September 3, 2025 • 51 mins
Members clubs are operating behind closed doors all around the country, serving dinner rolls in red basements or sushi high in the sky. They’re secretive, they attract big deal chefs and bigger deal clientele, and they will kick you out for taking pictures of Jodie Foster. When is access to these private restaurants or parties worth the fee? In this episode, Hannah and Bryan assess the current “it” members clubs and the restaurant arms race to partner with them.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
As a New Yorker, I amsurrounded by members clubs.
They are slowly and kindof secretly taking over the certain section of New York
nightlife and diningClubs are out, members' clubs are in.
I find the people who go tothese places fascinating,
and I just always wantto know more about them.
I mean,
some of 'em have to be fun if peopleare paying so much money to go there,
(00:22):
but I know intrinsically thatI get icked out by the idea
of them. I know that.
Which is what's the idea?
The idea is you're goingto pay a fee of at least
a couple hundred if not a couple thousand,
if not a couple tens of thousanddollars to join this place that
maybe they have amenities,
(00:44):
but it's kind of just likea restaurant that only rich
people are allowed to go to.
Welcome. This is Restaurant People,
the show for people who eat atrestaurants sometimes from Infatuation.
Hi, I'm Hannah Albertine,
senior editor at Infatuation and amember of the Bryan Kim Fan Club.
(01:06):
I'm Bryan Kim, editorial leadfor Infatuation in New York City,
and I'm a member of theNew York Public Library.
Today on restaurant people. We're talkingabout membership clubs. What are they?
Who are the members? What arethe fees and is it worth it?
Is exclusivity a passingfad or the future of dining?
First, we'll take a deep dive into thehottest membership clubs right now.
(01:27):
Then we'll talk to a member of one ofthe hottest and hardest to get into clubs
in New York City and find out if becominga member has lived up to the hype.
Finally,
we'll talk about our personal experiencestouring and eating at a few of these
clubs and give you our honest reviews.
For those of you who don't knowanything about membership clubs,
this is an episode for you.
Or if you know so much about them andyou want to fact check us and get mad at
(01:49):
us and yell in the comments, welcome.
Or just disagree with our opinions.On membership clubs that we now have.
We do have strong opinions.
We do have strong opinions.
With that. Let's get into it.
Members clubs. They're tooelusive. They're too secretive,
and we did a lot ofresearch into what they are,
why people are going,whether they're worth it.
(02:10):
Why can't you take pictures in any of 'em?
Seems so strange.
Very shady.
I know you've been studying membershipclubs and the history of membership clubs
and different clubs around theworld. What can you tell me?
So membership club cultureis originally rooted in
London,
so we're talking like gentleman'sclubs where aristocrats could drink
(02:32):
and be merry without the eyesand ears of the commoners.
And this is back in the1600s and the 1700s.
Some of them still exist and in a lotof cases you have to be recommended by
someone who's a member and thena second person who's a member.
So it's really at least started as a,
if you know you know,not quite royal level,
(02:55):
but the level down of wealthyelite people in cities.
And still today they're kind oflike country clubs in the city
and America has lots ofold members clubs still.
Have you heard about any ofthe old New York clubs before?
Yeah, for sure. Let's see. New York,
(03:15):
we have the Union Club.
Union Club's one that is still aroundtoday. Do you know when it opened?
I assume during the Civil War.
Before 1836.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
Whoa.
But then, okay, and then wehad kind of the Harmony Club,
which was founded in 1852,
but then the Union League Club 1863.
(03:37):
Do you know how the UnionLeague Club came about?
They were Abraham Lincoln's groupies.
Yeah, pretty much. They were like, Hey,
what's with all theseconfederates in the Union Club?
We're going to start our own club.
Women and black people were not ledinto these clubs Until seventies and
eighties. That's whatwe're dealing with. Oh,
one of the old Londonclubs was called Whites,
which I think tells you everything.
(03:57):
Oh, whites, that's horrifying.
You should see the membership listand a list of previous members at the
Knickerbocker Club. It's allCount Baron, Calvin Coolidge,
Franklin Roosevelt.
Oh, Calvey Cool.
One of my note here says, *****don't even have a website.
So that's how fancy you are.
