Mother's Resaurant, New Orleans, LA

It was the last night at a conference in New Orleans and I made my way around the corner to a local cafeteria a guy had told me about.  Mother's Restaurant in New Orleans was to be a great spot for soul crushing meal and a couple of last minute drinks before sauntering down Bourbon street to see the sights.  The Restaurant is a cafeteria style joint that's been open for damn near 100 years.  There was a fairly long line which only meant that I was in the right place. The Bloody Mary was featured on the menu but disconcertingly came served from a bubbler (pictured at bottom)  that is usually reserved for your standard weird juice stuff at your local Mexican restaurant. I ordered the largest platter I could find, a bloody, and made my way to an open table.  

Appearance: 4/10  A couple of points for the plastic cup, which seems counter-intuitive, but in this case it matches the no nonsense approach of the cafeteria style restaurant.  One additional point for the celery but really nothing else to command many points here.  The drink just didn't look that great. The deep red color was 

Garnishes: 2/10 One limp shaft of celery and an olive floating freely somewhere is worth a couple points but nothing more.  No salt on the rim. 

Spice/Bang: 6/10 Good spice and quite a few floaties made for a nice drank.  I did add some Louisiana hot sauce, because, why not.  

Desire:  8/10 A decent bloody in a classic joint. While there's no crazy garnishes or views,  the food that accompanies the bloody is also important.   If the Bloody was served in a vaccum, which would be a crazy mess, i wouldn't get it again.  Here, the classic Louisiana cajun fare was as good as any i've had and I'd go back in a heartbeat for this reason alone. 

Price: 5/10  Price was $7 which wasn't too bad but maybe just a little expensive for the plastic glass and cafeteria style delivery.   Additionally, since it was premixed, i can only assume the vodka was from a large plastic bottle.  I could tell you if it was good or bad vodka, if I could have actually noticed there was sauce in it.  But the plate of food drown out a lot of my vodka tasting abilities.  

Overall: 25/50  This place has the potential to have a killer drink if they'd just put a tiny bit of work into it.  Put it in a glass, salt the rim, and add a shrimp on a spear or something and this would score points with the heat of a 1000 suns. Instead, it's a pretty okay drink served with America's best food.  Consequently, it scores better than below average.  Enjoy the picture of the food, it's the Seafood Platter Extra Extra.  Turnip greens changed my life.


-Jeff
 Guest Writer for the Bloodiest of Marys

Franky and Olys, Fremont

This marks week 2 of our tradition Sunday bloody exploration day. Franky and Olys is an interesting bar in Fremont, good pizza and that's about it. A chance for sneaky good bloody maybe? We had to look past the dirty appearance of the bar and the musty smell. I asked the bartender if I could get a Bloody mary and he said that he could try to make one. Great.......

Appearance: 2/10 Small glass, poorly mixed and no mixing straw for me to mix it with. Zero floaties.

Garnishes: 3/10 Olives are a nice touch as always and the asparagus was something different although it was so pale and limp it almost made me a bit queasy.

Spice/Bang: 1/10 Tasted like vodka with a hint of tomato juice. No spice, no nothing.

Desire: 1/10 Never again

Price: 1/10 $4.50 for this midget drink? Disappointing.

Overall: 8/50  Don't do it. Order a pizza if you feel like going to Franky and Olys and get some keg Busch Light.

Dempsey's Burger Pub, Lincoln

I had been thinking about this bloody mary for a while, ever since someone showed me a picture. I have to admit, I messed up this bar experience with my poor ordering skills but that's ok, I just doubled my bloody mary experience and got a little bit more primed for the Nebrasketball game. Turns out I was going to need it, slow first half... I first ordered a bloody mary, thinking that it would be the bloody every one had talked about. Nope, just your standard bloody with a few garnishes and a decent flavor. Fighting back tears I asked the waitress what happened to the bloody with all of the garnishes? Had I been misinformed? Was it all a lie? She told me.. she told me that it was called the blooming bloody and asked if I wanted one. YES PLEASE!

Appearance: 9/10 It's hard looking past the garnishes and only at the sauce but I think that's ok. If they choose to distract you like that then go with it. The red was a deep red with great floaties. Good stuff.

