First of all, let me just say that my primary reason for putting Castaways on the Bracket is because I wanted an excuse to go sit and drink at the beach - and a day at Casties is certainly something that needs to be done at least once every Chicago summer.
For a corporate bloody mary - even a joint owned by Phil Stefani Restaurants - nobody expects it to be great. The description even tells you that the ingredients are Effen Vodka and bloody mary mix. However! I do believe, based on the scorecards received, that I was not the only one who was somewhat impressed by the taste:
the taste: 3.4
the texture: 2.9
the kick: 2.4
the sight: 2
the buck ($7): 1.8
As you can see in the picture, the bloody mary was served in a normal sized plastic cup, with ice and the drink. Lemon wedges were thrown in for good measure at the beginning, but by the second round (yes! some of us got seconds. after a miami vice. whatever.) those were long gone. The celery salt was a great touch - mainly because you don't always find a place that uses it, and it looked like wet sand which went with the whole beach theme. As one Bracketeer noted, "salt looked like sand. i'm okay with that...venue made it bearable." At $7 a pop, it was on the pricey side for what you got - but again, we didn't expect them to be any less expensive.
All in all, I think that the bottom line for this one is that if you're going to go to Castaways - a place that looks like spring break all the time, a place where you need to get there at the crack of dawn to actually get a table (or, by 11:30 - they open at 11) and the water bottles cost $3.50 - the bloody mary is a decent choice of drink with it's surprisingly tasty (not gross) flavor. Sometimes you just can't drink mango frozen margaritas all day, or convince yourself to have a heineken first thing during a hungover morning. We expected the day in the sun to be fun albeit with a sucky first round of bloody marys - but, we were kind of surprised!
Kristina - we'll go back again just for you.
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