Bloody Mary Tour, pt. 1
Review of Jelly's Bloody Mary Salad
By Jessica Funkin
As I travel throughout the year, I hope to bring y'all reviews of various Bloody Marys from all over the US, as well as the rest of the world. Currently with work and a hectic schedule, I will mainly be focusing on Colorado establishments. There are a few reviews I have yet to post from other states, while I aspire to bring you a greater spectrum of geographically different Bloody Marys throughout 2015. On other notes, my next review features another local Denver restaurant: Jelly.
I have been eagerly wanting to go to Jelly since I moved from Boulder to Denver. There is always a line outside and it’s a pretty cute looking place. I finally went this past weekend to the Capitol Hill location. Luckily, my friends and I went later in the day (around 1:30PM) so we only had to wait 20 minutes. While we were waiting, we ordered some Bloody Marys.
Jelly has an option to “add salad” to your Bloody Mary for 95 cents, aka the Bloody Mary Salad, which means there are more ingredients in the garnish than the traditional Bloody Mary. I ended up having two Bloodys, one with the salad and one without.
For brunch, I split two different eggs benedicts with my boyfriend. We had the Haco Chili Benedict, which consisted of chorizo, tomato, roasted poblano and smoked paprika atop a biscuit with poached eggs and hollandaise. We also ordered the daily special, which was a caprese benedict (tomatoes, basil and mozzarella atop focaccia bread with a poached egg, drizzled with pesto hollandaise and a balsamic glaze). Both benedicts were great, though I would have to say I liked the daily special better.
As mentioned before, I had two Bloody Marys, but I am going to focus on the Bloody Mary Salad. I always say, if you can get an addition for a cheap price, you should!
AT A GLANCE 18/20
The Bloody Mary Salad came out looking quite colorful and intriguing. There were plenty of items in the garnish along with a salt-and-peppered rim. The various colors presented in the generous garnish collaborated nicely with the perfect red color of the actual drink. The Bloody Mary had a very clean appearance.
GARNISH 19/20
The garnish consisted of pickled green beans, a carrot, a celery stalk, a pickle, two olives, a pepperoncini and a lime. It was quite appealing to the eyes and the ingredients filled the entire diameter of the glass. Each ingredient tasted very good and fresh, as well. My favorite was the pickled green beans – they had a vinegary taste, which added a zing to the drink. This rendered big creativity points. Although the garnish had many traditional Bloody Mary ingredients (celery, lime, pepperoncini), I thought it was quite creative in terms of presentation, as well.
SPICE 20/20
This Bloody Mary was perfectly spiced to a tee, hence my reasoning for ordering a second. It was complex, tasty and left my mouth watering for more. It deserved a 20/20 for spice.
TEXTURE AND ACIDITY 20/20
The texture was ideal. It had a perfect distribution of spice, liquor and the other ingredients – not diluted liquid, not chunks of solid – and was easily drinkable. This texture is the exact kind I look for in a Bloody Mary. It was not acidic at all, even with lime juice squeezed in.
UNIQUENESS 16/20
The Bloody Mary Salad from Jelly was unique, but was not in the upper echelon of the most unique Bloody Marys. I did like that you could add salad as a garnish, but it was quite traditional. I would have liked to see some bacon or seafood on the garnish; the addition of meat or fish would have given the drink more distinctive characteristics. The spices and overall taste of the Bloody Mary were OG and I could not have constructed a more thorough complexity myself. The only other recommendation I have is to construct the drink with an infused vodka – otherwise, the resulting flavor was spot on.
FINAL SCORE 93/100
Check out Jelly’s website or visit Jelly Capitol Hill, located at:
600 E. 13th Ave. (at Pearl)
Denver, CO, 80209
For more Bloody Mary Tour, please visit bloodymarytour.org