Garnishes: 10/10 IN YOUR LIFE have you seen anything this magnificent?? This is the holy grail of bloodies. Vegetables, spice, beef, chicken, cheese, bacon... I'm still speechless

Spice/Bang: 8/10 The actual drink was really a bit average but after mixing with some of the pickled goodness, plunging the korean bbq wing in it and chasing the slider I had just pushed past my teeth the beverage came alive!

Desire: 9/10 Honestly, It's just a good time. How can anything be wrong ever with this blooming beauty sitting in front of you. I can't wait to bring all of my friends down.

Price: 8/10 $11 is obviously steep but look what you get? Not just a bloody, not just an appetizer but a life experience!

Overall: 44/50 A great great great experience. Check it out! The burger we had with it, yes I'm legally obese, was fantastic. Do yourself a favor and get to Dempsey's asap. Cheers!

The Wooden Windmill, Fremont

Slowly becoming a Sunday tradition, meaning we have done it two weeks in a row, is sampling a new bloody mary after church. Just the way Jesus wanted it I think as I'm pretty sure Mary and Joseph took young boy Jesus out for Sunday dinner and Joseph probably downed one or two Bethlehem bloodys. Last Sunday was a trip to the Wooden Windmill. Nice place with the biggest menu I've ever seen, but the food comes out pretty well so life is good. The husker bloody or what ever they called it was listed as a specialty drink on the menu so it has to be good.. Right? 

Appearance: 5/10 A trendy glass really adds. The handle comes in nice and handy when the beverage is super cold. A lot of celery salt on top made an interesting sight, thought it was fly dung for a second... A decent looking red for once! Very few floaties.

Garnishes: 2/10 If you read this blog at all you should know how I feel about lemons or limes as a garnish. They take up space and this is how diseases are spread. Lord only knows that the peel has touched and most people squeeze them and drown them... no thanks. 

Spice/Bang: 3/10 Not a lot of flavor here but there was a bit of a smoky presence and richer tomato taste in some drinks. Absolutely no spice. 

Desire: 3/10 Not going to go back for just the bloody mary but the food is pretty tasty and might I then order another one..? Maybe..

Price: 2/10 $6.50 for this thing? Yowza

Overall: 15/50 Another Fremont bloody mary that isn't up to par. Maybe somewhere in this town is a hidden gem. 

Brewsky's, South Lincoln

During a snowy Nebrasketball game sometimes what one needs most is a drink. Especially when Nebrasketball is really struggling. The least I could do was make it a red one, you know for school colors. The only red drink I could think of is the bloody mary. Why not sample another one! It was just my luck that bloody's happened to be on special. Alright! The barmaid had no idea what their bloody's were made with which is kind of concerning but you what, I'm in for whatever. 

Appearance: 3/10 Kind of a weak looking red, especially when I was going for some husker spirit. Not sure what was going on at the top of the glass either, disappointing fade.

Garnishes: 3/10 I'm giving this beastmode stalk of celery 3 points and the douchey lime is just a waste of space. Plus, have you have drowned your lime in the drink? Think about what the peel of the lime has probably touch. Enjoy your ebola. 

Spice/Bang: 3/10 I have to be honest. I had two bloody mary's because I got a special deal. The first one was really pretty poor and the second one I asked them to make it spicy. That led to maybe a couple shakes of tabasco and the barmaid even asked if I wanted the bottle of tabasco. Nothing makes this drink special! I want a bar to own their bloody and be proud of it! Also, if a bar uses Finest Call brand mixers.... change your ways or superman dive out the front window. 

Desire: 2/10 The only thing I desired during this experience was for Petteway to quit chucking up three pointers. I had to really talk myself in to ordering another one, I had a coupon for a $2 cocktail so I pulled the trigger. 

Price: 6/10 $3.50 Saturday special? Thats a great deal. If we could get a decent mix in the drink it would be worth it. Potential here folks, good potential. 

Overall: 17/50 Low numbers but the price is right and the food was really pretty good. One sit down conversation with the barstaff on choice of garnishes and mixers and we could flip this thing! I'm not even picky enough to make people do everything homemade, just pick a mix with flavor!!!! Cheers.