I’ve been working at my job forever, and to reward me for my unending loyalty (LOL) I get 4 weeks of vacation. It sounds like a fantastic thing, 4 whole weeks off! I love traveling but I find it hard to use all my time because 1. none of my friends have that much time off 2. it’s very hard to coordinate schedules to travel with my friends 3. it’s so expensive! So J and I try to take 2 weeks off together, I take my 3rd week at random usually in the spring, and that 4th week I have a hard time using. Add to that, I keep going on special assignment at work for 10-12 weeks at a time, which means I can’t really use my vacation at that time, I end up running out of year to use up my days. So I’ve started taking single days off, to extend my “weekend”, but again, all my friends are at work and I end up with nothing to do! So I went to dinner with my parents.

They wanted to go somewhere “new” that they hadn’t been to before, and my dad is a beer fan, so I suggested Big Ditch Brewing Company. (“Big Ditch” was the working name of the Erie Canal when it was being built in the early 1800s.) Their beer is pretty good, and their food was tasty the previous 2 times I’d been there.

Big Ditch!

My mom ordered the Dark Fall seasonal black German style beer, and my dad ordered a flight of 5, but I’ve tasted most of their beers before (except the Jalapeno Cream Ale that was a small batch special which was already sold out by the time we made it there on our last trip!) so I didn’t feel required to order beer. I never noticed that they offered a Bloody Mary made with their IPA before, so this time I had to get it.

The Hayburner Bloody

The Hayburner Bloody is served in a pint glass for $9 and is made with their Hayburner IPA. Garnished with an olive, pepperoncini, pickled carrot, celery, and pickled something else…cauliflower maybe? It was just the stem of something, and bit tough so my mom and I couldn’t really figure it out. Pepper and horseradish was clearly visible in the house made mix, and it had a definite horseradish flavor to it but it was not overly spicy. Given that it was made with an IPA I expected a beer taste and some citrus-y bitterness to the drink, but there really wasn’t any, you might not realize it was made with beer at all. It was nice and drinkable without being overwhelming.

We ordered the flight of dips which is really good, and I had the ridiculously huge bacon mac and cheese. It’s delicious, but it could serve 4 people, so be prepared to take home leftovers. Not that that’s a bad thing!

Heeeyy. It’s been a while. I know, I’m sorry. Honestly I really haven’t gotten out anywhere new lately. It’s summer, it’s hot, and sadly when it’s hot out, I am not usually feeling the Bloody Mary. You have to admit, it feels like more of a winter drink, especially when you have summer cocktail menus filled with nice refreshing citrus-y drinks. But I still love you dear Bloody Mary.

In fact, I love you so much you get a two-fer!

My long-not-lost friend Adrienne (21 years of friendship we just realized! Gah, old!) was in town from Las Vegas for the month with her new baby and husband, so J and I took the opportunity to take them out to the revitalized Canalside area for some food and trivia. We decided on dinner at (716) as we had eaten from their truck but not the restaurant yet. (716) is a sports themed restaurant inside HarborCenter, the Pegula built state of the art, world class hockey center directly in front of the Sabres arena. Of course they had a few Sabres themed drinks, which Adrienne had to get, and a big menu of other delicious sounding non Sabres themed offerings as well. At first glance I didn’t even notice they had a Bloody Mary, and I ordered the Berry Basil Lemonade, which was delicious. Then I noticed they had a drink called Up North – a Bloody Mary. But like I said, it’s summer, and I just wasn’t feeling it.

However, after dinner and trivia (we dominated the 2nd game with 5000 points!), we parted ways and J and I headed back to (716) with a different friend and I felt obligated.

Up North, eh?

The drink was available as a Caesar as well, but bleeeech, no thanks.

This is what I think of every time I hear “clamato”

Garnished with a pickled carrot, blue cheese stuffed celery and a Weber’s pepperoncini, and spiced up with Frank’s Hot Sauce it had a good tomato taste even if it was a bit watery. It had a good spice level and somehow managed to avoid having too much Frank’s taste. It was nothing special though, and with so many other drinks on the menu that sounded good, I’d go with something else next time.

The next day, after a quick trip to Sticky Lips in Rochester to see The Healing Committee, we headed back to Buffalo for some margaritas at Cantina Loco. Cantina Loco opened a few years ago in Allentown and is delicious! They have the best margaritas in Buffalo, and as we found out, a huge menu of other drinks as well, including the Atomic Mary.

God, that’s a terrible photo.

Available with vodka or tequila (I go for vodka, always) for $8 in a pint glass, their house made mix was garnished with an olive and banana pepper ring, with a chili powder rim. It was fairly thin but had a ton of visible spice to it, and boy, was it spicy. It had a strange flavor that I can only call “burned celery” which I didn’t like, and there was virtually no tomato taste, as it was overwhelmed with the spice and celery taste. My initial reaction was that I didn’t like it. That I really didn’t like it. So much so that I didn’t think I’d be able to drink it. But it got better as I went on and I feel like maybe I am being unfair. Maybe because I had just had a margarita, and all I really wanted was another margarita, it was too much of a flavor shock. I really want to love Bloody Marys with a house made mix because they took the time and effort to make it, and not just use a bottle from the store. But I definitely would stick with one of the many margaritas they offer in the future.

Panos has been a staple of the Elmwood Strip for over 30 years, initially as your typical Greek diner, with breakfast all day, and souvlaki and other Greek specialties. Several years ago they embarked on an impressive remodel, adding a 2nd story dining room, and classing up the decor into a pretty nice place. They still have breakfast all day, and Greek specialties, but now with a full bar and all different kinds of meals.

Having said that, I honestly did not have high expectations for their Bloody Mary. I just figured it would be really easy for them to phone it in and dump some tomato juice in a glass, since they’re a restaurant, and not a fancy cocktail lounge or anything like that. But I was totally wrong.

Served in a tulip glass and garnished with 3 olives, a lemon and lime, and a celery stick, it was surprisingly spicy. With clear pepper in it, it had a nice tomato taste and had a good liquidity. I didn’t notice any horseradish flavor, and it didn’t taste overwhelmingly like Frank’s Hot Sauce, so I can’t say where the spice was coming from. I was very impressed and would definitely order it again.

Visited Trattoria Aroma for the first time a few weeks ago for a late dinner. I’ve heard a lot about it, as it gets mentioned in “Best of” lists for having a good brunch in Buffalo and thus a good Bloody Mary. I wasn’t intending to have one, and didn’t have one with dinner but waited until after at the bar (with a bogo coupon!) It was mid week, since my work schedule is what it is, so I wasn’t sure they’d actually have a mix ready, but the bartender was happy to make one.

It was your standard bloody in a pint glass with 2 olives, lemon and lime garnish. I tried to watch her make it, but she was at the far end of the bar. I caught her using boxed tomato juice, and Frank’s hot sauce, along with pepper but then she added stuff I couldn’t see. It had a good spice level and liquidity, but it was disappointingly average for a place that is consistently voted as having the best brunch in Buffalo.

But I will give them a pass, because not long after, I read yet another review of Trattoria Aroma’s brunch where they mention their outstanding Bloody Mary – in fact a whole Bloody Mary menu! So it appears that their mid week Bloody is fairly standard, made with the ingredients on hand, but their brunch Bloody is great.

Alas due to working nights I may never find out. Now may be my only chance as I have weekends off for the next 3 months. I just need to find a buddy to wake up and go with me!