If you’re Midwestern enough to have grown up around the Tom & Jerry holiday tradition, you understand the emotional attachment it has. The venerable yuletide milk punch combines a rich batter (of eggs, sugar, vanilla and warm spices like nutmeg), hot milk, boiling water and equal parts brandy and rum.
Drawing on memories of the Tom & Jerry service at the old Karl Ratzsch’s German restaurant, bar owner John Dye offers this cousin to eggnog inside Bryant’s Tom & Jerry Room (open December 18-23 and 26-30).
Part of the fun is to watch the drink being made, and Bryant’s adds the extra touch of serving it in a custom mug. And the small upstairs room itself is a spectacle – 1970s gold shag carpet, velvet wallpaper and a heaping helping of Christmas cheer. 1579 S. Ninth St.
