After my lackluster experience with the Cove Bar's Midway Martini, I felt it was high time I got back in touch with what a Real Martini™ tastes like.
Enter the Carthay Diamond Martini at the Carthay Circle Lounge.
You have your choice of vodka or gin (I went with Hendricks gin), and the whole shootin' works arrives chilled, with three olives on top and a large, diamond-shaped ice cube floating in the glass.
This is a very, very good cocktail: bracing, clear, strong. The martini is a simple drink, but easy to get wrong. The bartenders at the Carthay know how to do it right.
In short: the Carthay Martini is delightful, authentic … and an excellent antidote to the Cosmo-ish ambitions of the Midway Martini. Accept no substitutes.