Alongside our long-standing obsession with artisanally crafted cuisine rests a similar fixation on elevated cocktails crafted by certified mixologists who muddle their way to impressionist inebriants. This is how we get things like the ana banana, a composite of Monkey Shoulder whiskey, Lustau amontillado sherry and Tempus Fugit crème de banane — with a twist.
Yet among all this spirited flamboyance and kitsch, the timeless martini stands alone, skirting these trends with its rudimentary components — gin, dry vermouth, lemon twist or speared olive — and classic verve. It was the beverage of choice for Ian Fleming’s fictional super spy, James Bond. Ernest Hemingway praised the martini for its cool and clean, civilizing effect. Humphrey Bogart mentioned the drink on his deathbed. Famed satirist and poet Dorothy Parker lionized the cocktail with a saucy verse.
Yet, like the dirtiest martini, the origin of this famous drink is muddled in a hazy blur. There’s the tale that the martini hales from Martinez, California, where, after striking it rich, a gold miner was served a mix of gin, vermouth, maraschino liqueur and lemon after his request for Champagne was rebuffed.
Another claim posits that the drink was invented in the early 1860s at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco after a gold miner requested a specialty thirst-quencher on his way to nearby boomtown Martinez. Others say it was named after Martini & Rossi vermouth, crafted by Italian master herbalist Luigi Rossi in 1863. From this tangled pedigree, the drink became known as the martini.
Debauching this storied legacy is the modern practice of affixing “tini” to any number of unctuous contrivances, like the appletini, the chocotini, the chai-tini, the peach tequini or the lycheetini. We soberly navigate this storied drink and its troubled stepchildren on a quest to unearth the best martinis in Collin County.
Bar Louie
The Village at Allen
190 E. Stacy Road, Suite 1000, Allen
469.393.7070
www.barlouie.com
Founded in Chicago in 1990 as a martini-fueled neighborhood haunt, Bar Louie has some 61 locations in several states. Now based in Addison, its corner tavern concept is tailored to each location, with menus and artwork expressing local preferences to keep the neighborhood feeling alive. Bar Louie’s Martini Mondays (all day) make it a great day to sample their signature mixological renderings, like the dirty or the clover. We dipped into Bar Louie’s roots with the Chicago Ave., a blend of Ketel One vodka, Chambord, sparkling wine, mint, lemon and raspberry. It’s served with a wedge of lemon on the rim of the glass, so squeeze a little into the formula to cut through its threatening sweetness. It’s a cool, enlivening drink with a slight herbal breath that lends some complexity.
Bottled in Bond Cocktail Parlour & Kitchen
5285 Dallas Parkway, Suite 420, Frisco
469.731.5410
bottledinbondparlour.com
Bottled in Bond is named for the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897, which created quality standards for bourbon whiskey. It was essentially the nation’s first consumer protection law and a reaction to the widespread adulteration of American whiskey, which was often diluted with things like prune juice, sugar, turpentine, iodine and tobacco spit. And while the restaurant is cozy and subdued, the cocktail parlor is a study in swank, with a mirrored ceiling, reflective arching back bar elements, gold accents and sultry lounge seating. Among these stylish facets, we sipped the lychee martini (lycheetini) crafted from Nue Citrus vodka, Giffard Lichi-Li liqueur, and ginger, lemon and honey. A speared piece of lychee fruit is perched across the top of the glass. Though it leans into sweetness, it’s a refreshing sip with citrus and spicy notes on the finish. And not a hint of prune juice or spittoon detritus.
Fizz
3310 Dallas Parkway, Suite 115, Plano
972.403.3499
fizzplano.com
Fizz, a wine and cocktail lounge created by Jeff Murtha, owner of Studio 80 in Fort Worth, boasts one of the more extensive Champagne and sparkling wine lists in Texas, ringing in at 50 entrants. Hence the name. Still, this lounge — designed to look like a contemporary Miami watering hole with lots of pastels, bright reds and turbo-chic seating ensembles that wouldn’t be out of place in Tony Montana’s Scarface parlor — features two full-service bars (one inside, one outside). It also pours craft cocktails, like the filthy bleu martini. This signature is formulated with Grey Goose vodka, vermouth and olive juice, with a bleu cheese-stuffed olive as a garnish. It’s a satisfying sip, with the bleu cheese emulsifying into the drink, giving the dirty some extra smut.
Lockwood Distilling Co.
