M is For the Many Places You Can Take Mom To Eat (and Drink!) on Sunday May 10

But in a particularly poignant response to current events, many of the places are emphasizing the booze they're serving as much as the meals. Let's get Mom legless so she won't think about her dwindling 401(k), her upside-down-mortgage, or her unemployed kiddies!

Bacar (408 Brannan at Ritch, 904-4100) sent out a bare-bones announcement: Bottomless Bloody Mary Brunch 10 a.m.--2 p.m., featuring bottomless Bloody Marys made with local Lotus Vodka, $12; Annual Mother's Day Dinner 4--8 p.m., featuring 50 wines under $50. 

General partner Jon Jackson told us "We usually do either a Mother's Day brunch or a dinner, on alternate years. We were planning to do a dinner this year. But our recent Easter brunch introduced the bottomless Bloody Mary made with Lotus vodka, whose offices are about two blocks from us in SOMA. You can't get more local than that! And it was wildly successful, so much so that not only did we add a Bottomless Bloody Mary Brunch to our Mother's Day plans, it will serve as the introductory launch for continuing Bottomless Bloody Mary brunches every Sunday from 10 a.m.--2 p.m."

The brunch menu includes French toast, eggs Benedict, quiche, hangar steak, Caesar salad, and a burger, as well as the more unusual crispy pork belly and potato hash served with asparagus and a fried egg (prices range between $8 -- $15). 

In addition to the regular menu at dinner, there will be a special five-course tasting menu priced at $68 -- whose not-yet-finalized components will be determined by what's available in the markets. 

The elegant Spruce (3640 Sacramento at Spruce, 931-5100), likewise downplays its "luxurious Mother's Day brunch and dinner menus", mentioning only "three courses highlighting an abundance of fresh spring produce," concentrating on the "specialty cocktails and wine pairing" that will be available on the day. 

A call to the restaurant elicits the goods. Choose between chilled pea and leek soup or rocket salad with goat cheese to start at brunch, with a third choice, a salad served with tarragon mousseline, added for dinner. Then on to eggs benedict or a French cheese-and-ramps omelette at brunch, or olive-oil-poached halibut or herb-crusted lamb loin at dinner. Both meals finish with a special nougat glace. Brunch, available from 10:30 a.m. -- 3 p.m., is priced at $60 a person; dinner, from 3:30 to 10 p.m., $75 each. But "be sure to celebrate your mom with a Ramos Fizz, a glass of champagne, or a selection of wines perfectly paired to your meal." 

And Terzo (3011 Steiner at Union, 441-3200) begins by saying "Given the economy, most likely a lot of mothers could use a little bubbly or some vino."  Happily their Spring Wine Special (continuing through May 31st) will be in effect over Mother's Day: all bottles of wine priced at $40 or less (21 on Terzo's list) are half off for dinner guests Sunday through Thursday.

And for Mother's Day only, a Gloria Ferrer Royal Cuvee Brut, Sonoma 2001, sparkling wine, normally $48 a bottle, will be offered at Terzo for $24, to accompany its regular daily-changing Mediterranean market-driven menu, featuring the best local springtime produce, flesh, fish, and fowl.

In 2009, even more than usually, a happy occasion might celebrate in vino veritas, in cervesio felicitas: in wine there is wisdom, in beer there is joy!