ASSIGNMENT: On October 19th, 2002, the members of the Commanders Club undertook to locate the best 007 martini in San Francisco's Nob Hill, our California analogue to Mayfair. We have compiled our mission notes and raw scores, to give the reader traveling to Nob Hill a concise action plan to locate and enjoy the best martini in the spirit of 007, based firmly on the classic Fleming criteria.
Take the 007 Martini Tour of Nob Hill. View the raw scores by criteria.
The Objective: Locate the
venue which serves serves the best martini once given the order "Medium dry Vodka martini, shaken not stirred.
Twist of lemon peel." Note this is not the same as the "James Bond Martini", which only shows up once, in
Fleming's first novel. Subsequent instances followed the more traditional order above.
The Motivation: This note
from M set the assignment into motion. It also doesn't hurt that this mission
was undertaken in the year of the 50th anniversary of Bond, and
a time for reflection upon all that entails.
Summary: This was a rather arduous assignment, in spite of its rather enviable premise. The venues all received cryptic advance communication regarding our visit. The interpretation of the tradition 007 martini order was left to the discretion of their bar staff, and not overly directed by our agents in the field. We accepted no comps (nor were offered any) and paid for all orders from H.M. Office of the Exchequer.
The Venues: The (00)7
great lounges of Nob Hill: Click on "Objectives" to visit.
Incidental Intellgience:
"Why did James Bond
want his martini shaken, and not stirred?" (straightdope.com)
"James
Bond's martini is the healthy option." (netlondon.com)
"Experiments
leave scientists shaken, not stirred." (ananova.com)
"Martinis, Bond's drink of choice." (007forever.com)
