Restaurateurs are rolling out assorted tricks and treats to drum up business on Halloween, which this year falls on a Monday.
Ranging from the ghoulish and creepy to the downright fun, the many bar, menu and party promotions are designed to raise business on a night that is often dead.
“It’s always best when Halloween falls on a Friday or Saturday,” said Chris Mullins, owner of McGillin’s Olde Ale House in Philadelphia.
Still, many operators are calling on spirits to bring in the evening’s revelers. Among them, Station 4 in Washington, D.C., is offering $6 cocktail called the True Blood Martini, which is colored with raspberry liqueur and served with a red sugar rim.
The restaurant also is relabeling a wine from Moldova as “Transylvania wine” and selling it for $4 per glass, and offering guests in costume a chance to win a $100 gift certificate.
Hank’s Oyster Bar and Lounge, also in Washington, D.C., will be offering a special cocktail called Hard Candy. The $11 drink is made from vodka, Concord grape syrup, soda water and a dash of phosphoric acid — used to make classic phosphate sodas.
In Boston, 606 Congress is serving up the Ghost of Mary cocktail — its interpretation of a Bloody Mary.
A number of cocktail specials are also being linked to the Day of the Dead, a Mexican Holiday that predates Christianity in that country but that has come to be associated with the Catholic All Saint’s Day, Nov. 1, and All Souls Day, Nov. 2.
Ten-unit, New York-based Rosa Mexicano is offering a special Picosita cocktail for $11. A take on the Margarita, the Picosita has muddled red bell pepper added to it, and it’s topped with a combination of cayenne pepper and cumin and garnished with a charred red pepper slice.
