Hair of the Hog

Bacon bloody marys bring Sunday morning sufferers back to life.

By Adam Erace
Add Comment Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Mar. 9, 2010

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Photo by Jimmy J. Pack Jr.

National Mechanics’ (22 S. Third St. 215.701.4883. nationalmechanics.com) desecrated-cathedral look is never as convincing as on Sunday mornings, when the Old City bar’s 19th-century stone staircase is besieged by hungover zombies and vamps. Fortunately, this asylum specializes in blood transfusions of the vodka variety, most notably the house-infused bacon version.

It’s the first step in National Mechanics’ popular DIY Bloody Mary Bar—and the first move in your return to the realm of the living. National Mechanics stocks all the expected brands of vodka—and tequila for Bloody Marias—but try the bacon. Your gut will thank you, as the food takes so long—recently, two hours for eggs and scrapple—it’s likely this will be your only sustenance for a while.

Choose from several rimmers (including Bacon Salt) and a pint glass will arrive filled two-thirds of the way with bacon-scented eau-de-vie and a celery stalk and Slim Jim poking out like topless umbrellas. Carafes of tomato juice, chunky horseradish and a 50-deep display of crusty-capped condiments await at the altar-like bar: Sriracha. Bourbon barrel-aged Worcestershire. More Bacon Salt. Tinkering with the vials and tinctures, especially in this setting—insect specimens on the walls, creepy clowns and magicians on the website—makes you feel like some vaudevillian voodoo priest.

It’s fitting. This pork fat-infused meal replacement will leave you thinking something new about last night’s mistake. Hmm, does death become her?

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