Under Review: Stanford's Bloody Mary Bar

From how much I've been talking up Stanford's Bloody mary bar, you can probably guess I wasn't going to hate it. And hate it I did not. To warn you, they don't really advertise (besides the email blasts I get from them) and it's kind of tucked into an inconspicuous corner of the bar, opposite the windows looking out on the patio. But the server's seemed genuinely excited about it when we mentioned it, and the bartender would peek over from time to time to witness our selections and offer suggestions (beware the jalapeno olive!). They have three different bloody mixes: a traditional, with clamato, a thai, which tasted like it had a little sriacha and basil in it (I swear there was basil!) and a caprese, which was green, and would presumably taste like basil, but kinda tasted like a green smoothie/cucumber. I tried the last two, and loved the thai. I wasn't a huge fan of the caprese, but if you like green smoothies and garden veggies, it's made better with a little spicy kick.

Speaking of spice, they have a buttload of different hot sauces, and none of them are for wimps. They even had a ghost chili sauce, which all of the servers seemed terrified by, but was fine mixed in with the rest of the bloody stuff. I tried one that looked a little like worchestire and mixed it in with a little "slap yo mama" sauce. I'm a wuss when it comes to spice, but i like a little kick and i was plenty happy with my concoction. A huge bonus is that they have great stuffed olives. I used to subsist off of Spanish queen olives when I'd work directly from the city to the bar, so I'd like to think I know a thing or two about stupid olives.  The garlic stuffed were perfect for me, and the jalapeno olives were even spicier than the ghost chili cause there's actual peppers slapped in there. They also have a little dish full of horse radish (my favorite bloody addition), pickled asparagus, cherry tomatoes, something that looked like pickles, and slim jims all for dipping into yo drank. They also had out some gibson onions, limes, and lemons to spice things up.

While this really should be #1, they start off your bloody marys with your choice of a spicy house vodka, some other house vodka, or Absolut Peppar. I was a big fan of the spicy house vodka, but I'm sure you can't go wrong with whatever the other one was. I doubt you can really taste the difference between well and call once you have everything else in there. I actually preferred the house spicy to the Absolut Peppar, and on top of that you sound ridiculous when you say "peppar." You can also choose to add a spicy rim or go without.  Also, on Sundays, the food is happy hour prices all day (or at least during bloody time). You can get the $2 nuts if you prefer to fill up on bloody marys, or go for the mac n cheese or a burger. I hope more people catch on to how amazing this set up, selfishly so they'll continue to do it and I won't have to buy 11 ingredients just to make myself a Bloody mary at home.
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Stanford's at Walnut Creek
1300 South Main, Walnut Creek
(925) 944-0895
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