205 W. Louisiana St., McKinney
214.548.5815
lockwooddistilling.com
One of the newest spirit-tasting experiences in Collin County, Lockwood Distilling Co. was launched by Evan Batt and Sally Batt in Richardson on Lockwood Drive in 2019. They had a vision of creating Texas’ premier distillery experience while displacing fries with tots (laced with truffle oil and parmesan, or the dirty South kind with melted smoked-pecan pimento cheese). Lockwood’s spirit offerings run the range, from smooth bourbon to spicy rye to Texas gin to one of the most sippable rums you’ll find this side of the Caribbean. We tested their tini cred with a Turbo martini crafted from Lockwood’s Turbo Vodka, a six-times-distilled spirit with a secondary “oxygenation enhancement” capping the process. Topped with a triple olive skewer, this martini has an uncanny smoothness with a soft crispness that makes it go down easy. Too easy. Which is why we skipped the tots and paired it with Lockwood cracklins — home-fried pig skins sprinkled with chili-lime cracklins dust — the perfect football season accompaniment when you’ve just been turbo-blitzed.
The Monarch Stag
6655 Winning Drive, Frisco
469.731.0955
monarchstag.com
Taking inspiration from “The Monarch of the Glen,” a famous 19th-century painting of a majestic red deer stag by English artist Sir Edwin Landseer, The Monarch Stag is primarily a pricy brown spirits haunt. Yet the Stag’s martini proficiency is unrivaled. We tested it with orthodox choreography: gin, vermouth, a little dirt and a single olive. Made with Hendrick’s gin, this martini was exceptionally crisp, cool and searing — intriguingly botanical, undoubtedly the stuff fueling Dorothy Parker. This handsome retreat, with a colorful back bar of ruinously expensive distilled craft, is an adjunct of The Glen, a seafood-and-steak restaurant with a stylish vibe that hums with interior trees, opulent floral treatments, an old-fashioned phone booth and aerialist performances — haut cuisine gone voguishly berserk.
J. Theodore Restaurant & Bar
6959 Lebanon Road, Suite 110, Frisco
214.705.7775
jtheodore.com
Just a short stroll from Bottle in Bond Cocktail Parlour, J. Theodore Restaurant and Bar serves its mixological flourishes in a crisp modern atmosphere suffused with inviting warmth. Its lineup of specialty martinis runs in at seven, fueled by bourbon, whiskey, rum and vodka — not flirting with tradition except for one, the aviation, a blend of Bombay Sapphire gin, maraschino liqueur, lemon and crème de violette. A dried lemon slice floats on the surface. It’s a lively drink with pronounced fruit, a layer of tang and a subtle whiff of herbs — refreshingly eccentric. J. Theodore saddles the Rare Books Bar, a speakeasy you access by pulling a password off the Instagram page, climbing into an old-time phone booth at the J. Theodore entrance and revealing the password to the person at the other end of the line. No texting for a tipple.
Room One Eleven
111 E. Virginia St., McKinney
718.879.0009
facebook.com/SpeakeasyMckinney
A stylish speakeasy in historic downtown McKinney, Room One Eleven requires a password (off its Instagram page) before you’re permitted to traverse a long portal to the action. The room is dark and moody. On one end, limbless female mannequin torsos draped in risqué flapper garb are suspended from the ceiling. Further down the wall is a screen silently broadcasting films from the Prohibition era and just after the repeal — cinematic wallpaper. On our visit, the feature was Bullets or Ballots (1936), a gangster thriller starring Edward G. Robinson and martini connoisseur Humphrey Bogart. At the end of the film, the stars gun each other down in a stairwell. They twitch and grasp their chests as the bullets allegedly breach their woolen attire — no puffs of sundered fabric or spurts of blood. This film was produced before the invention of the bullet-hit squib, a pyrotechnic special effect simulating bullet strikes that often included a condom filled with fake blood for added authenticity. It’s the kind of simulated Prohibition-era chaos that drives you to drink. So, we did. An espresso martini, a dark, seductive nip floating three coffee beans on its surface froth. A ring of coarse sugar hugs the rim of the glass. It’s rich, smooth and balanced and goes down like that first gulp of morning coffee — an overture to its bullet-hit squib blur.
The Wilfred
4017 Preston Road, Suite 530, Plano
972.473.2722
seabreezefish.com/thewilfredplano
This speakeasy is a hidden craft cocktail “panic room” adjacent to the Seabreeze Fish Market & Grill. Like so many speakeasies, you need a password from the venue’s Instagram page to enter. But it’s worth the effort. Named after the owner’s dog (a pooch brimming with energy, excitement and good vibes), The Wilfred is spacious with seductive lounge appointments — like plush contemporary seating and subdued lighting — that breathe intimacy. Plus, the cocktails are alluringly unorthodox. We opted for the Freddy’s freezer martini, which is served in a stemless martini glass embedded in a wooden box filled with crushed ice that’s flurried with microgreens. A plastic spoon with a caviar bump is grounded in the ice floes — a palate cleanser. Freddy’s freezer is crafted with Haku Japanese vodka — a spirit distilled from white rice that is filtered through bamboo charcoal — and blanc vermouth. The result is a clean, soft sip with layers of subtle sweetness, punctuated with floral and citrus notes. It’s a complex visual feast that wears well on the palate.
This article was originally published in Local Profile's March/April issue. Read more here.
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