If you don't even have a website,
(04:18):
you have no worries aboutmembership or membership fees. Wow.
People get mad aboutrestaurants, about phones.
Hot stuff.
This is a membershipclub without a website.
Count Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Oh sure.
Of the Austro-German noble familythe Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Oh no.
Was a member there.
Oh my God.
This is according toWikipedia, by the way.
(04:39):
Your favorite.
Publicly available information.
So that's one kind of club, old school,
university clubs. Thereare sports clubs of course,
and then there's thiscontemporary contingent of
members clubs. Are those similar tothe old school clubs in your opinion?
Break down the sort of difference there.
(05:01):
The new ones are definitely, Ithink more dining focused people.
They're more foodies nowadays.Everybody cares about food.
Go to a restaurant is ZZ'sClub from the major food group.
There's The Ned in NoMad,there's the Twenty Two.
Not that people didn't careabout good food back in the day.
I think that still was a bigpart of some of these clubs.
Yes. For example,
(05:21):
there's a place in London calledthe National Liberals Club and
our editorial lead,
Jake knows a lot about these clubsand he sort of gave me the scoop.
So this National Liberals Club hasa restaurant where they serve this
three course menu for 45 pounds wherethe second course you eat grilled calves
(05:41):
liver with creamed potatoes.
And the first course is asummer pea arancini with a lemon gel and the wines are
being paired. They're like New Zealandwines, all of them, which is ridiculous.
And then I asked Jake about, I said,oh, the price seems pretty reasonable.
45 pounds for lunch, threecourses. And he said, yeah,
it's less about the price and more abouthow **** incinerated the meal will be.
(06:05):
So old school clubs doesn't seemlike food is the main draw or
even restaurants and diningBut these newer clubs,
some of them are basically supper clubs.
And I think the way that Ithink about our current clubs,
you have two categories. Oneis lifestyle, convenience,
one stop shop, a Soho House is an example,
(06:26):
and some like a place called CasaCipriani in New York has in addition
to clubs, bars, restaurants,they have a gym,
they have a spa, they have aplace where you can cowork,
a place where you can get coffee meetings.That's one kind of member's club.
But then you have aplace like Chez Margaux,
which doesn't have any amenities asidefrom eating and drinking basically.
(06:48):
Yeah, those seem to be kindof the hotter ones nowadays.
You do have ones openingup with workspaces,
There is definitely this restaurantArms race happening with a lot of these
clubs. The Chez Margaux,ZZ's, Casa Cipriani.
Yeah. All have thisassociated restaurant figure.
You have Jean George is doingthe food at Chez Margaux in
(07:11):
New York, ZZ's Club, whichis run by major food group.
They in addition to theworld's first and only private
Carbone, that's the languagethey use on their website,
which I think is so funny.
Private Carbone.
World's first private Carbone?They have a Japanese restaurant,
they have a cigar lounge,
they have a glamorous lounge showcasinga range of music programming.
(07:34):
That's a quote and it's in Hudson Yards.
I want to join ZZ's Club say howmuch am I going to have to pay?
Well, Bryan, it depends. Do you wantto join as an individual member?
Yeah, I think so.
Okay, so you are lookingat, for the New York Club,
a $20,000 initiation fee and thenevery year you got to pay $10K.
That is nuts. It's nuts.
(07:56):
So what if I wanted tojoin with my spouse?
Yeah, you would just be lookingat a cool $30,000 initiation
and still $10K a year.
Okay. So best case scenario,
I'm paying $30K to join this clubIn large
part because it has a private Carbone.
Why wouldn't you just find the Carbonedoor person and give them a thousand
(08:19):
dollars.
Way cheaper way? That'sa way cheaper method.
Hey, let me in whenever.
Just give me a ring when reservationsopen up a thousand bucks.
I think they'd stillsay no though, honestly.
Really?
Yeah, because they'regetting people to pay $30K.
Alright, well this is $30K, so then $10K,$10K to the Carbone host.
But at that point you might aswell just join a different club.
Yeah, you're right. Speaking of differentclubs, if you cannot afford ZZ's,
(08:42):
if you can't afford the $30K, don'tworry. Casa Cipriani's, gotcha.
