up his special version featuring a local Wisconsin vodka. I chose a local Wisconsin beer for my chaser to complete the trifecta.
Chaser: Your choice! I chose “These Pretzels are Making Me Thirsty” by One Barrel Brewing
Price: $ Sorry; I can’t recall.
This Bloody Mary was spicy, but not too spicy. It had a nice flavor to it and I thought what really complemented it the most was the beer selection. I am a Seinfeld fan and chose my chaser purely on its name, but I was pleasantly surprised. I am not the biggest fan of beer there is (weird, I know, being from Wisconsin), but I do enjoy tasting it and chaser from makes it easy and fun.
The beer tasted like pretzels and was a little salty as the name suggests. It paired excellently with the drink. I definitely recommend checking out the Oaks if you’re a golfer… and if you’re not, Doundrins and One Barrel are worth looking into on their own!
Last week, I was honored to be hosted for a round of golf at Tuckaway Country Club in Franklin, Wisconsin. We had a great time playing and carried the conversation over to the lovely patio for a couple of post-round beverages.
It’s not every day you get to visit a private country club and play their course and try their Bloody Mary, so we made sure to grab one to review.
Spice & Mix: Zing Zang as a base, doctored up by the bartender
Fixin’s: Pickle and Olive
Chaser: None offered.
Price: $Unknown
While there was nothing unique about these bloodies, like airports, there is just something about bloodies on the golf course that hit different. As such, these bloodies were very tasty and went down easily.
We recently visited Eldr + Rime located in the Renaissance Hotel near Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. On Saturdays and Sundays, they offer a fabulous brunch from 9am-2pm, which includes Bloody Mary as well as other libation specials.
We’re assuming you’re here to read about the Bloody Mary, so here are the two options they offer:
SIGNATURE BLOODY MARY house blend of bloody mary mix, vodka, snacks, spotted cow chaser $12
ROYAL BLOODY MARY house blended bloody mary mix, grilled shrimp, shucked oyster chaser $20
As usual, we felt somewhat obligated to order and review the most special Bloody Mary on the menu, so of course we ordered the Royal. Here are the stats:
Spice & Mix: Perfect amount of spice, house mix. You can see per the photo, there is a lot of horseradish.
Fixin’s: beef stick, pickles, cheese curd, pepper, sweet potato chips, lime, three grilled shrimp & two oysters
Chaser: Yes-Spotted Cow
Price: $20
Okay, so I know what you’re thinking $20 might be a little much for a beverage; however, we’ve had Bloodies that have cost more in the past and this is actually pretty “reasonable” considering all of the “snacks” (we like how they used that term on the menu!) you get with it and the fact that it’s essentially a hotel restaurant where you usually expect higher prices.
As we’ve noted in past reviews, oysters and seafood in general really tend to pair well with Bloody Marys, so this was a tasty combination. If you don’t like seafood, are ordering a larger meal with your beverage or aren’t particularly hungry when you come here, I would suggest saving the $8 and going for the Signature Bloody Mary, but this is definitely a showpiece and delicious as a splurge.
We also got a little FOMO from the food we saw being delivered to patrons around us. This stop was a spur of the moment type thing and we had already had breakfast a few hours earlier so this was purely a Bloody Mary experience. However, next time we come back, we’ll definitely plan to check out the brunch menu! At the very least, we’d order the Royal Bloody again and get one of the amazing looking cinnamon rolls to share on the side!
Again, forgive our batch posts of bloodies here, but summer has been flying by and we’re behind on our reviews! We’ve been so busy having fun it’s been hard to find the time to sit down and bang these out, but finally, here we are.
Earlier this summer, we went to see Jack Johnson perform at Northerly Island in Chicago. It was a fun getaway and, before we hopped the train back to Wisconsin the next morning, we popped over to Honey Berry Cafe for brunch.
Spice & Mix: Perfect amount of spice, their own signature mix and Skyy Vodka
Fixin’s: Bacon, Cheese Cubes, Pickles, Olives, Spicy Rim
Chaser: None Offered
Price: $11
This breakfast was phenomenal. The meal portions were large and prices (especially for Chicago) were more than reasonable. We ordered the amazing “Back to Bed” Sandwich, which included two eggs over easy, ham, sausage, bacon, and cheddar cheese, drizzled with maple syrup and served on French Toast as the bun… then they said we could pick our sides… so choice of hash browns or Fruit and Toast… AND pancakes. You could upgrade to specialty pancakes for a small upcharge as well.
This turned out to be the perfect solution for someone like me who can’t make a decision and has food fomo when ordering… here was an option that included pretty much every breakfast food you could think of in some form… and we were NOT disappointed.
Seeing as we had just seen Jack Johnson, I had to order the Banana Pancakes as my side (IYKYK). They actually had three varieties of banana pancakes alone, so I went with the Chocolate Chip ones. Again delicious, like everything else.
In my research for the post, I was stunned to find out there is a Honey Berry in Wisconsin. I had no idea; I can’t wait to go back here next time I am craving a breakfast spot.
Yay! Another decent Bloody Mary spot in the Milwaukee area! We were out for a stroll one Saturday morning down North Avenue in Wauwatosa and decided to pop into Drunken Cobra to grab a bite and a beverage.
This is a bar and grill from the same owner of one of our favorite former Bloody Mary places, Red Dot (RIP!), so fingers crossed this one would be good too.
Spice & Mix: Perfect amount of spice, mix unknown. You can see per the photo, there is a lot of horseradish.
Price: $9 (per their website; we forgot to take note when we were there)
The verdict? This was a very good bloody, although not as good as Red Dot’s. Red Dot’s had infused vodka, which made all the difference in the world (so if you’re reading this Drunken Cobra, maybe just a suggestion?).
The food there is also good (again, Red Dot’s was better, but that’s just our opinion).
Earlier this summer, we were honored to be hosted for a round of golf at Blue Mound Golf and Country Club in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. It was a hot day spent on the links and the cold bloody on the patio afterwards was oh-so-refreshing.
Spice & Mix: Perfect amount of spice, mix unknown.
Fixin’s: Beef Stick, Lemon, Lime and Olive
Chaser: None offered.
Price: $Unknown
Blue Mound is a private club, so it will be hard to get another one of these, but if I have the chance again, I will jump at it! And, if you ever find yourself as lucky as I was to be on this course, be sure to stop at the 19th hole for one of these!
Out For Bloodies 