San Martin, 143 East 49th Street, New York, New York

San Martin is an excellent casual italian restaurant on 49th Street, between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue, in New York City.  Upon entry, you are standing in the bar, which, although small, tends to have more than its share of colorful characters.  The staff is extremely friendly and helpful.  The scent of fine expertly prepared dishes fills the room.

San Martin takes great pride in its martinis, as well as everything else.  When I ordered my regular (Ketel One martini, up, three olives, no vermouth), Carlos, the bartender, chilled the glass to a frostly perfection, poured the Ketel One vodka into a tall glass full of ice, and used a long spoon to manually and aggressively stir the contents to its optimal icy cold temperature.

Needless to say, the martini was fantastic and rates a 10 of 10.  Great job, Carlos.

I want to thank Roberto and Jeb for introducing me to San Martin and for making this venue one of our regular meeting spots.

Cheers

If You Want Vodka In the Worst Possible Way . . .

While on a recent family visit in the Detroit, Michigan metropolitan area, I went to a local liquor store to pick up martini supplies.  As I prefer potato vodkas, of which I find very few, I was pleased to find a brand with respect to which I had no familiarity.  The vodka, an Austrian vodka named Vodka Monopolowa, comes in an unadorned bottle with an off-white label and dark blue simple lettering.

One sample is all it takes . . . this stuff will thin paint, remove rust, remove hair, and clean drains.  Under no circumstances should anyone, anyplace, at any time, attempt to consume this diesel derivative.  I am surprised that my martini glass didn't dissolve upon contact.

In short, if you want vodka in the worst possible way, try Vodka Monopolowa.

The National, 557 Lexington Avenue New York, New York

The National is located between 50th and 51st Streets in Manhattan.  The location is great and ambiance is warm, easily lending the bar to leisurely after-work cocktails.   I have always found the salads particularly good.

A partner of mine at New World Merchant Partners and I recently found ourselves at the bar and ordered my standard martini.  He ordered the same, but with a twist in the place of olives.  I found the martinis small, especially for the price, marginally shaken, not quite cold enough, and frankly a bit watered down, at least in flavor.  My partner would not have provided as favorable a description.

I would rate the martinis at The National a 4 of 10 - not undrinkable, but not nearly as pleasurable an experience as I have come to expect, especially for one of the pricier cocktails.

Cheers.

W Hotel, 49th and Lexington, New York, New York

Besides being one of my most frequent business haunts, having exceptional facilities, and having an amazing staff, the W Hotel at 49th Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan makes a spectacular martini based upon our control criteria.  I have had the pleasure of consuming these perfect martinis in the W's Heartbeat Restaurant and Lounge (Thank you, Pete and Tang), in the Living Room Lounge (Thank you Maria), and in Whiskey Blue, the upscale trendy bar (Thank you everyone  ;-)).

Martinis at the W have that "certain something", are shaken to perfection with swirling tiny bubbles and ice crystals, are not contaminated with vermouth, and are served a few degrees above absolute zero.  The glass will, on occasion, actually frost, not from the chilling of the glass, but from the beverage.

To boot, the martinis at the W have been super-sized for your pleasure.

Accordingly, the W is our first winner with a 10 of 10.  I highly recommend the location and the drink.

Cheers.

The Control

In order to ensure that my rating system has a degree of consistency and objectivity, I am using a control:

Ketel One Vodka
Up
No Vermouth
Three Olives (fewer if larger olives are used)
Shaken, Not Stirred.

I may comment on non-control martinis, as well, but in order to determine relative quality, I believe that the objectivity provided by a "control" will be beneficial to our ultimate results.  Or, I may just be angling to try more martinis.

Objective

My name is Robert Steven Brown and I am a founder and Managing Director of New World Merchant Partners LLC.  Throughout my business and personal life I have had the distinct pleasure of sampling, sometimes to excess, vodka martinis. The objective of this blog is to catalogue and rate the vodka martini served at the numerous establishments at which I have had the opportunity to partake.   Please feel free to offer your comments, good, bad, appropriate, inappropriate, or otherwise.  I promise you that I shall take no offense.  My objective to to identify the venue which serves THE BEST VODKA MARTINI.

Cheers.

Bob Brown

For more information on me, please see about.me/rsbrown and newworldmp.com/robert-steven-brown.aspx.