Isn't It Romantic? Today's Supper Clubs Serve Up a Hip Mix of Nostalgia and Current Trends
Restaurants USA magazine's final issue was published in September 2002 but these
archived articles remain available for our readers' convenience.
Restaurants USA, December 1997
Like martinis and cigars, supper clubs--the hip hangouts of yesteryear--are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. The new clubs play tribute to the classic elements of the old concepts, while showcasing the latest trends in food and music.
By Ira Apfel
Supper clubs conjure up nostalgic images of gilded ballrooms, Big Band music and dancing cheek to cheek. This concept is enjoying renewed popularity as consumers—motivated by a growing desire to dine at theme restaurants and a craving for the romance and glamour of decades past—look for an upscale form of “eatertainment.”
While today’s supper clubs pay tribute to the clubs of yesteryear, they have also smartly transformed themselves to keep up with the times. These operations are likely to feature vibrant postmodern decors, menus influenced by the latest food trends, Latin jazz and a sophisticated ambience that attracts diners of all ages.
“Supper clubs are an old concept enjoying a new popularity, along with martinis and cigars,” says Caitlin Storhaug, director of media relations for the National Restaurant Association. “Both Generation Xers and baby-boomers are finding that supper clubs are not only good for dining but for an evening of entertainment.”
Among the supper clubs riding the wave of resurgence are the Moonlight Supper Club in Los Angeles, The Supper Club in New York City, Harlow’s Restaurant and Nightclub in Sacramento, California, and Yuca in Miami. All four restaurants are well grounded in the two defining supper-club features: upscale dining and dancing. After that, their individual concepts take them in wildly different directions. Harlow’s serves Italian food with Asian overtones. Yuca has a strong Cuban influence. Moonlight Supper Club’s decor and menu were inspired by the Las Vegas “Rat Pack” scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s and bordellos from the turn of the century. Meanwhile, New York’s The Supper Club steers the most traditional course, favoring a return to the supper club’s heyday of the 1930s and 1940s.
The changes are working. In the last two years The Supper Club’s a la carte dining has increased 50 percent, while Yuca is usually sold out on the weekends. Supper clubs, it seems, are cool hot spots once again.
Dining, dancing, toasting and smoking
Why are diners returning to supper clubs? Supper clubs are benefiting from the cigar-and-classic-cocktail trend sweeping the country. After all, if you like smoking stogies and sipping martinis, what place is more appropriate than a retro-hip supper club?
All four restaurants mentioned rely heavily on classic cocktails and cigars to attract patrons. Moonlight and The Supper Club have extensive cocktail menus and cigar lists. MoMo Lounge—a separate area in Harlow’s Restaurant and Nightclub—also offers cigars. “It’s the same period [the 1940s] that people are trying to capture,” says Moonlight owner Lenetta Kidd. “Cocktails are fun things because of the shape and design of the glasses and the shakers that go with it.”
In view of the restaurant’s heavy Cuban influence, it’s no surprise that Yuca sells cigars. But owner Efrain Veiga adds, “We were cigar-friendly long before the current craze started. Back when we opened in 1988 we had a humidor.”
Another reason for the resurgence of supper clubs is their convenience for diners. “People want to be able to eat, drink and dance at the same place,” says Veiga, who co-owns Yuca with former professional baseball player Billy Bean.
Pietro Torza, chef/owner of Harlow’s Restaurant and Nightclub, adds, “People can come here and cover all the bases and not have to go around to other places. It’s like one-stop shopping entertainment.”
Dining in style
Perhaps the biggest reason why supper clubs are striking a chord with diners is their ambience. Simultaneously cool and warm, supper clubs are great places for diners to kick back with their significant others for an evening of fine dining, entertainment and conversation.
“I would say there’s a need for our society to go back to romanticism, what all the ’40s used to be,” says Andre Cortes, general manager of The Supper Club, which opened in 1991. “Everybody goes to work and stresses, and the music of the 1990s is very stressful. It’s time to step back and bring back the romanticism of the 1940s and 1930s. You’ll feel like you’re with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.”