Oh yeah, how much does thatcost and what is that place?
So Casa Cipriani is part of theCipriani groups and it is their private
club in the seaport area,
downtown Manhattan FiDi all the wayat the bottom where the ferries are.
It's a stone's throw from the StatenIsland ferry. Not a lot of overlap though,
(09:03):
I think between Staten IslandFerry riders and Casa Cipriani.
You never know.
I never know.
You never know. But probably not.
If you want to join Casa Cipriani and
explore the clubhouseand hotel with lacquered
mahogany walls and Loropiana fabric on the walls.
(09:24):
Then you will have to pay 3,900 annual fee
plus a one-time initiation fee of 2000.
That's just for a standard membership.So that's going to run you 5,900 total,
including the inIitiation.
Well, that's a lot cheaper than ZZ's.
As with many of these clubs. It's alittle bit cheaper if you're under 30,
but yes, it is a lot cheaper than ZZ's.
(09:46):
Someone who I talked to who works inhospitality partnerships said that Zero
Bond is the club with the strongestmasculine energy in New York City.
She says the food kind of sucks.There's a sushi restaurant.
There's this one iconic chocolate chipcookie that people seem to be very
excited about.
(10:07):
I mean their fee is justabout the same as the others.
It is $3,850 per year
A thousand dollars initiation fee.
So 48 50 is what you're going to haveto pony up for Zero Bond currently,
unless you're over 45, in which caseit gets a little more expensive.
And from what I've heard,
(10:27):
this person says that they throw goodparties if you want to go to a Halloween
party, if you want to go to a derby party,
I don't know exactly what thatmeans or a New Year's Eve party,
they throw good parties.
So it sounds like the best way to go toZero Bond is to be a guest rather than
pay for it.
Yeah. I might secretly bethe best way to enjoy all.
Of these clubs.
(10:47):
And these.
Clubs for sure.
But it's not just a NewYork City thing. No,
there are private clubsopening around the country.
That's right.
Is there anything you cantell me about those? Hannah.
I'll go back to Londonfor a second. In London,
there's this place called The Groucho,
and when I asked Jake our editorial leadin London, if the food was good there,
(11:09):
he said, honey, you don'teat at the grout show.
It's a strict drinking andsnorting zone, but there is food.
There's also a place calledAnnabele's in London,
which Jake says is for questionablecelebs and disgraced politicians.
Oh, interest.
Which would you rather hang out at?
I guess Annabel's.
Yeah, I'd rather eat.
(11:32):
Yeah. Okay. What else you got for me?
Okay, well in LA, LA is whereSan Vicente Bungalows began.
San Vicente bungalows,also known as SVB. Yeah.
In the biz, people call it SVB.
Started in LA,
just opened an outpost in New YorkCity in the meat packing district.
West Village.
Meat Packing.
West Village.
Oh, you're right. It's Jane Hotel.Yeah, you're right. Hannah's right.
(11:54):
In LA. The San Vicentebungalows. There's two.
There's one in West Hollywood and thenthere's a newer one in Santa Monica,
the one in West Hollywood.
Someone who works in real estate toldme it used to be like a see-and-be-seen
kind of crowd.
It's maybe come down a little bit nowit's more like where you're going to have
a private dinner. It never reallyturns up. It's never really a vibe.
(12:15):
People sort of do business there.
So the people I talk to in LA don'tseem actually that hot on SVB.
What is hot in LA iscalled Bird Streets Club.
Oh, Bird Streets. You've heard ofBird Streets? I've never heard of it.
You sounded like you were excitedabout it. I like name though. Me too.
It's in West Hollywood. It's $10,000per year for a membership for a couple.
If you're by yourself and you'reunder 32, it's 2,500. Yeah.
(12:39):
On par with what we've been talkingabout. This is run by the H Wood people.
There's only one location.It's pretty small.
The person I talked tonever loved the food.
The vibes are sort of like fancy diningroom and then there's a random sushi bar
at all of these clubs. There'salways a random sushi bar.
That is such a big theme. Thesushi bar is such a big theme.
What's up with that.
At all of these clubs?
(13:00):
Doesn't make sense with the theme, butwe'll just throw it in the sushi bar.
