Back in February, we headed to Arizona for the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
During our week in the Grand Canyon State, we tried several new bloodies, including this one, from Red, White & Brew in Mesa, Arizona.
We were staying with friends and we stopped for lunch after they picked us up from the airport. Famished and tired after our long flight, we couldn’t wait to start our vacation with a cocktail.
Unfortunately, Red, White and Brew did not feature any sort of special bloody on its drink menu, but I ordered one anyway.
Thus, I was not surprised that the bloody I received was quite plain. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t great. There was just nothing special about it. There were no fixin’s aside from lemon and lime and a chaser was not offered. Because the drink was not listed on the menu and I didn’t think to check the tab, I also don’t know how much they charge you for one of these. Hopefully it wasn’t a lot.
This is a cool place and the food was really good–I just wouldn’t recommend it as the best place to head if you’re craving a really special bloody mary.
Over the weekend, we took a little day trip to Sheboygan, Wisconsin where we brunched at BoMallies.
This cute little artsy place started as a popular food truck and catering business before opening its equally popular brick and mortar location. The restaurant is typically only open for dinner Wednesday-Saturday year round; with the addition of Sunday brunch in fall through spring.
The menu has a wide array of brunch offerings ranging from bacon cheeseburgers to breakfast steak tacos and from eggs your way to truffle Parmesan fries.
We started with an order of those fries and they were delicious. We followed it up with the breakfast steak tacos, which equally hit the spot.
And now the most important part… their Bloody Mary!
Spice & Mix: The house mix here was not spicy, but rather very savory; we got an Italian vibe from the flavor–perhaps basil or oregano? We enjoyed it!
Fixin’s: Bacon, Cheese, Olive, Lemon and Lime (the menu said Beef Stick, but we were told they were out)
Chaser: Add a pony of Miller High Life for $1
Price: $7
I really enjoyed the unique flavor of this Bloody and appreciated the addition of the fixin’s, even if they were out of their staples. For $7 ($8 if you add the chaser), I thought this was priced just right and was the perfect complement to any of the items on the brunch menu.
Four years ago, I reviewed the Bloody Mary at Don’s Diner in downtown Milwaukee.
Flash forward to 2023. The restaurant is now called “Don’s TV Repair” and it has reinvented itself as a speakeasy.
I came here for dinner and drinks around the holidays and it was a cool vibe. You walk in through a little 80s/90s-themed convenience store, give them the password and you’re taken through to the restaurant. The restaurant is also very retro with old posters and memorabilia, scattered about and old movies/video games on the TVs. The menu is very diner with all-day breakfast, burgers and classics, fun cocktails and amazing over-the-top milkshakes (made boozy if you want ’em!).
That was a great experience. Thus, when I had a friend visit from out of town and wanted to take her someplace cool, I immediately thought of Don’s. Because of her work schedule, we had to meet up during the day… but no worries, Don’s does brunch on the weekends!
The vibe was not as cool during the day. The speakeasy atmosphere was kind of lost; there were many more families and children and it was loud. Service was also less attentive. The menu was the same.
Since it was early, this time I tried their signature Fruity Pebbles Pancakes (with 7-Up Batter) and they were decent.
Given the great milkshakes and the “crock-pot old fashioned” I had enjoyed in December, I was super-excited to try the Back to Life Bloody.
To be honest, though, it was a little disappointing. It was served in a tall, narrow Frankenstein/tiki-looking vessel that was hard to drink out of. The fixin’s were minimal (especially when you see how over-the-top their milkshakes are!). I guess the best part of it is that you get a full can of Hamm’s beer as your chaser (if you like that sort of thing).
Spice & Mix: Menu says “Vodka, Garden Variety Bloody Mary Mix”… this was nothing special.
Fixin’s: A piece of string cheese and a beef stick, each cut in half. One small piece of celery smeared with what I think was pimiento cheese?
Chaser: Full can of Hamm’s
Price: $13
The verdict? The Bloody from the original Don’s Diner was 10x better (and $4 less expensive). They should revert back to that-that would be retro, wouldn’t it? The food is the same as their normal menu and it was good, but after the kids next to us broke a glass that shattered all over the floor, including under our table, and it was difficult to get waitstaff to come back and take our order or get a straw, I don’t think I would come back here for brunch. However, I will definitely give it another go for cocktails and/or dinner.
If it’s been awhile since you’ve been to downtown Milwaukee, I highly suggest you check out what has become of the old Grand Avenue Mall. It’s amazing to see the revitalization in the space and that’s all thanks to 3rd Street Market Hall, a mixed-use space containing restaurant stalls, bars, games and then housing/apartments around the area.
In the center of it all is the 3rd Street Market Bar, where we saddled up and ordered this amazing concoction:
The “Play All Day” Bloody Mary is delicious and a must-try when you’re visiting this space, which is a great place for a Sunday Fun Day. I highly recommend you check out 3rd Street Market Hall!
Spice & Mix: Unknown, but the use Smirnoff Vodka, Worcestershire, Lemon, Lime and Bacon Salt per the menu.
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.
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