“When we opened nine years ago, there was nothing like it in Los Angeles,” says Kidd, who recently bought the Moonlight Supper Club after managing it for seven-and-a-half years. “Back then, there were open kitchens with the chef as entertainment, and there were discos that were intimidating and not easy to talk in. Nothing bridged the gap.”
“There’s a sense of community at supper clubs,” adds Kidd. “People want to see real, live entertainment. They’ve watched television for a long time now, and they want something different.”
Redoing retro style
The decor and menu play a large part in creating the right atmosphere for a supper club. The Supper Club, for example, features Art Deco styling with cobalt-blue walls and red-velvet canopies over velvet-lined private booths. The menu features dishes from the 1930s and 1940s, including “Lobster Bisque Soup” and “Steamed Maine Lobster Thermidor.”
Kidd researched supper-club menus and decor from the early 1960s all the way back to the early 20th century for inspiration when she was remodeling the Moonlight Supper Club. In a nod to the Las Vegas lounge scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s—when Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. ruled the Strip—the menu features several items prepared tableside, including salads and flaming drinks.
While conducting her research, Kidd also learned that the predecessor to supper clubs was the turn-of-the-century bordello, which sold items with such names as “Oyster Purse” and “Asparagus and Ambush.” Both dishes are featured on Moonlight’s menu. “LA is the city of clubs du jour,” says Kidd. “You have to capture the imagination of people.”
Yuca uses an ethnic cuisine, in this case Cuban, as a point of departure. “We have the traditional elements combined with French-nouvelle and California cuisines,” says Veiga.
Singing for your supper
The linchpin of any good supper club is its entertainment. Dancing cheek to cheek to the music of a multipiece orchestra and a sultry vocalist is ubiquitous supper-club entertainment. But today’s supper clubs often offer ballroom dancing of a different sort. The big bands that play at The Supper Club feature salsa, mambo and cha-cha music. The music at Harlow’s Restaurant and Nightclub ranges from salsa to swing to reggae to R&B.
Besides owning the Moonlight, Kidd sings there as well, with a four-piece combo as backup. Kidd’s act even features singing, choreographed waitresses and waiters. Because the Moonlight is located in Los Angeles, celebrities such as Cybill Shepherd, Nell Carter, Vicki Carr and Christine Ebersole have stopped by to sit in with the Moonlight’s 19-piece Big Band. And in keeping with the supper club’s Las Vegas feel, Friday and Saturday nights feature the music of lounge singers from that era, including Tony Bennett, Louis Prima and Peggy Lee.
Yuca prides itself on its entertainment. A few years ago Veiga hired Albita Rodriguez to sing during happy hour, and she quickly developed a large following. Veiga began featuring Rodriguez, Yuca drew huge crowds as a result, and Rodriguez was eventually signed to record for Gloria Estefan’s recording label. In addition, jazz trumpeter Herb Albert recently played his first gig in five years at Yuca, to a capacity crowd.
The Supper Club features a 17-piece big-band orchestra that plays until midnight on the weekend; at midnight a West-Coast swing band comes on that plays until 4 a.m. Other supper clubs hire disk jockeys to keep the music going after the bands have stopped.
Romance for every age
Supper clubs are attracting a diverse clientele, these restaurateurs say. “There’s no average age,” says Andre Cortes. “Our clientele goes from 20 years old to 60 or 80. Private parties, such as weddings and showers, are also big business.”
Lenetta Kidd even sees teenagers at the Moonlight. “Kids in high school will choose Moonlight for their prom,” she says. “Or they’ll come to swing dance with their parents. It’s very cute.”
“We definitely get a mix of patrons. When we have a swing band, we get kids who dress the part, and 50- and-60-year-olds. When we play ’70s dance music, we get kids as well as people [who are reliving their youth]. There’s definitely an ongoing interest,” says Pietro Torza.
The key to keeping the customers dining and dancing, say these operators, is to find the right mix of old and new, and blend the retro-hip with the hot new trends.
Back to top
National Restaurant Association © Copyright. All rights reserved.
Reprint with permission only.
Ira Apfel is a staff writer at the National Restaurant Association.
© Copyright 2009 National Restaurant Association. All rights reserved.
RSS Feeds