Martinis are a best-selling cocktail at plenty of Dallas bars. According to tastemakers outside Texas, martinis are no longer the “it” drink. Do we agree, Dallas drinkers?
Liz Rymarev/Staff Photographer
Four days ago in Dallas, I turned down a dirty martini for the first time in a while.
I wasn’t in the mood for a salty cocktail that yells its existence with every icy sip. A glass of white wine seemed kinder. And calmer. My husband stopped, mid-cocktail shake in our kitchen, a trio of skewered blue cheese olives lying unclaimed nearby. You don’t want a martini? he asked. I felt like I’d said no to a sparkly piece of jewelry.
In a way, I had: Dating back over 100 years, martinis became cocktail royalty with James Bond’s shaken-not-stirred directive, then celebrated for decades as a gesture of sophistication and class. In the past few years, martinis of all kinds have become the drink of Dallas. Darn near everybody at Goodwins and Goose Bar, conjoined martini haunts on Greenville Avenue, is drinking espresso martinis, dirty martinis, pickle martinis and sport pepper martinis.
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So why didn’t I want a martini, this one peppery from the olives, funky from the blue cheese? I’ve started to choose my martini moments — nights when I’m channeling a sequins-and-heels look, not sweatpants and sneakers. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Chronicle wrote this week that “martinis are over.” Martinis have hit their peak, Restaurant Critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan argued in a gasp-worthy piece. “Ahead, only decay and irrelevance.”
Delilah’s dirty martini is called the Dirty Designer. It comes with more to pour on the side.
Juan Figueroa/Staff Photographer
Could it be? It seems impossible this popular cocktail would fall out of trend in Dallas. I asked three Dallasites who sell a lot of martinis if the forecast matches reality.
No way, they said. At least, not in Dallas.
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“That’s like saying, ‘Are pants going out of style?’ Maybe they’re worn differently, they’re cut differently. But they’re still pants. And we’re still wearing them,” said Gabe Sanchez, owner of Black Swan Saloon in Dallas and a 2026 James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service for his work at Midnight Rambler.
Goodwins co-owner Austin Rodgers agreed. “The allure of the martini is not going anywhere,” he said.
“It’s the most recognizable drink in the world,” said Dallas bar director Rubén Rolón. “We keep ordering olives, and we keep running out of them.” He works at Dallas restaurant group Feels Like Home, which owns Uptown Dallas cocktail bar Colette, Japanese restaurant Namo, sandwich shop The Bread Club and 1-star Michelin restaurant Mamani.
Olives have become the pop-culture symbol for the martini (despite that martinis come in many varieties, including those garnished with a lemon twist or cocktail onion). I bristled at a recent Slate story, “Martinis are not a personality,” that makes fun of retail items like martini pajamas and “extra dirty” tote bags that have become part of mainstream culture. Maybe that’s where I started to feel peer-pressured about martinis jumping off the cool-kid cliff. Because, well, I own a pair of socks with olives embroidered on the ankles.
Oh no. Somebody pour me a stiff drink.
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While you’re at it, add some olives.
Bar director Rubén Rolón opened Colette, a bar in Dallas’ West Village, in late 2023.
Chitose Suzuki/Staff Photographer
Related: 6 fabulous martinis to drink in Dallas right now
Rolón once disliked martinis because of their popularity, but he finds his customers continue to love them. Colette’s menu includes some of the most inventive cocktails in Dallas, yet its porn star martini is its top seller — twice as popular as its No. 2 cocktail. Rolón makes this scandalous-sounding martini, which is popular nationwide, with passion fruit, lemon and vodka. The porn star martini comes with a glass of sparkling wine on the side.
If you’re flinching at the name, Rolón has plenty of other creative cocktails, like the Eau De Ranch: banana water added to tequila washed in coconut oil and togarashi, which all gets carbonated. This tangy, spicy, spritzy drink could suit tired martini drinkers. Just know: More Dallas drinkers are opting for the martini.
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Rolón understands. “As I get older,” he said, “simple things are so much better.”
A martini at Tango Room in the Dallas Design District can come with caviar. Fancy!
Sarah Blaskovich/Staff
Let’s follow the money. Martini sales at Goodwins didn’t change much from last summer to this summer, Rodgers said. One category shifted: Espresso martinis dipped, with 1,100 sold in June 2026 after 1,800 in June 2025. It appears Goodwins’ customers are choosing savory martinis at dinnertime over caffeine-laden espresso cocktails this year. (I approve. How did they sleep after all that espresso?)
Dallas has never been quick to quit a trend. So I’m calling it: The martini isn’t going anywhere, even if I’m drinking it less often.
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“Real martini drinkers are completely unconcerned,” Sanchez said.
You’re going to have to pry that cold, stiff martini glass out of our cold, stiff hands.