The bloody mary so often seems just silly, festooned with bacon, pizza, sliders or other zany accoutrements, more gag than beverage.
At West Town Bakery & Diner, though, they get the brunch drink just right. The comparatively minimalist Wingie’s Special Bloody Mary ($10) sports only a pickle and a chocolate-covered chicharron, sticking out the top like the tongue on the Rolling Stones logo: silly but provocative.
The kitchen fries pork skins; the bakery’s chocolatier coats them and sprinkles on Sriracha powder. The sweet-spicy treat is a lovely complement to the housemade bloody mary mix — tomato juice spiced with horseradish, soy sauce, pepper and celery salt. Bartenders mix that with vodka and serve it in a glass rimmed with a salt-and-pepper blend.
“Dad’s nickname is Wingie,” said Patrick Wingert, West Town’s manager and creator of the drink. “On family trips, at gas stations, dad would always get a bag of pork rinds. The Wingie Bloody Mary went on our menu Father’s Day 2015. My dad came in. It was my gift to him.”
West Town Bakery & Diner, 1916 W. Chicago Ave., 773-904-1414, www.westtownbakery.com
David Hammond is a freelance writer.
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