Turf Club

Recipe Description

The first time I tasted an extra dry martini, I thought the fuel at the gas station next door would have been easier to swallow. I was working as a waitress in a dive-y but iconic Italian restaurant in Rockland County called Hilltop (from that hill you could see the Hudson–the City lay just beyond.) I was not of drinking age myself, but in keeping with family tradition I could prove otherwise. The tell of my youth and inexperience, however, was my total inability to choke down a martini.

Fast forward to my banking days and I could down an extra dry gin martini with a twist (ie, a 7 ounce glass of straight gin diluted slightly by the ice used to chill it down) while my co-workers were still deciding what to drink. They always ended up getting what I was having though they were forever one drink behind.

I dragged so many bankers to the Bull & Bear–the iconic but now defunct bar in the Waldorf Astoria in midtown Manhattan next to my office–that on my last day in NY before moving to Texas, something borderline Biblical happened. It was a Friday at happy hour and I thought it would be a nice farewell to the City to take my fiancé to my favorite watering hole. The maitre d’ had no idea this day marked my swan song, yet when I arrived at his packed house he asked me to wait a moment and, like Moses parting the Red Sea, somehow conjured a space in the middle of the room and had his minions roll out from the kitchen a table they quickly set up for me & my awestruck companion and without waiting for our order served us up two Boodles martinis just the way I liked em–extra dry, up with a twist (no need to say stirred not shaken–they were no fools!)

My husband still delights in telling that story and uses it to convince our incredulous kids that their mom was cool once upon a time. Makes me feel good to know he remembers me that way even though I’ve been changing diapers, picking up dog poop and chauffeuring kids to and fro for most of our married life together. Coming up on 25 years of said life, the tables have turned so to speak, and now on the rare occasions when I tag along on one of my husband’s many business trips to London, we end up at the iconic Dukes Hotel, world famous for their martinis, and guess what? No matter how crowded that place is–and it’s always crowded–a spot seems to materialize for us right in the middle of the action.

One thing has not changed, however–the martinis are VERY dry! And once again, I find myself marveling like the under-aged waitress I once was at how anyone can drink one–well, anyone can drink one, but how can anyone drink two??? Still, I miss the moment when that elixir of the gods passes over the lips like Frank the Tank anticipates doing a funnel or as one of my co-waitresses back in the day said of her passion for that first sip, “like the junkie loves the needle.” (Her name was Debbie O’D funny enough.) Because of all these fond memories, I am always looking for a martini variation that hits that spot but doesn’t send me sputtering. The first treasure I found in this quest was the Tuxedo No. 2, and here is the second. The Turf Club. But beware, there are many variations of the Turf Club–this one from foodandwine.com is the winner.