Some bits of bar artistry stay with you. They remind you how charming the art of bartending can be and why some cocktail hours lodge in your brain as particularly memorable.
One such experience occurred in Madrid in December 2022. It happened at Del Diego, a bar that was opened in 1992 by Fernando Del Diego, who was a student of Pedro Chicote, a legendary Spanish bartender. We were referred to the place by our friends Martin Doudoroff and Sandy Rosin, who had in turn been set in that direction by François Monti, a Belgian cocktail and spirits authority who lives in Spain. We ordered Martinis. I wrote about what happened next in these pages the following month:
The serve was indeed remarkable. It went like this. The gin and (very little) vermouth were poured in a pint glass filled with ice. The bartender, dressed in white shirt and tie, then stabbed the hell out of it with a bar spoon. No shaking, no stirring; stabbing. It was then poured into a frosted Martini glass. These were brought to our two-top table by the bar. The Martinis were great; stiff and cold. But here’s the kicker. Halfway through, as the drinks began to warm, the waiter came over with fresh frozen glasses and transferred the remaining liquid into them.
I’ve never seen anything like it. (If anyone reading this has experienced this technique, please leave a comment below.)
A few people did write in. One reader commented, “We just experienced the cold glass swap at the American Bar at The Savoy in London. Lovely.” Another said, “In the bar with Shapes for a Name in London, they change your warm glass too.” And a third said, “The otherwise average American steakhouse chain Hillstone also does the ‘bring you a new cold glass mid-way through drinking’ trick.”
I asked Anna Sebastian, who has worked many years with The Savoy, and she confirmed, “we do that especially at the bar.” She added that if a patron steps away from the bar for a moment, they will store their Martini in the fridge until they get back. Sebastian said she had previously used the approach at Artesian, another influential London hotel bar, “and then more and more people started doing it.”
I treasured the Del Diego moment, but did not experience it again until recently, at a bar which is perhaps as close as New York gets to the old-world style of the American Bar: Bemelmans.
I was there on Aug. 22 to meet my friend, bartender and author Frank Caiafa. Frank arrived before I did and took a spot at the end of the bar, where he was chatting with the bartender, a man named Alban Bytyqi. We ordered Martinis, because that’s what you do at Bemelmans. Halfway through my drink, Bytyqi silently swooped in, took my partially finished Martini, deftly poured its contents into a new, chilled glass and set the vessel back down again.
I almost fell off my stool.
I quickly called the bartender back. “Where did you pick up that trick?” I asked him. “At Houston’s,” he said.
Houston’s. I had heard that name recently. It was during a DM conversation with bartender Sarah Morrissey, who is in charge of the drinks program at Le Veau d’Or in Manhattan. She posted a video of her drinking a Martini at the Houston’s location in Bergen County, New Jersey. She told me that switching out old Martini glasses for chilled ones was a “thing” at Houston’s.
I made a mental note of it, and vowed to visit Houston’s soon. But before I could make good on the plan, the Bemelmans coincidence occurred.
Morrissey is obviously as obsessed with this technique as I am. She was a guest on a recent episode of “The Bartender’s Guide to New York,” an Instagram video series hosted by Vinepair editor Tim McKirdy. Asked where the best Martini in the city was, she named Hillstone on Park Avenue South, and mentioned they did the Cold Switcheroo move there.
Hillstone has apparently been at this for some time. Editor Andrew Knowlton wrote about the practice in the April 2016 issue of Bon Appetit. My brother Eric is a fan of Hillstone, too, and has experienced their Martini service in California.
If you’re wondering why both of these upscale national chains, Hillstone and Houston’s, do this same sort of Martini service, the answer is simple: the Hillstone Group of restaurants owns Houston’s. The corporation appears to regard its Hillside and Houston’s restaurants as somewhat interchangeable. The Hillstone Group was formerly called Houston's Restaurants, Inc. And at certain times, locations that used to be called Houston’s were renamed Hillstone. Given this flexibility of persona, it’s no surprise that the Martini swap hopscotched throughout the chains.
Like Morrissey, Bytyqi never worked at Houston’s. He was just a customer and a fan.
“About fifteen years ago I was going often to [Houston’s] for dinner. I am a regular Martini drinking there and love that they serve them in a very chilled glass,” he explained.
Since then, he has made it a practice to switch out Martini glasses wherever he works.
“It is something that I have now been regularly doing for fifteen years in many different locations that I have worked at,” he said. “It has always impressed my guests and made a difference in the way that they enjoy my drinks.” For now, he is the only bartender at Bemelmans doing this, he said.
I hope this Martini twist catches on in more places. I have long been an advocate of Martini coldness and its importance in the success of the cocktail. We serve freezer Martinis at our annual holiday party and I recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal about the lengths to which Hawksmoor in Manhattan goes to bring its house Martini to sub-zero perfection. The Cold Switcheroo technique is just another step in the right direction.
As chance would have it, this year’s announcement of the 50 Best Bars takes place tomorrow, Tuesday, in Madrid. That means that many of the luminaries of the cocktail world (and many The Mix subscribers to boot!) are in that Spanish city right now. I urge all of them to make a beeline to Del Diego to experience the coldest and classiest Martini service in Madrid first hand.
Odds and Ends…
Seven Cocktails and Bourbon in Louisville has a fine vintage spirits program. Moreover, it has an affordable one, with cocktails made from antique spirits rarely going above $30. Recommended is the currently 50/50 after dinner drink of 1970s Zucca Rabarbaro and Cynar. And get the beer cheese if they’re offering it… The Fort Nelson Crusta at The Bar at Fort Nelson remains one of the best cocktails in the country. It is made of Michter’s bourbon, yellow Chartreuse, lemon juice, Demerara syrup, honey, and creole bitters and is the work of David Wondrich… In other Louisville news, longtime favorite The Silver Dollar, which was founded by Larry Rice, is now owned/managed by Brian Downing. Downing moved to Louisville specifically to get into the bourbon industry and his first job was at The Silver Dollar… Vinepair announced the winners of their 2024 Next Wave Awards. Recipients include Garret Richard (Bartender of the Year), Erick Castro (Drinks Professional of the Year), Clover Club (Industry Icon) and Shinji’s (Drinks Program of the Year). The awards ceremony is Oct. 24… Westward Whiskey recently marked its 20th year in business by launching Westward Whiskey Milestone (Edition Two), a bottling drawn from a twenty-one-barrel Solera system used exclusively for this offering. The run is already sold out online, though there are a few bottles still available on shelves throughout the country.
Wow, I can’t believe it’s been almost two years since we were in Madrid. What an amazing place! 🍸
This is such an amazing touch for bars & restaurants. I'm a huge proponent of great service being just as important as great cocktails at a bar. We do the chilled martini switch at 4 Charles Prime Rib, Bavette's Bar & Boeuf, Ciccio Mio & Armitage Alehouse. I first got the idea from a Hillstone restaurant- the now closed location on Michigan Avenue. Its such a fun moment for martini lovers!