When Dana Walters of Red’s Bar & Tapas, 211 Helena Ave., traveled back to her home state of Wisconsin she saw one of the craziest, gnarliest, most wonderfullest Bloody Mary’s possibly ever in the history of mankind. Boasting a serious amount of garnishes, it was half meal, half hangover cure. And it came in a glass boot. With a beer chaser. The memory was so epic that once she returned to Santa Barbara, she decided to set about creating her own version.
Now, as Super Bowl Sunday approaches, Walters has put the finishing touches on her Bloody Mary to end all … unless you travel to Wisconsin.
Here’s the big deal: the garnish includes one of Red’s Tri-tip sliders that taste a bit like the ones at Cold Springs Tavern, but miniaturized. Adding a hamburger-shaped meal to the top of the drink is so inevitably American that one expects miniature bald eagles to fly out of the glass. This and the Super Bowl — surely this is what our Founding Fathers intended. It’s probably in the Constitution somewhere, but we haven’t checked.
Add to this some local flavor by also garnishing with three of Pacific Pickle Works’ hot products: the “Carriots of Fire” pickled carrots with jalapeño, the “Asparagusto,” and the “Jalabeño ” (string beans). The regular ingredients are all there too, of course.
Now, we don’t expect you to make the tri-tip sliders the way Red’s does. Use your own awesome recipe. Because no matter who you’re rooting for, Baltimore or San Francisco, a slider garnish makes us all winners.
RED’S BLOODY MARY
2 ounces Crystal Palace Vodka
1 can Campbell’s Tomato Juice
Dash Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 ounce lime juice
Dash horseradish
Dash Tabasco sauce
Dash pepper
Dash salt
Garnishes:
1 tri-tip slider (or any slider of your choice)
1 Pacific Pickle Works’ carrot
1 Pacific Pickle Works’ asparagus
2 Pacific Pickle Works’ string beans
1 spanish olive
1 peperoncini pepper
1 stick of celery
Combine all liquids in pint glass with ice. Garnish. (Use a long bamboo skewer for the slider to keep it away from liquid.)
Yield: 1 drink
Reds Bar & Tapas
211 Helena Ave. 966-59