It makes sense. Bring inthe dance in Lobsters.
Bird Streets Club in West Hollywood.
Real celebrities go like actualcelebrities. Keanu Reeves,
Jodie Foster.
Oh, oh, actual celebrities.Olivia Rodrigo, Jodie Foster.
The first I think of when I thinkactual celebrities, I'm like,
(13:21):
where are all the actual celebrities?Where's Keanu Reeves? There's Jodie.
Where's the person from the Silence of the
Lambs? These are all fake celebrities.
You're saying Jodie Fosters Fake.
Where's Jodie Foster the director of theBeaver? Didn't she direct The Beaver?
I dunno what that is.I dunno what that is.
(13:42):
You're always trying to getmovie references In this podcast.
We work for a restaurantcompany, not a movie company.
Alright, go on. So actual celebritieslike Jodie Foster, Keanu Reeves.
Jodie Foster, Keanu Reeves, TravisKelce, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo,
Leo D had his birthday party there.
What separates this, according to myfriend who works in entertainment,
(14:05):
they said the food is actuallygood and people seem to really
know each other. They're getting up.They're saying hi to other tables.
It's friendlier than some other clubs.And then of course there's Soho House,
which Soho House isall across the country.
It's in a weird it beenevery single person I talked
to across the country,no matter where they are,
(14:26):
they said the service at SohoHouse is abysmal, Awful, terrible.
People will ignore you, you'llbe just left alone for hours.
There's no one working there. It'sa disaster. I think Soho House,
they were private then theywent public. I don't know.
I don't really know whathappened with Soho House,
but that is the great uniter of allthe people who belong to these other
membership clubs. Everyone lovestalking trash about Soho House.
(14:50):
True.
So we didn't just talk tomembers of these clubs.
We actually went to a few ofthese clubs ourselves. Hannah,
you want to tell us aboutsome of your experiences?
Yeah, I would love to.
Take us through it.
Need help figuring out where to eat thisweekend or just where to be a regular
and be kind to your bartenders.
Check out our incredible reviews andguides on the infatuation.com and at
(15:13):
infatuation on Instagram andat the infatuation on TikTok.
I was a guest at the Twenty Two,
which is a New York City privateclub that's been open maybe a little
less than a year, maybe around a year.
I went there on a Thursday night,
so it's the summer right now.
(15:34):
So I was warned that itmight be a little dead and
it was indeed quite dead.
We had drinks in this sort of loungeyarea that I'm going to describe as
if you went to a university andyour dad gave a lot of money to that
university,
the dean would probably call you intothis kind of loungey looking place and
(15:55):
they'd pat you on the back andsay, good job, son. Keep it up.
And so there's stained glass.There's a big fireplace,
there's like gold coasters that say club.
And I saw people holdingTrader Joe's bags.
I saw people dishing about women
(16:17):
with platinum blonde hairand very defined biceps.
Were talking about a date thatsomeone went on with a finance guy
who's really into kites. Kites. Yeah.
Like kites. The regular old kites. Okay.Are they like luxury kites?
Is this some world wedon't know about luxury.
Kites? I don't know. AndI'm really interested.
In kit luxury competition. Kite flying.
(16:38):
That's the next episode that I wantto do is kites And then in the dining
room, me and this person,
we were one of two parties.It was really empty.
The food is I guess crowd pleasing.
I ate a too thick veal parm.
They have this $115 **** youspaghetti. It's not called that,
(17:01):
but that's what I call it.
$115.Lobster?
No. It comes with spaghetti,chives and caviar.
I drank white burgundy and and also
their Basquiats in the hall that areon loan from a friend of the owner.
So I think the Twenty Two is oneof the clubs that falls into the
convenience lifestyle buckets.
(17:24):
I think it probably wants tobe more of a nightlife place,
but so far it does not feel that way.
You're basically paying for accessto that university club feeling
lounge.
And also you can get priority reservationsat the restaurant in the bottom,
which is called Cafe Zaffri.
It's also not hard to get in there.
The price is not nearlyas high as a place like
(17:46):
ZZ's.
Gotcha. So the Twenty Two hot or not?
Not.
Wow.
And you went to Casa Ciprianirecently, didn't you?
