The St. Regis has a solid reputation for luxurious guest accommodations and swanky, yet staid, style. But few people know that the tony hotel is also the birthplace of the Bloody Mary, that classic brunch libation that turns 75 this year.
Well, almost the birthplace: According to Rob Chirico's "Field Guide to Cocktails' (Quirk Books, 2005), the classic combination of vodka and tomato juice was first mixed together by bartender Fernand Petiot of Harry's New York Bar in Paris (a haunt for Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald and other ex-pats), then brought to the St. Regis in New York when he became head bartender there in the 1930s.
Petiot — call him Pete, everyone did — purportedly served everybody from George Jessel to almost every U.S. president of four decades. His version of the tomato-juicy "imbibement" leaned towards a solid spiciness from black and cayenne peppers, along with cracked ice, salt, Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice.
The drink became a signature, and each St. Regis hotel across the globe has its very own version. For instance, the classic New York version is called a "Red Snapper," with the addition of celery salt, horseradish and Tabasco. Management thought the Bloody Mary moniker a bit off-putting. (The report of the drink's name is actually as mixed as it is — for a girl named Mary who waited for her lover too long at the bar. Stories vary on which bar. And why she was bloody seems a mystery.) Washington D.C.'s "Capitol Mary" is mixed with gin instead of vodka, plus clam juice and Old Bay seasoning; in Beijing it's mixed with Tsing Tao beer.
For Atlanta, St. Regis Atlanta food and beverage manager Megan Gray wanted to create something elegant that appealed to men and women, but with an "innovative yet traditional appeal."
Her meridional American formulation builds, as all St. Regis Bloody Marys do, on the original "Red Snapper" formula with the addition of pickled okra juice, with Old South Tomolives pickled tomatoes as garnish. Christened "West Paces Mary," the drink is served in a tall Pilsner glass over ice for $12.
"I kept thinking about fried green tomatoes, and how I could make them a part of the drink," said Gray, who worked at New York's St. Regis for over two years before coming to Atlanta.
Open since April 14, the elite hotel is already going through three gallons of the recipe a day, according to bartender Bryan Johns.
Dinner is poured.
The St. Regis Atlanta, 88 West Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta, 404-563-7961, www.stregis.com/atlanta
Per serving: 157 calories (percent of calories from fat, 5), 3 grams protein, 23 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 1 gram fat (trace saturated fat), no cholesterol, 1,334 milligrams sodium.
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