85 replies to this topic

[nuxvomica]

heh, i was at a restaurant bar recently (ok, better known for their scotch selection than martinis) and overheard an exchange between the bartender and a patron (who was wearing a baseball cap back to front, which may or may not matter).

Patron: i'll have a martini

Bartender: on the rocks or straight up?



i'm sure you can figure out the answer. but, hey, the staff knows the customer, which you cant argue with

[beans]

nuxvomica,

That is a standard service question. Next comes: Vodka or gin? Dry or extra dry? Shaken or stirred? Olives or twist?

Surely not measure of the quality of service, if only perceived. Tending bar certainly does not come with the practice nor discipline of mind reading to pour alcohol for a customer.

If a customer doesn't specify what is a hardworking bartender to do? It is akin to asking a server for a steak at a restaurant. (Server thinks: Could you narrow that down for me?) Cut? Temp? Garnish (Cognac reduction? Mushrooms? Onions? Composed herb butter? Blue cheese and black peppercorns?) Side dish to accompany?

[beans]

Whoa. My question to anyone that gripes about this sort of thing: If that bartender didn't add vermouth to your Martini, ever consider asking them to do so to rectify your dissatisfaction? Or asking prior to ordering "Do you add vermouth to your Martinis?" or with some mustered up clever wit and charm in your eye "You do add vermouth to your Martinis, right?"

Hmmmmmm.

[Wilfrid]

Asking for a martini at a place in St Barts, and I specified gin, got me a chilled glass of vermouth beautifully garnished with a long curl of lemon peel. I shut up and drank it.

Things may have changed, but there was a time that asking for a martini in a bar in London would get you precisely a glass of Martini. But probably not chilled.

[Suzanne F]

Beans raised some good points that boil down to: speak up, customer! Those times that I think I might want a Martini, I usually ask first what gins they have, and specify everything from there on in my order.

But it is still annoying that anything sticky-sweet that can be decanted into a martini glass is served as a "Martini." Which means that I have to do the thinking work for a bartender who used to know exactly what I meant.

[Stone]

Whoa. My question to anyone that gripes about this sort of thing: If that bartender didn't add vermouth to your Martini, ever consider asking them to do so to rectify your dissatisfaction? Or asking prior to ordering "Do you add vermouth to your Martinis?" or with some mustered up clever wit and charm in your eye "You do add vermouth to your Martinis, right?"

Hmmmmmm.

Of course. I say, "Is there vermouth in there?" He/she says, "No." I say, "Can you put some in?" He/she says, "sure, I didn't know you wanted vermouth." I say, "it's not a martini without vermouth." The conversation usually goes downhill from there. Now if I'm at a trendy place and I'm not ordering near the bar, I'll politely inform the waiter that I want vermouth in the martini.

[Anthony Bonner]

Whoa. My question to anyone that gripes about this sort of thing: If that bartender didn't add vermouth to your Martini, ever consider asking them to do so to rectify your dissatisfaction? Or asking prior to ordering "Do you add vermouth to your Martinis?" or with some mustered up clever wit and charm in your eye "You do add vermouth to your Martinis, right?"

Hmmmmmm.

That's like saying when you order a BLT "There's Bacon in that right?"

[mitchells]

If someone can take the time to tell a waiter how they would like their burger cooked and what they would like on it, why can't they do the same for their cocktail? I understand that ordering a martini a long time ago is different than ordering a martini today but what the fuck is the big deal??? Suck it up and tell the bartender what you would like!!!!

[Anthony Bonner]

If someone can take the time to tell a waiter how they would like their burger cooked and what they would like on it, why can't they do the same for their cocktail? I understand that ordering a martini a long time ago is different than ordering a martini today but what the fuck is the big deal??? Suck it up and tell the bartender what you would like!!!!

difference between ordering a burger and saying I'd like a burger - that is a small beef patty served between a bread bun.

[Stone]

If someone can take the time to tell a waiter how they would like their burger cooked and what they would like on it, why can't they do the same for their cocktail? I understand that ordering a martini a long time ago is different than ordering a martini today but what the fuck is the big deal??? Suck it up and tell the bartender what you would like!!!!

It's kind of like asking for a recommendation for a good neighborhood restaurant and having to specify that you don't want to eat at a place where patrons have traveled more than three blocks to get there.

[mitchells]

Deleted

[Wilfrid]

I agree with mitchells on this one. People like to make a big fuss about martinis. On previous threads, we've seen that vodka in martinis goes back at least to the 1950s. Serving martinis essentially without vermouth goes back at least as far. I like plenty of vermouth, and I am willing to ask for it.

An extra-dry martini is simply gin, without the vermouth, or the slightest drops. Experienced bartenders keep an atomizer of vermouth to lightly spray the glass. Some people enjoy drinking ice-cold gin or vodka, poured in the shadow of a vermouth bottle. Technically, extra-dry means anywhere from 8 to 15 parts of gin or vodka to 1 part vermouth, depending on the bartender and individual taste.

Sir Winston Churchill helps us remember the term Extra-Dry with his interesting recipe for a Winston Churchill Martini.

Vodka martinis were popularized by Ian Fleming in his James Bond spy novels. Fleming, who drank extra-dry martinis, wrote into Bond's first novel, Casino Royale, a drink called the Vesper.

link

Lucius Beebe wrote an article complaining that the martini had been reduced to nothing but cold gin. In 1955.

[Lex]

If someone can take the time to tell a waiter how they would like their burger cooked and what they would like on it, why can't they do the same for their cocktail? I understand that ordering a martini a long time ago is different than ordering a martini today but what the fuck is the big deal??? Suck it up and tell the bartender what you would like!!!!

difference between ordering a burger and saying I'd like a burger - that is a small beef patty served between a bread bun.

Yeah, that's 15 seconds of your life that you'll never get back.

I'm with Mitchells. If James Bond can take the time to describe how he wants his martini made it's good enough for me.

[Sneakeater]

When I said in some other thread that I always specify gin martinis very wet, Bonner made fun of me. Waaaaahhhh.

[Anthony Bonner]

When I said in some other thread that I always specify gin martinis very wet, Bonner made fun of me. Waaaaahhhh.

really? made fun of you about what? Certainly not for the Vermouth bit.