THE MARTINI IS IN : SHAKEN NOT STIRRED.

Byline: Florence Fabricant The New York Times

This is the age of the mutant martini. Drinks called martinis now have sake and cucumber in them, or cranberry juice, or creme de cacao and a chocolate kiss. Whatever happened to your basic gin with vermouth?

People who would not dream of indulging in a three-martini lunch now thrill at the sight of a multiple-martini menu. Mercury, a Miami Beach restaurant, has a list of 29 martinis. Some of them, like the South Beach (Campari, amaretto and orange juice), have nothing to do with a martini except for the glass.

The Lenox Room, Pravda, the Four Seasons Hotel and, of course, Martini's, all in Manhattan, are just a few of the places that have introduced inventive martini lists.

But there is a catch. ``What they think are martinis are not really martinis,'' Dale de Groff, the beverage manager of the Rainbow Room complex, said of modern-day martini drinkers.

The art deco sophistication of the Rainbow Room, along with other high-living trappings of the '30s, '40s and '50s (thick steaks, Guerlain's Shalimar perfume and cigar smoking, to name three), have helped fuel the martini renaissance. ``They're drinking martinis and smoking cigars, even though the two don't go together,'' de Groff said. ``The martini is definitely a cigarette drink.''

Or maybe a cigarette-holder drink.

``You look so much more glamorous holding a martini glass than a glass of white wine,'' said Patricia Barroll, a vice president of Carillon, importers of vodka and gin.

Does it matter what is in the glass? Hard-core purists, the same people who shudder at the thought of hazelnut-raspberry coffee or who would not be caught sipping a frozen banana margarita, insist on what is considered the classic formula: gin and dry vermouth (proportions according to taste), straight up, with a pitted olive or perhaps a twist.

Stirred or shaken? Oh, please.

The stir-shaken issue, popularized by the James Bond films of the 1960s, is a red herring (and at the rate things are going, somebody is bound to experiment with a red herring martini). For Bond himself might even be culpable for what has happened to the martini. He preferred vodka, not gin.

And once the cocktail crowd wanted their martinis with vodka, a neutral spirit that lacks the distinctive - some say medicinal - juniper flavor of gin, there was no turning back.

``You can do more with vodka than with gin,'' said Monika Caha, chef and owner of Candy Bar and Grill, a new restaurant in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, where more than a dozen creative martinis account for about 70 percent of the cocktails sold. ``Inventing a new drink is as much fun as inventing a new sauce. But gin is too strongly flavored and would fight other ingredients. Besides, most Americans do not like the taste of gin. They prefer vodka. We sell 10 times more vodka than gin.''

Unlike many traditional cocktails whose recipes are more or less fixed, the martini, a drink with poorly documented origins that suggest it may have been invented before the turn of the century, has long been a moving target. It took decades for the martini to achieve its distinctive dryness, no more than 1 part vermouth to 5 parts gin, and often 1 to 15, or merely a wave of the open vermouth bottle over the glass of gin. Long before bartenders started in with creme de cacao, the vermouth that was used was sweet, not dry.

The martini has also grown. Ken Aretsky, an owner of Patroon, a clubby new restaurant in midtown Manhattan, said, ``Not only are martinis big, they are also big.'' Old-timers who remember a 4-ounce drink in a 5-ounce glass would not recognize the modern martini. Like caffe lattes, bagels and portions of pasta, martinis have become oversize.

``There was a time, maybe six years ago, when we couldn't even sell a 7-1/2-ounce glass because the restaurants said it was too large,'' said Susan Friend, an owner of Friend & Co., which is the U.S. representative for the German glassware maker Schott Zwiesel. ``Now they want 10- and 12-ounce glasses.''

The larger sizes are also better for food. For the martini has become something to eat. And not just for the olive.

If it's a shrimp cocktail, it might as well be served in a martini glass, like the signature dish at Alva in the Flatiron District. Stingray's, on the Upper West Side, serves a salmon tartar in a martini glass. Ecuadorean ceviche at Bistro Latino in midtown and a vegetable parfait at Canal House in the new SoHo Grand Hotel are also in the glass with the distinctive triangular silhouette.

In San Francisco, Alain Rondelli's calamari martini combines tomato aspic, sauteed calamari, jalapeno chiles, mint, carrot juice and champagne vinegar. Thomas Keller, the chef and owner of the French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., has been serving oysters and shrimp in martini glasses for years.

