Eat/Drink stories |

Bodacious Bloodies: Hot Brunch Cocktails With Something More

May 22, 2013

As every history student knows, “Bloody Mary” was the nickname (although that word seems wrong, somehow), given to the Tudor Queen, Mary I, who had 300 Protestants burned at the stake in a fantastically failed effort to restore Catholicism to England. But it’s a good bet none of that comes to mind on a bleary-eyed Sunday morning when you order the iconic brunch cocktail of the same name. In fact, the English monarchy was not even what a bartender at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris was thinking about, when in 1921 he mixed equal parts of tomato juice and vodka to (allegedly) invent the Bloody Mary, perhaps to ease a bleary-eyed Sunday morning for regulars Ernest Hemingway and Humphrey Bogart. The story goes that a less-famous Harry’s patron said that the drink reminded him of a girl named Mary at the Bucket of Blood Club in Chicago. OK, whatever.

So now we know (sort of) where the drink came from. As to where it’s gone in 90-plus years, you only have to peruse local cocktail menus for modern Bloodies made with proprietary tomato juice-based concoctions and garnished with everything from barbecued ribs to tofu cubes. For your holiday weekend drinking pleasure, we rounded up a few noteworthy examples.

HANGOVER DESTROYER

Brian Boru

57 Center St. | Portland | www.brianboru.com

Feed that beast of a hangover with a spicy Bloody sporting a skewered cheeseburger slider. Slider available Sundays only. $5

THE ROYAL MARY

Royal River Grillhouse

106 Lafayette St. | Yarmouth | www.royalrivergrillhouse.com

Everything about this Bloody is supersized. A repurposed Grey Goose bottle holds 22 ounces of liquid fun, nicely spicy and garnished with a whole celery stalk, jumbo shrimp and fat green olives. $15.5

LTH BLOODY

Little Tap House

106 High St. | Portland | 879-2625 | www. facebook.com/littletaphouse

The most straightforward of the bunch, this one is served in a Mason jar and garnished with a house-pickle and a fresh hot pepper.

EAST ENDER BLOODY MARY

East Ender

47 Middle St. | Portland | www.eastenderportland.com

What’s the perfect accompaniment to East Ender’s fried bologna sandwich, chicken and waffles or pop-tart-of-the-day? A Bloody Mary made with smoked tomatoes and garnished with pepperoni slices, of course. $7

BLOODY BUCK

Buck’s Naked BBQ

50 Wharf St. | Portland |www.bucksnaked-bbq.com

One of Buck’s signature Fooze cocktails (food + booze, get it?), this zesty Bloody has a big ‘ol baby-back rib balanced on top.

BUILD-YOUR-OWN BLOODY MARY

Silly’s With A Twist

40 Washington Ave. | Portland | www.sillys.com.com

In keeping with its something-for-everyone philosophy, Silly’s With A Twist offers both a “regular” and a vegan Bloody Mary (no Worcestershire sauce, which contains anchovies). Even better, you can “build your own,” with umpteen add-ons and garnishes. Left: Going whole hog topped with bacon (bar manager Shelley Kelley’s personal fave) and a speared pepperjack cheese cube, pepperoni and olive, Old Bay seasoning rim. Right: a vegan Bloody with pickles, Buffalo fried tofu and scallions. Build-your-own option on Saturdays and Sundays. $7 ($2 extra with bacon).

BUBBLY MARY

Eventide Oyster Co.

86 Middle St. | Portland | www. eventideoysterco.com

House-made Bloody mix and cava (Spanish sparkling wine). That’s it; and as the menu says, “Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.”

From here to beer: On tour with The Maine Brew Bus

May 15, 2013

Board The Maine Brew Bus, also known as Lenny, for guided tours (and sampling!) of local breweries, distilleries, and fermentories. It's rumored that Lenny used to ferry kids to and from schools in Kennebunkport. In a way he's still in the educational transportation business - except now he conveys scholars of beer, mead, hard cider, and rum.

Patio season: 50 outdoor decks to drink in the sun

May 07, 2013

Feel that? It's called the sun. It's nice, isn't it? Take advantage of the rays and warm weather and have your drink outside on one of the sweet decks at these Maine bars and restaurants, because cocktails always taste better outside:

Farms, tables, and strawberry fields: Graze dinners at Pineland

April 25, 2013

Strawberry lovers are going to love the first farm-to-table dinner from Graze at Pineland Farms. The series kicks off June 19 with "Strawberry Fields Forever," a strawberry-centric four-course dinner served either al fresco or under a tent across from Pineland Farms' English Gardens.

Drink your syrup: Maple syrup cocktails

March 22, 2013

I've always known maple syrup was for drinking (quickly and right out of the bottle, the way one might take a take a swig from a coworker's soda when she steps away from her desk to grab something off the printer). It wasn't until later that I learned to add alcohol to it and pour the mapley blend into a glass. That's maple syrup consumption for grown ups.

Drink. Dessert. Repeat. The Signature Event

March 06, 2013

Considering all that desserts and cocktails have done for us, it's about time we gave them a celebration to call their own (besides, desserts are frankly tired of playing second fiddle to those first come, always first-served appetizers). The Signature Event rounds up some of Maine's best cocktails and desserts and celebrates those master cocktail shakers and dessert makers who bake, blend, and create the fare we love the most.

Say it, Eat there: Portland Restaurant Pronunciation Guide

February 27, 2013

We love the restaurants on this list for many reasons (the good food, the willingness of staff to humor us and go on camera pronouncing the restaurant's name), but we also know we've mispronounced them in the past. (I confess to saying "peck a ree no" more than once.) Here's the right way to say some of Portland's dining spots, pronounced by the people who know them best:

Say it, Eat it: Portland menu pronunciation guide

February 26, 2013

Our small city's super-exploding food scene has some phonetic implications: We're not quite sure how to pronounce this stuff. But we want to try new restaurants. We want to eat unique cuisine and step out of our culinary comfort zones (Maine Restaurant Week is the perfect opportunity to do so). But we'd also prefer to not sound like complete idiots when doing so.

Getting smarter by the glass: Wine Wise events

February 25, 2013

You can drink a lot of wine and still not get any smarter about it. Trust me, I've tried. But simply swigging down a glass (or - ahem - more than a glass) isn't going to osmotically turn you into a wine expert in the same way eating lots of pork magically won't turn you into a master chef (which I sort of think it should). What you need is a wine education.

New wine bar: 11 photos of The North Point, Portland

February 24, 2013

Brothers Dan and Noah Talmatch opened The North Point on Silver Street last week, and it already has the warm, welcome feel of a place you've been a hundred times.