Mission Mission

Heh.

[Photo by Robby Virus]

Getting me ready to enter the bathroom at Casanova Lounge.

Jack’s bar has these adorable $5 mini-pitchers of Busch. It’s great. You can sip right from it, top off your friends’ cups when they are running low, and the easy-grip handle makes it easier to hang on to your drink. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a thing. Get in on the ground floor, folks.

More mini-pitcher action after the jump…

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It’s what you do when you have a bunch of ground beef to fashion into burgers, yet are only stocked with hot dog buns.  True American ingenuity.

Free at the 6th Annual Pop’s Tricycle Races yesterday, which I have a feeling you’ll be hearing more about soon . . .

The Bold Italic compares the city’s Bloody Marys, complete with cross-sectional illustrations. Almost half of them can be found in the Mission, including several past contenders of the Mission Mission Bloody Marython. It makes perfect sense that the city’s most vibrant neighborhood would be responsible for the best in the world’s most complex cocktail.

We wrapped up our liquid brunch adventure at the Phone Booth in the capable hands of bloody maestro Chris Southgate, who calmly took in our order for 40 bloody marys with a smile and went to work.  Utilizing a recipe that included Guinness and horseradish in addition to the normal ingredients we’ve come to expect, Chris served us a simple drink without all the bells and whistles of some of the other bloodys but with a particular zest and freshness that hit the spot perfectly (while also administering an impressive yet cleverly disguised alcohol content).

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Our second stop of the day was Pop’s, and after the long walk in semi-summer weather, a bloody mary is exactly what the bartender ordered. Tommy, the resident bloody expert, was ready for our crew and had the bacon sizzling by the time we walked in.

Cranking out 12 at a time (!!!), they were able to appease the growing crowd with their mixture of the standard bloody ingredients, also throwing in a splash of Guinness, green beans, asparagus, olives, a pickle, and my personal favorite, a wedge of pepperjack cheese. Overall, between the extremely patient bartenders and the expertly made Bloody’s, I’d say Pop’s is definitely a worthy destination for a Sunday drinking adventure.

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Our first stop on the Sunday edition of the Bloody Marython, Thieves Tavern welcomed us with open arms, waffles, and enough bloody marys to sink a ship. Our bartender, J Beaman, hooked it up with the house specialty: a bloody complete with okra, celery, pickled carrots, green beans and a cucumber. As if that wasn’t enough, you had the option of making your bloody vegan if you asked nicely. In addition to the smooth Mary’s, complimentary waffles were being made right at the bar, just in case you were doubting your morning decision of purely drinking your lunch.

To make it interesting, towards the end of our stint at Thieves, barkeep J threw down the gauntlet and offered $1 shots of Jameson for five minutes only — that guy definitely knows how to get a crawl started on the right foot.

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Thanks again to everyone who came out to Sunday’s Bloody Marython! We had a much larger group than last time and walked a lot farther (obstructed by Carnival no less) thanks to my ambitious planning, but that still wasn’t enough to hamper our quest for indulgence!  We made it to three spots from the original list before things became a bit too unwieldy, but we’re happy to report that they each brought their Sunday best and provided exceptional, unique Bloody Mary refreshment in their own ways.

In the end, things were too close to call in choosing a clear winner, as each bartender brought their own distinctive touch to the task at hand, whether it was bacon, cheese, or a veritable salad in your glass.  Nonetheless, we’ve highlighted all the best parts of each program in the links to each bar below, so without further ado, allow us to present the Sunday Bloody Sunday Bloody Marython wrap-up:

Thieves Tavern

Pop’s

The Phone Booth

[Photo by Ariel]

The placement of this logo is so inspiring. What do you see?

In the bathroom at Dalva/The Hideout.