The San Telmo Martini at PM Fish & Steak challenges the rules of cocktailery with its use of whiskey over tried-and-true spirits.
A dash of orange zest is a finishing touch to PM Fish & Steak’s San Telmo Martini, which also uses fragrant rosemary, in addition to French whiskey, ginger liqueur, lime juice, agave, and apple cider reduction.
Usually it’s bartenders or mixologists who are tasked with conceptualizing and creating a restaurant’s cocktail list, but at PM Fish & Steak, it’s floor manager Bettina De Andrea who’s in charge of what’s poured, shaken, and stirred behind the bar. A bartender by trade, De Andrea spent 12 years mixing libations, first in Boston and New York before landing in Miami, where she tended bar at Garcia’s and Seaspice. “Mixology in Boston is huge; I wanted to bring some of that to Miami.”
PM, named after the neighborhood of Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires, Argentina, opened its doors in Brickell in 2012, making it the first outpost in the US and outside of Mexico (where the Argentine-style steakhouse first opened in 1986). It instantly drew a hip crowd of South Americans looking for a taste of home.
The gargantuan space fuses the old world with a penchant for modern touches. The same can be said of the San Telmo, which blends Bastille, a French whiskey, with raw agave, lime juice, organic apple cider reduction, Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur, and muddled rosemary. “Women [didn’t] normally drink whiskey, but they drink this,” says De Andrea.
Making a whiskey-based martini is a bold move, but throwing rosemary into the mix is even more unorthodox for a classic steakhouse. Says De Andrea, “People see rosemary and they get scared,” although the fragrant herb shouldn’t be feared as it plays well with the Bastille’s robust yet fruity character. Then she adds two ounces of the whiskey—shaken, not stirred. “If I did one ounce, people would say, ‘Where’s my whiskey?’”
Indeed, the generous two-ounce pour of the powerful spirit doesn’t dominate the delicate martini, as heat from the ginger liqueur mingles flawlessly with the buzzing sweetness that both apple cider and agave bring to the glass. The whole thing is capped off with a splash of house Chardonnay (which isn’t listed in the cocktail description). “We all have our secrets,” says De Andrea, who adds a final, but essential, touch of orange zest and a rosemary sprig. 1453 S. Miami Ave., Miami, 305-200-5606