The Martini - Page 5

Huh. 7 out of the 10 recipes I found online had 1:1 gin/dry vermouth, with orange bitters and cherry liquor. The other ones were more along the lines of a standard martini using sweet vermouth and the other ingredients. Weird.

I've even found recipes for 1:2 gin/sweet vermouth, such as here: http://www.artofdrink.com/2007/08/martinez-cocktail.php

I forgot about the Maraschino liqueur though. I do put a dash or two of that in also.

Slightly different story tonight. I went into Bob's Steak & Chophouse (outstanding if you're in the Dallas area) for a drink and perhaps a bite of dinner. I decided, based on our conversations here to sit at the bar. Zach, a bartender that I'd seen in there before and who remembered me (+1) and that I like martinis (+2) was in attendance. I ordered a 2:1 martini (he knew what I meant) with Hendricks, a dash of bitters and sliced cucumber. All requests were accommodated. I ordered the lamb chops from the bar menu (outstanding!). As I finished my food and was about half way through my second martini I looked to the bar and I spied a single bottle on a wooden stand. On one side of the bottle I saw a jar of sugar cubes and on the other a carafe of ice water. Me: "Is that what I think it is?" Zach: "It's absinthe, yes." Me: "I haven't tried it yet. I think I'd like one." Zach: "Do you want it now or do you want to finish your martini?" Me: "If I finish my martini I'm afraid I won't want it." He brought over the bottle and measured a shot of absinthe into a glass, then placed the slotted spoon over it with a sugar cube on top. He then set the carafe of ice water over the glass and opened the spigot, dissolving the sugar and the water into the glass. By now, we'd drawn a crowd, including the bar manager and the two lovely ladies next to me (mother and daughter, I found out). During the the process we engaged in conversation about the history and mythology of absinthe. We spoke of wormwood, apparitions and lost love. I asked that he pour up a portion of my cocktail into a couple of other glasses for them to sample. I must say that the first couple of sips were quite intimidating, but after that it settled in as quite a pleasing digestif. My first absinthe. I am no longer a virgin.

I'm doing a masters degree in physics here in Australia. We didn't have a mid semester break in postgraduate physics so we finished early.

4:1 at the moment. Will have to try the classic 2:1 some time very soon.

Was this the Bob's in the Shops at Legacy?

Yes. It's close to my house. I prefer the ambiance of the one on Lemmon, but the Plano location has its own charm and is much more convenient for me.

Does this mean what I hope it does?

Excellent.

By the way... if you haven't tried "Ra" yet, by all means do. There is a legion of the untucked shirt, jeans, squared toed ugly shoes Dallas men there.. but, the food there is very good.

I think I'm a bit slow on the uptake. Daughter was all of about 23. I had nothing she would be interested in. Mom was attractive enough and more age appropriate, but very married. They were just sitting next to me at the bar and we struck up a conversation. Very innocent.


Ra is sort of a regular hangout for me. I eat there at least once a week. I don't think that there's any place at the Shops of Legacy I haven't tried. I only live about a mile from there so I'm there quite a bit.

If you haven't tried Ocean yet, it's well worth it. I hope it makes it. The food is wonderful, but it never seems that crowded when I'm in there.

Just joshing with you.

Or am I?

Don't get me wrong, I'd have been happy to take things in a different direction had the opportunity presented itself. It just didn't.

Look what you've done, Pio, you've turned my nice cocktail story into something akin to Conne whining about his ineptitude with women. Thanks for that.

I was just trying to give your nice story a nicer ending.

A happy ending, so to speak?