The Bluestem Bar
A Dill Bloody Without a Pickle?!
Lyndale Ave., Minneapolis - MN
Journey Date: 4.4.15
Bloody Name: Dill Bloody Mary
Price: $8
Skewer: Three olives and a banana pepper
Mix: House made dill Bloody mix and dill vodka
Overall Presentation: Very weak, the olives were shriveled and there wasn’t even a dill pickle
Chaser: Coors Light
The Review:
Early on this Saturday morning needed a quick brunch that was close. So my Journey brought me to the Bluestem Bar on Lyndale Ave, the full service restaurant behind French Meadow. I’d been there before and enjoyed one of their massive breakfast burritos. I was ready to take on another and enjoy one of my favorite morning cocktails. On their menu I saw a Dill Bloody Mary, and me being the big fan of dill pickles I had to give it a try. The server explained to me that the vodka was dill infused and was really a nice change compared to a typical Bloody Mary. Seeing as last week I had a non-typical Bloody why not continue the trend. So I ordered one up, excited with what would be delivered.
When the server brought me the Bloody and immediately I was a little taken back. It had a week skewer of three olives and a banana pepper. “Where is the dill pickle?” I asked. Apparently they didn’t have any? Geez what kind of place did I bring myself to?! A dill Bloody Mary without a dill pickle was just purely ridiculous to me. Even though things started off on the wrong foot but I was willing to push on with in eager anticipation. After my first sip however things weren’t looking good. The Bloody was very watered down and there was almost no flavor aside from some dill. However, it didn’t even taste that fresh. The dill flavor was faint and didn’t have that fresh dill you get from a farmers market. I was pretty shocked to be honest. The Bluestem was a nice and classy establishment and I figured I would get a Bloody that would at least meet the bare minimum and scratch that Bloody Mary itch. Nope this one wasn’t it. Also, lets not forget the beer chaser; not that I’m surprised but of course it was Coors Light so nothing special.
I don’t like to admit it but I didn’t finish it. I couldn’t finish it. Yes, in my experience of Bloody Mary’s there hasn’t been one where I threw in the towel part way through, but with this one I just couldn’t do it. So much so I almost can’t talk about it any more.
So now onto the rating. Yes this was one of the more difficult ones to rate but I had to do it. Since Bluestem’s Dill Bloody Mary didn’t give me a pickle in my Bloody, I can’t give them one. Yes I’m giving it a ½ a Pickle out of 5. I’m sorry to be so harsh but The Bloody game is a tough one.
Now on to the food. The breakfast burrito was amazing. I added Bison sausage to mine, which took it to a whole new level. The burrito was like a small football and filled with corn, beans, salsa, scrambled eggs, hash browns and of course the perfectly seasoned bison sausage. This breakfast burrito was top notch, perfect blend of spice with just the right amount of savory all wrapped into a chipotle sized burrito.
To be fair, it is possible they were having an off day and this was the bottom of the barrel for their mix? Maybe things just worked out that I got a watered down one that and they didn't add enough dill resulting in a Bloody Mary that was far off from their usual Dill Bloody Mary? I don’t know but regardless I was far from impressed and it’ll take me a lot to try another one there, that’s for sure.
Regardless, I would STRONGLY recommend skipping the Bloody Mary here and going straight for the burrito and adding the Bison. Top-notch food with a less than desirable Bloody Mary.
RATING:
