Between the throngs of models lingering outside, European techno-house music emanating from within, and the vibrant bar scene spilling onto the street, upon first glance, Beba appears to be the newest addition to Soho’s ever-expanding nightlife scene. Not to be overshadowed by Balthazar, the storied staple of New York’s hybrid restaurant-nightlife scene just a few doors down, Beba invites diners in with an attractive waitstaff whose glamour is rivaled only by that of its clientele.
Sure enough, on a recent Thursday night, the space hosted a fashion show, with the private dining area on the lower level doubling as a catwalk, and the downstairs bar serving as a makeshift DJ booth. But in contrast to many of its hybrid bar-restaurant peers which focus on cultivating a swank bar scene, Beba is more than just a pretty face.
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Of all the fantastic restaurants in the city, I decided on Freemans as my Supper Club restaurant choice. Why, might you ask? Is the food to die for? No. Is the service impeccable? No. In fact, most of the time you have to wait almost two hours for a table due to their no reservations policy, only to cram in between tables of other diners. Then why in the world would I choose Freemans? Two words–time travel. The moment you step in Freemans’ front door, you leave behind a world filled with iPods, Facebook and Starbucks and are taken back to a time when Abe Lincoln ruled, people traveled by horse and carriage and a man’s favorite pastime was hunting buffalo.
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The Supper Club’s most recent outing took us to Yerba Buena, the East Village location.
The service was anything but Buena. Our group was awkwardly forced to cram in the front corner of the bar while we waited for the restaurant to honor our 8pm reservation on a Wednesday night. Four of the five us were present, and the maître d’ brashly asked how long our final guest would be, as he blatantly wanted to pass our table along to another waiting group. Our waiter too had an attitude problem, smacking his pad against his hands impatiently while we rattled off our orders. He continued to pressure each of us (five dainty females) to order more food.
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Just a few blocks from the bustling crowds of Union Square, Lady Mendl’s, an intimate, Victorian-style tea salon, is tucked away inside a brownstone turned bed and breakfast from 1834. Our supper club convened there on a Sunday afternoon and was immediately charmed by the beautiful and enchanting setting: a cozy fireplace, old world architecture, chaise lounges, fine china and peacock print wallpaper. It’s a girl’s tea-party-dream come true.
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For my supper club dinner I chose to take everyone to the Momofuku Ssam Bar for their signature bo ssam dinner (it’s an entire pork butt that comes with side condiments). It should be noted that the only way to make a reservation at the Momofuku Ssam Bar is to reserve a table for the bo ssam, which costs $200 dollars and is intended for groups between six to ten people. Of course this provided even more incentive to choose this restaurant for my supper club experience.
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Life in New York is hectic. I find that it’s difficult to find the time to see friends for lunch or dinner, let alone get a group together spontaneously to try a new restaurant (reservations are a pain these days!) And so the Supper Club was born. A close group of my gal pals decided to get together every six weeks or so to explore New York’s dining scene.
The best part—each of the eight of us would rotate organizing and planning one dinner. So, if it’s not my turn to be the boss, I just show up, eat, and enjoy the company of my best girlfriends. Because each of our Supper Club dinners have been such special and unique experiences I have invited everyone in our group to take turns guest blogging about our evenings out—the stress of planning and the joys of eating. Keep up on our diverse picks and use them as inspiration to plan your own group outings.
–Melissa Matarese
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The great thing about New York dining is that great meals often come in unusual and unexpected packages. I am an avid reader of the Urbandaddy email newsletter and when I read their write up of the Cardinal Club–a by reservation only multi-course meal served in the decadent East Village backyard of a chef and his girlfriend, Simon and Paula, I knew that it was a must try. After corresponding with the couple via email I set a date for myself and five friends to dine at the couple’s kitchen turned restaurant. Simon and Paula have been bombarded with email requests for reservations after that small bit of press, and their website even crashed for a short time because of the heavy traffic it received.
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