If you try to talk to talk to anyone under the age of 40 about the old tradition of “Three-Martini Lunches” made famous again by retro shows like Mad Men, you’ll often be met with incredulous stares. “Three cocktails at lunch?! I’d never make it back to the office after that!”
And while it’s probably not a great idea to be boozing it up at midday and head back into the OR afterwards, you also have to know that martinis were pretty much the cocktail of choice in the decades before the turn of the century. They were also quite different from today’s standard martini.
First of all, most of them were made with gin. A vodka martini wasn’t really much of a thing back then. If you wanted vodka and vermouth, there was a name for that cocktail: It’s called a kangaroo. If you’re one of those people who like to joke about making your vodka martinis [sic] so dry that you want the bartender to wave the glass in the general direction of France instead of actually adding any vermouth, then just order a cold glass of vodka. There’s no shame in that game.
The other key difference in 20th-century martinis was the size of the glass. Before Sex in the City popularized drinking cosmos and martinis out of gigantic glasses better suited for frozen margaritas at Señor Frog's, cocktail glasses and coupes were designed to hold just 3 to 4 ounces so that drinks would stay cold from start to finish. (Note: As long as we’re being sticklers, it’s called a cocktail glass, not a martini glass.)
Three kangaroos and the Prime Steak Martini
You never want to fill a cocktail glass or a coupe to the rim, because that’s just asking for spillage, so a classic Martini usually has only about 1.5 ounces of gin and maybe a half-ounce of lower-ABV vermouth. That means it was actually quite doable to enjoy three of them during the course of a leisurely lunch or as a wind-down before dinner at home.
Halls Chophouse in Midtown has always had a classic vibe, and they’re leaning into the concept of a retro lunch with a new special deal on Thursday, Friday and Saturday between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. They’ve developed a new Three Martini Lunch menu with select items paired with three 2-ounce martinis, made with (sigh) Wheatley Vodka and garnished with olives, blue cheese olives or a lemon twist.
Pair the three kangaroos with an Allen Brothers Steak hot dog for $25, a Prime ribeye steak sandwich for $35 or an 8-ounce petite filet for $70. They’re also offering what they call a “Prime Steak Martini” for $30. Completely demolishing the definition of a martini, this dish is a large cocktail glass filled with whipped potatoes and gravy, topped with a pepper sauce and slices of filet.
I’m not mad about it.
