2 green olives. That way it’s a Bloody Charlie - a drink with balls!
Ike has the recipe down, except for that Clamato heresy. Anybody who needs vegetation or protein in their drink should just order breakfast off the menu like everybody else!
For whatever reason, Mother’s seems to be polarizing. It’s the first place I ate in New Orleans, and, in my visits since, I still love the debris and Ferdi po’ boys there especially. Then again, I’ve never had anything I’d describe as a bad meal in my trips to New Orleans.
But Mother’s is more than fine.
Well, I will admit to perhaps being biased, because of the sheer volume of the amount of time I have been lucky enough to spend carousing the steamy streets of the Crescent City, but while maybe the food at Mother’s isn’t TERRIBLE, there are literally 100 different places in New Orleans, ranging from literally World Class “fine dining” to “I wouldn’t dare look in the kitchen if my very life depended on it” dives that have better food than Mother’s, which is why the 2 hour wait out the door for a seat on weekends perplexes and amuses me so much.
(Mother’s Bloody Mary is on the other hand, maybe the very best in the world, and if that is all you want, just skip the line and order from the bar, in a plastic go-cup, of course)
I like Mother’s, too. There’s no line at breakfast time, and you can still order a baked ham/debris po’ boy and a couple of beers.
Stolis, tomato juice, Old Bay, lemon juice, sometimes horseradish. I don’t drink them but my wife does if we don’t have champagne to make Mimosas.
Nothing wrong with Mother’s. The food is fine. It’s not supposed to be a 5 star restaurant. I leave a tip anyway.
That is really good stuff. My morning routine used to consist of a small glass of Mr 7 Mrs Ts (sans alcohol) just before heading out the door.
Need to get back to that.
Got to try the Old Bay thing. There must be a 20-year-old can somewhere in the house…
I can’t believe the aversion to clamato that some have expressed! The Caesar is one of the most popular drinks in Canada, if not the most popular. I think its success is due to the way the clam juice cuts both the thickness and the heavy taste of tomato juice, and leads to a lighter more appetizing drink.
If I were making it from scratch and striving for the ideal drink, I’d start with either Mott’s Clamato or a recent limited-distribution premium brand called Walter, named after Walter Chell who invented the drink in 1969. Then dip the rim of the glass in lemon juice and then into a dish containing Mott’s Clamato Rimmer, which contains celery salt but also a lot of other spices. Then put in lots of ice (this is key), vodka, tabasco, Worcestershire, and the clamato juice. Horseradish optional, but some folks swear by it. A celery stalk is mandatory for proper presentation, and a couple of hot peppers on a skewer can be a nice touch. A lemon slice on the rim of the glass optional.
But when making everyday Caesars for myself, I cut corners all over the place, mainly by using Mott’s premixed Caesars in individual serving cans, with the vodka already in it, though I usually add another dash or two. They manage to create a very nice balanced flavor and the consistency is worth the slight extra cost. And instead of rimming the glass, my lazy-man’s Caesar just gets Mott’s Clamato Rimmer sprinkled into it. I’ll plunk a celery stalk into it if I happen to have one around.
I honestly don’t think I’ve had an actual Bloody Mary since sometime in the 1970s, and only because I was in the US and when I asked for a Caesar the waiter looked at me like I had two heads.
I rest my case. 
Hmmm…
Are you under the impression that tomatoes are not vegetation, or lack protein? A Bloody Mary with two olives and without any other “vegetation or protein” in it would normally be referred to as a “vodka martini”. You must confuse a lot of bartenders! They’re already confused enough because I absentmindedly keep asking for Caesars whenever I’m down in there in that uncivilized wasteland that you inhabit. 
Clamato is fantastic. Sometimes I wonder if people are more uncomfortable with the idea of it than the actual taste. But, then again, I love fish sauce, so the extra savoriness/umami clams add to tomato juice is great. It’s not like it tastes clammy, or at least if it does, I can’t tell. The shrimp take on it that I see is pretty good too.
Bivalve juice! Just what a cocktail needs! Especially a hangover cocktail.
My “vegetation” comment was directed at people who order Bloodies at places like this. Or these places.
Philistines, all of them.
I think the reason it doesn’t taste “clammy” is that it’s perfectly balanced by the tomato juice – a match made in heaven!
I agree! Not that I’d ever be uncouth enough to actually order a Bloody Mary, but if I order a Caesar, I don’t expect it to be delivered with a 20-course banquet on top of it! I prefer to order my dinner separately. Being a tasteful drink guided by the conventions of a civilized country, of course, Caesars are never served that way.
Mine contains none of that shit; straight vodka (if I’m drinking vodka).
We’ll clink glasses & collectively have a Bloody Mary. 
This is the one I was thinking of. Like Clamato, except with shrimp. They have it all over the Mexican grocery stores here. Also well balanced, and not particularly strong on the shrimp flavor. I’ve never compared them directly, though. One of these days, I’ll have to do a Clamato vs Camaronazo vs Plain Tomato Juice (control) taste test.
That seems a little weird to me. Clams naturally produce lots of juice when steamed, or they can be boiled and then the liquid filtered. Shrimp, not so much. I don’t even know what “shrimp juice” is. I love shrimp, but honestly, that doesn’t sound very appetizing.
The ingredient is “shrimp extract.” I assume it’s something like a shrimp paste type of thing, powdered shrimp, or maybe boiled down shrimp/shrimp shell stock. I use all of those in my cooking occasionally and I assure you, there’s nothing odd about it.
I laughed for a while about this, but I’m still not sure why. You can’t say it out loud with dignity. Is it kept behind the counter, at the service desk, or with the other rimmers?
I wish they weren’t so popular. I’ve given up ordering Bloody Marys in Canada, because Canadian bartenders either (a), assume I made a mistake with my order and serve a Caesar anyway; (b) don’t have tomato juice, though they have plenty of clamato; or (c) do have tomato juice–in a can that likely has a Best Before date of 2009.
I’ve tried a few Caesars, but I just don’t like the taste of them–the clam does something to the tomato juice that I find ruins the taste. I do like Bloody Marys, and make it a point to enjoy a few when I am in the United States. Other than that, I’ll make my own.
But to each their own, eh? 