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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?<\/p>\n
Liz Rymarev\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
Four days ago in Dallas, I turned down a dirty martini<\/a> for the first time in a while.<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t 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\u2019t want a martini? he asked. I felt like I\u2019d said no to a sparkly piece of jewelry.<\/p>\n In a way, I had: Dating back over 100 years, martinis became cocktail royalty with James Bond\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n So why didn\u2019t I want a martini, this one peppery from the olives, funky from the blue cheese? I\u2019ve started to choose my martini moments \u2014 nights when I\u2019m channeling a sequins-and-heels look, not sweatpants and sneakers. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Chronicle wrote this week that \u201cmartinis are over.\u201d<\/a> Martinis have hit their peak, Restaurant Critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan argued in a gasp-worthy piece. \u201cAhead, only decay and irrelevance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Delilah’s dirty martini is called the Dirty Designer. It comes with more to pour\u00a0on the side.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Could it be? It seems impossible this popular cocktail would fall out of trend in Dallas. I asked three\u00a0Dallasites who sell a lot of martinis if the forecast matches reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n No way, they said. At least, not in Dallas.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s like saying, \u2018Are pants going out of style?\u2019 Maybe they\u2019re worn differently, they\u2019re cut differently. But they\u2019re still pants. And we\u2019re still wearing them,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n Goodwins co-owner Austin Rodgers agreed. \u201cThe allure of the martini is not going anywhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the most recognizable drink in the world,\u201d said Dallas bar director Rub\u00e9n Rol\u00f3n. \u201cWe keep ordering olives, and we keep running out of them.\u201d 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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, \u201cMartinis are not a personality<\/a>,\u201d that makes fun of retail items like martini pajamas and \u201cextra dirty\u201d tote bags that have become part of mainstream culture. Maybe that\u2019s 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<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Oh no. Somebody pour me a stiff drink.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n While you\u2019re at it, add some olives.<\/p>\n Bar director Rub\u00e9n Rol\u00f3n opened Colette, a bar in Dallas’ West Village, in late 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chitose Suzuki\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Related: 6 fabulous martinis to drink in Dallas right now<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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