I did go to Casa Cipriani, yeah. Iwas actually there at a slow time too,
but also who goes to a club at 5:00 PMWhat I can tell you about Casa Cipriani
is that it is beautiful.
Really what makes it beautiful.
(18:07):
I believe I mentioned thelacquered mahogany walls already,
but the whole place is just kindof built out to look like a yacht.
And that's the theme because thesepeople are used to being on yachts.
You want to keep 'em comfortable. Ifthey feel like they're not on a yacht,
they might get scared.
Right.
So they've got this just a luxurioussetup. I only explored one floor,
but I kind of had aloungey cafe on one side.
(18:30):
I sat on a couch, Iate a prosciutto tower.
Oh, what's a prosciutto tower?
It is kind of like a tiered structurewith prosciutto falling off of it.
Okay.
It was delicious. It was really good.
Guess what else I had? Shrimp cocktail.
Also incredible. So CasaCipriani had very good food,
(18:52):
a very comfortable couches. Theyhad a jazz room in the middle.
They poked my head inside ofthe jazz room. Looked very nice.
No jazz was happening.
It was 5:00 PM They had incredible viewsthat honestly it should be illegal to
have these views of Brooklynand just the Statue of Liberty
because other people should have'em too. But only they have them.
Only they have the views.
(19:13):
Yeah. Amazing space.
Unless you go on the Staten Island ferry.
No, even then you don't have that.It's more elevated.
It's on the fifth floor ofthe building I want to say.
So Casa Chips hot or not.
Casa Chips. Medium.
Warm.
I would say medium hot. Yeah. Yeah.
And of course we both recently went Where.
Chez Margaux.
Chez Margaux.
(19:34):
Yeah.
The new-ish. Opened in the past two years.
Private club in the meat packingdistrict in Manhattan With a
restaurant in the bottom from Jean George.
Yeah.
Immediate impressions.
I had heard a lot aboutChez Margaux before I went
(19:55):
there. And the thing that Iheard the most was it's this sexy
red basement with vaulted ceilings and it
feels cool. That's the wordpeople keep using. Cool.
Which I don't actually knowwhat cool is, to be honest.
Do you have a definition for cool.
Cool, cool is No,
(20:17):
I got nothing. Yeah, I don'teither. I got nothing either.
And I walk in,
the immediate thing I noticeis despite the temperature of
92 degrees,
there's a fire in thefireplace in the entryway
luxury. Why not?
You have to line up if you're a guestand you have to be sent a guest pass on
(20:41):
your phone, you scan a QR codelike a jerk. And then they say, oh,
your host is downstairs.You may go downstairs and you walk down the staircase.
It's very dark and the memberswho don't have to check in,
they just walk right past you.And for a second I was like, dang,
that's pretty nice. Theyjust walk right in. I'm dirt.
(21:02):
I have to wait on this staircase like achump. What were your first impressions?
I think before Chez Margaux even opened,
I had kind of researched it alittle bit for the Infatuation.
I was just kind oflooking into the opening.
I might've even written a little openingsblurb about it in our openings guide.
So I actually had a good idea of whatto expect from Chez Margaux and I had
talked to some people who had been there.
(21:24):
Jodie Foster?
Jodie Foster? I don't believe so,but who knows? She is everywhere.
She's an actual celebrity.
Yeah,
but I would say I liked it more than I
thought I would. Does that meanI would become a member? No.
Well, what did you like about it?
It was just a very, very well done room.
(21:48):
Those glossy red ceilings. There'sa leopard print everywhere.
They have these, there's realbooks called Chateau Brion.
It's very dark.
And also the staff is very nice and thinkthat's a big element of these members
clubs is that the staff, all thestaff, no matter who you are,
they treat you like a VIP.Everybody there is a VIP.
You go to a restaurant in New York City,
(22:09):
chances are your service will treatyou nice. They'll treat you nicely,
but you aren't going to be treated likea VIP unless you are an actual VIP at
that Restaurant. So these places arefull of these people who are just used to
being treated really special.
I think what bothers me is that youdon't have to earn being a VIP by being
(22:30):
actually cool or actuallyinteresting or actually kind
At a quote public restaurant.
