It’s a simple cocktail that starts with two main ingredients – tomato juice and vodka – and can practically function as a standalone meal, especially when it's garnished with bacon, horseradish, cocktail shrimp, deviled eggs, or various spices.
The trouble comes in figuring out where to find the best. After all, you can’t just let anyone whip up a bloody mary for your hangover cure. Here’s a look at the best variations the 305 offers:
1. Yardbird Southern Table & Bar
Skip the fancy martini glasses. True to Yardbird’s honest Southern culinary traditions, bloody marys come in cute Mason jars that complement the restaurant's signature creation: old-school Southern fried chicken and waffles. Instead of using vodka, Yardbird’s bloody mary contains bacon-infused bourbon and is garnished with ingredients such as pickled green beans, pickled okra, olives soaked in vermouth, and crisp bacon.
2. GreenStreet Cafe
After a night of partying, the Grove’s brunch blockbuster never fails at curing your hangover with its crave-worthy plates and hair of the dog. GreenStreet’s bloody ($11) — featuring fresh tomato juice, horseradish, pepper, and a myriad of seasonings, plus a rim encrusted in celery salt and cayenne pepper — is all you need to bring you back to life. For an extra kick, try the organic green mary martini ($11), made with organic spicy green bloody mary mix and Crop organic tomato vodka.
3. Edge Steak & Bar
Twenty bucks gets you unlimited bloody marys to pair with an impressive Sunday brunch spread, priced at $75 for adults and $35 for children aged 5 to 12, at Edge Steak & Bar. With a menu featuring tacos, cheese and charcuteries, raw bar selections, suckling pig dishes, grilled-to-order items, and decadent desserts, there’s nothing like Edge’s bloody mary to wash it all down. It boasts an extraspicy rim made from Edge’s own spice rub for a kick to start your Sunday funday at the Four Seasons.
4. Berries in the Grove
When perusing the drink menu at Berries, you'll be tempted by nonalcoholic beverages such as fresh smoothies, decadent shakes, and fresh-squeezed juices. But you’re here to imbibe. Order the bloody mary made with L’Chaim kosher vodka for a slightly spicy flavor profile, garnished with olives, celery, and lemon and lime wedges. For $5 each, there’s no harm in ordering five more.
5. Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink
Nestled in the Design District, chef Michael Schwartz’s James Beard Award-winning flagship prides itself on pure and simple dishes made from fresh local produce. The drink options also shine, with the kimchee bloody mary ($13) at the forefront. Made with Absolut Elyx, house-made kimchee, and bloody mary mix and finished off with rock shrimp, this glass shakes things up with each vibrant layer.
6. Zuma
Zuma is known for its weekend brunch – melding sushi, sashimi, soup, salad, robata, and dessert offerings for a menu unlike any other in town. The eatery inside the Epic Hotel has also mastered its liquid brunch in the umami mary, which contains house-made truffle dashi vodka, tomato juice, celery, wasabi, basil, yuzu, and rice wine vinegar, with a spiced cucumber to complete the cocktail. Umami marys are included with Saturday and Sunday brunch, starting at $95 per person.
7. Lulu in the Grove
Coconut Grove's Lulu, with a constantly packed house for breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner, must be doing something right. If you stop by during brunch, you can indulge in two creative renditions of the bloody mary: the Cool 'n' Spicy and the Wake 'n' Bacon, each priced at $12. The first is indeed spicy and made with Effen cucumber vodka for a refreshing tingle. But the latter is where it's at: Order the Wake 'n' Bacon with your eggs, and get a glass filled with bacon-infused vodka and Lulu’s house bloody mary mix.
Courtesy of 27 Restaurant & Bar
Choosing from 27 Restaurant & Bar’s selection of cocktail delights might be difficult, but you can always just ask for a standby that doesn’t disappoint: a bloody mary ($12). It’s no surprise that Gabe Orta and Elad Zvi — the masterminds behind the neighboring Broken Shaker, named on the list “The World’s 50 Best Bars” — decided to serve a bloody with a refreshing twist on the classic. The vibrant-green potable is created with green tomatoes, roasted serrano chilies, French sorrel, lemon, and Olmeca Altos tequila. The restaurant tends to switch up its bloody mary by using seasonal ingredients, so your next visit means another surprise.
9. Blackbrick
A Chinese restaurant serving phenomenal bloody marys? Blackbrick is proof. Spicy mustard, ByeJoe liquor, olive and onion juices, chili, and a rim crusted with MSG (seriously) — to say this is not your traditional bloody mary would be an understatement. Plus, it’s delivered with a shrimp wonton topper. If Blackbrick’s one-of-a-kind version of a bloody mary doesn’t draw you in for brunch, delectable choices of dim sum lobster dumplings, Peking duck, and breakfast fried rice certainly will.
10. Morgans
Instead of using the traditional vodka, this savory libation gets a satisfying update with Gekkeikan sake. The bloody saki ($10) at Morgans seamlessly blends fresh tomato purée and juice, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, lemon juice, celery salt, and seasoning. With olives, lime wedges, and celery stalks as garnishes, this drink is more like a meal.
