Shrimp cocktail martini, anyone? Vernick Fish’s new menu blurs the line between appetizer and drinks
Vernick Fish debuts a collection of food-inspired martinis, that range from a literal shrimp cocktail to ones inspired by their endive salad and sardine toast.
Typically, when you order a shrimp cocktail, you’re presented with a cluster of juicy, cold, poached shrimp, perhaps arranged around a cocktail glass. But now at Vernick Fish, a shrimp cocktail might be an actual cocktail.
Greg Vernick’s slick, eponymous temple to seafood, located on the ground floor of the Four Seasons, has never had a house martini before. Their most popular martini thus far has been Grey Goose with bleu-cheese stuffed olives, but the cocktail has hardly come to define Vernick Fish’s menu — at least, not in contrast to their just-debuted martini menu.
The Tidal Brine ($34) consists of Japanese Haku Vodka, which is made from rice and filtered through bamboo charcoal, Dolin dry vermouth, a gochujang tincture, and an oyster shrimp brine. It’s a “closed loop” cocktail, according to lead bartender Jon Bamonte, who takes the liquid from poaching shrimp for Vernick Fish’s kitchen, doctors it with lemon juice, raw oysters, and salt, putting its pH “back to what an olive brine would be.” It’s executed more or less like a dirty martini, but sans olive brine.
The Coastal Herb ($30) is inspired by Vernick Fish’s endive salad and it’s a bright blend of Botanist gin, dry vermouth, blanched tarragon, and Meyer lemon, shaken up with sunflower seeds. It is served with a tiny endive salad.
The cocktail It Takes Two ($39) explores the tension between oil and alcohol, as a circle of lemon agrumato olive oil — pressed with whole lemons — floats upon the surface of the glass. It’s a lovely balance of Siembra Spirits’ alteno tequila that Bamonte fat-washes with goat’s milk butter, Cocchi Americano, Vago mezcal, tomato, and a burst of lemony olive oil.
Bamonte was inspired by Vernick Fish’s most popular dishes to create the martini menu. “I wanted something fun and more interactive with the actual food side of the menu,” he said.
Each of the three martinis is also paired with a sidecar of a bite that is far more robust than any cocktail garnish: a little sardine toast, a mini endive salad, a plump poached shrimp.
I love the idea of ‘where does the beverage end and where does the dish begin?’
Cocktails in Philly and beyond have been skewing into the savory side of things — like at at Parc, which finally made a dirty martini their house martini last year, Bomb Bomb in South Philly, with their excellent pepperoncini martini, and even at newer restaurants like Lucky Duck, which has a salty onion martini on the menu.
Bamonte agrees. “I think cocktails are becoming more savory. I think Schmuck in New York City [was a big influence], and Double Chicken Please pushed the envelope more.” Double Chicken Please is known for cocktails like Cold Pizza, which features Parmigiano-Reggiano infused tequila and really does taste like cold pizza.
“I love the idea of ‘where does the beverage end and where does the dish begin?’” said Bamonte.
