Start the New Year with Bracing Bloody Marys
New Year’s Day and not-feeling-so-great-the-next-day go together like peanut butter and jelly, and if there’s one popular remedy, it’s the Bloody Mary. Incidentally, January 1 also happens to be National Bloody Mary Day. Considering the mass of Bloody Marys on menus around the city, Chicago is a great place to be on New Year’s.
For a truly Chicago-centric interpretation of the Bloody Mary, there’s no better place than BIG Bar at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. The Deep Dish Bloody Mary is practically a slice of deep-dish pizza you can drink, adorned with a pizzeria’s worth of salacious garnishes. The drink itself is made with vodka, Italian sausage, pepperoni, mozzarella, garlic powder, Worcestershire, sriracha, hot sauce, pizza sauce, tomato juice, and V8 vegetable juice. It’s garnished with fresh mozzarella, pepperoni, basil, Parmesan cheese, and an Italian herb and spice rim.
When one Bloody Mary doesn’t cut it, there’s a 33-foot-long Bloody Mary bar as part of Filini’s 1st Annual Recovery Brunch in the Bar. Guests are invited to dine in their pajamas, feasting on a medley of American and Italian brunch favorites, while pouring over the lengthy Bloody Mary offerings. The potent potable is available with three types of mix: mild, spicy, or basil-infused. More than 50 types of accompaniments include olives, celery, cocktail onions, hot sauce, spices, lime, and cucumber. There will also be four types of skewers. The M-eater features four types of Italian meats, the Be Pickly has assorted pickled vegetables, the Top Notch sports fried shrimp, calamari, salmon, sautéed mussel, and clam, and the Caprese is a caprese salad on a skewer.
Rockit Ranch is the quintessential destination for Bloody Marys that are both exotic and hefty. Sunda features a Sumo Mary, a 32-oz. behemoth made with Absolut Chicago and extravagant garnishes such as a grilled cheese sandwich, bacon, and a baked snow crab hand roll. Nearby, Rockit Bar & Grill features an elaborate build-your-own Bloody Mary bar, with potential for more than 1 million garnish combinations. Then there’s Rockit Burger Bar, a greener take on the Bloody Mary made with roasted tomatillos, roasted green tomato, jalapeño, fresh lime juice, cilantro, avocado, and vodka.
Another decadent Bloody Mary can be sipped/eaten at Public House, a cocktail with a whole meal attached to it. Bedecking the drink is a garnish studded with Jack cheese, smoked chicken wing, pickled asparagus, anise-rubbed bacon, mozzarella, and bourbon-glazed grilled shrimp.
BIG Bar
151 E. Upper Wacker Drive, Chicago
(312) 565-1234
Website
Filini
221 N. Columbus Drive, Chicago
(312) 477-0234
Website
Sunda
110 W. Illinois Street, Chicago
(312) 644-0500
Website
Rockit Bar & Grill
22 W. Hubbard Street, Chicago
(312) 645-6000
Website
Rockit Burger Bar
3700 N. Clark Street, Chicago
(773) 645-4400
Website
Public House
400 N. State Street, Chicago
(312) 265-1240
Website