Some restaurants even use martini glasses for sorbet or other desserts.

``Everything is called a martini nowadays,'' said Caha of Candy Bar and Grill, which also has a seafood martini piled high with shrimp and scallops. ``It just has to be served in a martini glass.'' A big martini glass.

SAKETINI

Adapted from Mirezi.

1 to 2 ounces Chung Ha Korean sake (other types of clear sake, like Japanese Ozeki OR Gekkeikan, can be substituted)

4 to 5 ounces Tanqueray vodka

Ice

1 slice cucumber, unpeeled 

Combine sake and vodka in a cocktail shaker partly filled with ice. Shake briefly or stir briefly in a pitcher containing ice. Proportions of sake and vodka can be adjusted.

Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with cucumber. Makes 1 serving.

NUTRITION INFORMATION PER SERVING: 384 calories; 0 grams fat; 0 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams protein; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 0 milligrams sodium.

JAMES BONDMARTINI

Adapted from Merchants Restaurant.

1 1/2 ounces Smirnoff vodka

1 1/2 ounces Tanqueray gin

1/2 ounce Martini & Rossi extra-dry vermouth

Ice

1/2 ounce Lillet blanc

Twist of lemon peel

Combine vodka, gin, vermouth and Lillet in a cocktail shaker partly filled with ice. Shake briefly OR stir briefly in a pitcher containing ice.

Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with lemon peel. Makes 1 serving.

NUTRITION INFORMATION PER SERVING: 222 calories; 0 grams fat; 0 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams protein; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 1 milligram sodium.

SALMON TARTAR MARTINI WITH

CUCUMBER-MINT SALSA 

Adapted from Stingray.

1/2 cup peeled, seeded, finely diced cucumber

1/2 cup peeled, seeded, finely diced tomato

1 tablespoon finely diced red onion

1 tablespoon finely minced fresh mint leaves

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

12 ounces fresh salmon fillet, skinned

1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon dry mustard

Dash Tabasco sauce OR to taste

4 tablespoons minced chives 

Crisp flatbread OR breadsticks (optional)

Combine cucumber, tomato, onion, minced mint leaves and lime juice in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Cover and refrigerate.

Trim dark flesh from salmon fillet and finely dice salmon into pieces about 1/4-inch square. Transfer to a bowl. Fold in shallots, olive oil, dry mustard, Tabasco sauce and 1 tablespoon minced chives. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate.

Put remaining 3 tablespoons chives on a plate. Moisten rim of a martini glass by dipping upside down into a dish of cool water, then dipping glass into chives. Chives should adhere to moistened rim. Repeat with 3 more martini glasses.

Spoon cucumber-mint salsa into bottom of each glass. Place mound of salmon tartar atop salsa. Serve at once, garnished with a strip of crisp flatbread or breadstick. Makes 4 servings.

NUTRITION INFORMATION PER SERVING: 199 calories; 13 grams fat; 3 grams carbohydrates; 18 grams protein; 50 milligrams cholesterol; 100 milligrams sodium.

ECUADOREAN CEVICHE MARTINI

Adapted from Bistro Latino.

1/2 pound fresh tuna, in 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 pound sea OR bay scallops, in 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 pound medium shrimp, shelled, deveined and halved

Juice of 3 limes 

Juice of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 orange

1 ripe Hass avocado, peeled and diced in 1/2-inch cubes

1/3 cup finely diced red onion

1 cup peeled, finely diced, seeded tomatoes

1 cup tomato juice

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce OR to taste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/3 cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves

Combine tuna, scallops and shrimp in a bowl. Fold in citrus juices. Cover and refrigerate 12 hours.

Just before serving, drain off liquid from seafood and discard. Place seafood in a mixing bowl and add all remaining ingredients.

Serve in chilled martini glasses. Makes 6 servings.

NUTRITION INFORMATION PER SERVING: 212 calories; 8 grams fat; 14 grams carbohydrates; 23 grams protein; 71 milligrams cholesterol; 574 milligrams sodium.

CAPTION(S):

Drawing, Photo

Drawing: (Color) no caption (Martini)

Len DeGroot/Daily News

Photo: The martini is back and the flavor-of-the-month syndrome has accompanied its return. While gin and vermouth still holds sway, some of the new specials include sake martinis and salmon tartare martinis.

David Corio/The New York Times