A cheesesteak martini? Yes, it’s real and you can drink it

Philadelphians bristle — and rightly so — when outsiders reduce our local food culture to cheesesteaks, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love them. And sometimes that love manifests in strange ways: the 510-foot-long cheesesteak, the cheesesteak cheesecake, or one man’s quest to eat 1,000 cheesesteaks (something he achieved and then some).

Now it’s time to welcome a liquid permutation to the canon of weird cheesesteak things. Meet the cheesesteak martini.

“Nobody’s ever done this before,” says Torin Hofmann, bar manager at Lansdale’s Round House (324 W. Main St.) and the spirits whiz behind many of the cocktails on the restaurant’s menu. He scoured the internet to see if anyone had already come up with this particular martini combo — something that wasn’t assured in this new-school martini-celebrating, fat-washed booze-loving world.

One aspect about this drink will appeal to the martini purist’s heart: It’s straight vodka, no vermouth.

There is, however, a lot going on in that vodka. It’s infused with two kinds of steak, sauteed onions, provolone, and Cooper Sharp cheese. The result is cheesesteak juice-colored vodka that glistens with little beads of grease.

When it emerges from behind the bar of Round House, an offshoot of Round Guys Brewing Co., the cheesesteak martini manages to be a mashup of over-the-top and elegant: Ice-cold vodka served in an Nick & Nora glass rimmed with house-made Cooper Sharp cheese sauce and garnished with a crouton, a pearl onion, and a cherry tomato. (It might even be restrained. Round House partner Cody Ferdinand, also of Harleysville’s Butcher and Barkeep and Souderton’s Northbound, “would not let me buy Cheez Whiz to rim the glass,” Hofmann said.)

Infusing the vodka is a twofold process. Hofmann renders fat from New York strip and ribeye in a cast-iron pan, then sautees onions seasoned with cayenne, salt, and pepper. Then he pours about 2 liters of Boardroom vodka right into the pan, lets it cool, removes the solids, and freezes the rest before straining the vodka. (This process is called fat-washing.) Next, the savory vodka spends a night sitting on slices of provolone and Cooper Sharp cheese.

Hofmann first debuted the cheesesteak vodka as a shot, which Round House served during Lansdale’s Eagles-themed First Friday event in September. (“I’m a huge Birds fan, and I can’t think of anything better than drinking a cheesesteak while watching a Birds game,” Hofmann said. “Go Birds!”) It has since transitioned to a $13 martini, only offered during Eagles games.

If a meaty martini is too much for you, tone it down with Round House’s Dirty Dale, a deliciously briny parmesan-infused martini, or go in another direction entirely with one of the playful cocktails on its new fall menu. There’s a frothy pumpkin-infused whiskey-rum sour, a sage molasses-spiked gin drink, and a spiced pear tequila number rimmed with Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Round House, 324 W. Main St., 215-368-2640, theroundhouselansdale.com