Readjusting those clocks last weekend was a real drag on our system. That lost hour of sleep has been haunting us all week. But it’s time to buck up! Weekends are no time for sleeping in — especially during brunch season, with Easter and Mother’s Day right around the corner. Need more incentive? Try one of these kicky twists on the blah bloody mary to rouse you from your slumber.
Yakuza Bloody Mary ($12)
Between Boutique Cafe & Lounge
1324 N. Milwaukee Ave. 773-292-0585
Inspired by one of Between’s more popular plates, yakuza beef (lightly seared tenderloin sliced paper thin), this tomato juice cocktail gets a healthy splash of ponzu sauce, chili oil and plum wine. For a coup de grace, you’ll get a skewered ribbon of the beef and a red-pepper-stuffed olive. It takes a 20-ounce tumbler to handle all that savory stuff, but two-and-a-half shots of Absolut help it go down easy.
Fruity alternative: Guavarita ($9). Patron tequila might not seem like the obvious choice first thing in the morning, but this Mexican friend with guava nectar, fresh basil and lime has a kick while the coarse, black salt on the rim adds a touch of refinement.
The Paramount Bloody
Mary ($6)
Paramount Room
415 N. Milwaukee Ave.
312-829-6300
This bi-level space specializes in bold strokes, and so this cocktail’s building blocks include wholegrain mustard, a blue cheese-stuffed olive, horseradish, pepperocini juice, and Sriracha (better known as that red squeeze bottle of hellfire found in Thai cafes). If you can man up, this $6 pint pour is a great deal — and a great wake-up call.
Fruity alternative: Green Ginger ($10). Play it cool with this cocktail made with Stoli and fresh ginger, grated cucumber and muddled mint, served in a tall Collins glass.
The Colossal Bloody Mary ($15.50)
Brasserie Ruhlmann
500 W. Superior St. 312-494-1900
Start with a 14-ounce pilsner glass and fill it with everything that could make a bloody knock your socks off: olive juice, Worcestershire, horseradish and lime juice. Now poise a high-diving jumbo shrimp on the rim of the glass, and you’ll understand why sometimes it’s OK to pay this much for a brunch cocktail.
Fruity alternative: The most delicate of breakfast cocktails, the bellini, gets remade in French fashion with Cremant d’Alsace, a French sparkler, rather than the typical prosecco.
Classic bloody mary ($5) with a beer back
Juicy Wine Company
694 N. Milwaukee Ave.
312-492-6620
Every item at Juicy’s new weekend brunch is $5 — including the beverages. Made with Skyy vodka and backed by a Miller High Life (a whole 12-ounce bottle, mind you), this is one bloody good deal. This classic version is the handiwork of guest chefs, all students at Chicago Hospitality Institute of Chicago, who doctor pre-packaged mix with their own twists. Instead of a skewer, it’s served with a mini-antipasti platter piled with olives, cucumber and tomato slices, and mole salami from the house of Armandino Batali (Mario Batali’s pop).
Fruity alternative: Rodney’s Sea Breeze ($5). Owner Rodney Alex gives the classic cranberry and vodka combo a lift with a squeeze of a fresh grapefruit juice.
Organic Bloody
Mary ($9)
Crust
2056 W. Division St.
773-235-5511
Leave it to the Midwest’s first organic-certified restaurant to find a local farm that sells an organic-certified bloody mary mix. The Rain vodka they mix it with also is organic. For a dollar more, you can add Crust’s house-made Horseradish-infused Rain vodka (yep, it’s organic, too) to the mix and purify your sinuses as you purify the topsoil.
Fruity alternative: Beerini ($8). Instead of Italian sparkling wine, this concoction mixes Unibroue Ephemere (a white ale with apple tones) with organic peach nectar.
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metromix@tribune.com
