“007 in New York”

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Published:

• The United States: The New York Herald Tribune, 1963 (original title "Agent 007 in New York"),
  Thrilling Cities, 1964.
• Great Britain: The Sunday Times, 1999.

Overview: In this shortest of James Bond stories, 007 travels to the Big Apple to warn a former MI6 employee that her lover is a KGB agent. In the process, Bond discovers that New York City in fact does not have everything.

What does Bond drink? As Bond is taken by limousine to the Astor Hotel, he plans his day in Manhattan. He decides on a trip to 21 “for old times’ sake” (he dined there with Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever), to have a couple of “dry martinis—Beefeaters with a domestic vermouth, shaken with a twist of lemon peel” at the restaurant’s bar. Bond considers dining at Grand Central Station’s Oyster Bar, home of what he considers the best meal in the city, “oyster stew with cream, crackers, and Miller High Life.” Instead, 007 decides on a table at the Plaza Hotel’s Edwardian Room, where he will have a third dry martini, followed by smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. (During his musings he laments the“irritating Wine and Foodmanship” at Chambord and Pavillon.) Fleming includes a footnoted recipe for Scrambled Eggs “James Bond”:

For FOUR individualists: 12 fresh eggs Salt and pepper 5-6 oz. of fresh butter Break the eggs into a bowl. Beat thoroughly with a fork and season well. In a small copper (or heavy-bottomed saucepan) melt four oz. of the butter. When melted, pour in the eggs and cook over a very low heat, whisking continuously with a small egg whisk. While the eggs are slightly more moist than you would wish for eating, remove pan from heat, add rest of butter and continue whisking for half a minute, adding the while finely chopped chives or fines herbes. Serve on hot buttered toast in individual copper dishes (for appearance only) with pink champagne (Taittainger) and low music.

Brand names: Beefeater gin, Miller beer, Taittinger Champagne.

Total: Three. This is based on Fleming’s ending paragraph detailing how Bond’s night went hopelessly awry following his lunch of scrambled eggs. Assuming that everything went according to plan up to that point, it would follow that 007 kept his earlier appointments with his three martinis. (Gin martinis, no less.)