A Dirty Martini is a safe go-to cocktail; hard to mess up what is essentially a cupful of olive brine with an splash or two of vodka and maybe some vermouth in it. Hard to improve on, too – or so we thought. This Martini Oaxaqueño, the gem of the cocktail menu from the now-closed Cala restaurant in San Francisco, has proven us wholly wrong.
The star of the show is the olive brine, and it can’t be just any brine. Cala got theirs from Castelvetrano olives, a buttery, unctuous type that has a less-salty brine than other types of green olives. Smoky mezcal makes up the backbone of the drink, tempered by the rich sweetness of Mandarine Napoleon, a brandy-based mandarin liqueur. If you can’t find this, Grand Marnier is the next best thing, but a good triple sec will do in a pinch. Fennel bitters are the cherry on top, but also the most difficult ingredient of all to source; you’re not missing too much if you sub in Creole or aromatic bitters of your choice.