If you have created a bondwith the bartender or you're a
neighborhood regular, tome you've put in your time.
I think in a member's club, ifeveryone's treated like a VIP,
(22:50):
no one's actually a VIP.
They just get that fast pass the VIPfast pass by throwing money at the club.
That's right. And I agree withyou. The service was great.
I mean the somm absolutely upsold me onwine and I was really happy about it.
We drank delicious stuff.
Yeah. The somm you were flirting with.
I flirted with the somm.
Sorry, Aaron.
Sorry.
What did you think of the foodat Chez Margaux? So the kitchen,
(23:11):
it's the menu is from Jean George. Wellif you don't know who Jean George is,
runs a lot of fancyrestaurants in New York,
such as Jean George on the Upper West
Side.
But also the Fulton andthe menu was really,
it was a huge menu and it waslike a poo platter of JG hits.
(23:33):
There's a cheeseburger withgruyere from the Fulton.
There's a samosa from ABCV.
There's something thatthey call Tuna New Style,
which is like a flatpounded tuna with sesame.
And the server said tous before we ordered it,
you've had it at Nobu Jokes on thatserver. I've never been a Nobu.
You've been a Nobu.
I've been a Nobu.
(23:53):
Okay.
How about that?
Like seven styles ofrestaurant on one menu,
which is quite jarring but also makessense if you think about the draw of Chez
Margaux is you can always, you go,
you sort of are guaranteeing a table.
It's your spot and maybe you don't wantto eat the same exact kind of food every
(24:14):
time you go. So it's nice to have
a variety of options.
Yeah, there's a ton of stuff on that menu.
The thing is these clubs have to be crowdpleasing in order to please the crowd
have to have a lot of options orat least some inoffensive options.
This menu had both, it had a Turkeyclub, a chicken club sandwich I think.
(24:34):
Oh yeah.
So surprising.
What else do we get?
We've got this $150.
I think it was like amiso encrusted strip.
Steak New York strip. Yeah.
Yeah. What else?
48.
We got the tuna. We got a dosa withegg and mint. I want to say. Yeah.
That dosa was not so great.
Yeah, it definitely was a bad.
That was a soggy dosa. It was good becausethe ingredients of a dosa are good,
(24:57):
but the texture was like raw.
It was not very.
Yeah.
We had foie gras terrine,which I really enjoyed.
Me too.
But we only ate half of it.
The rolls were great. I know thatsounds really boring. They were so hot.
They were so hot. They were really puffyto the touch but still had that crust.
The rolls so good.
I was expecting the food to be worse.
(25:21):
I wasn't John George.
You weren't. I know, but.
I've been to a lot ofJohn George restaurants.
I would say that's probablynot one of the best ones.
Okay, sure.
We spent so much money. How muchmoney did we spend on dinner?
We spent a thousand dollars on dinner.
A thousand dollars on dinner.
That's right.
Thanks. In part sixbottles of sparkling Evian.
I believe those cost atotal of $60. Thank you.
(25:43):
The infatuation for buying ussix bottles of sparkling Evian.
We apologize for spending a thousanddollars at Chez Margaux. Don't fire us,
please. I went over mybudget this month. Me too.
But you're in this big boothfor three and a half hours.
It's not like you're worried about, ohthe next reservation's here or whatever.
We could have keptdrinking and hanging out.
(26:05):
They're like a pluralityof spaces where you can go.
There's a room that's entirely leopardprint that has elephant tusks in it where
they serve sushi.There's a room where people just
drink Japanese whiskey.
There's a room behind the nightclubwhere professional athletes watch
television.
(26:25):
Alright, Hannah, so what isthe verdict here? Chez Margaux.
Hot or not on 3 1 2.
Hot, hot.
As far as clubs go.
Yeah, I had a great time. I mean,
I don't think the people make it cool.
I think that restaurant wouldbe cool or cooler if it were
(26:50):
open to the public.The space is beautiful.
So that was just our experienceas guests of Chez Margaux.
But to really get a fullpicture of the club,
we need to talk to a member and we happento have an anonymous member of Chez
Margaux, we can speak toon the ham phone right now.
Jodie Foster.
It's Jodie. Jodie, is that you?
(27:12):
Would you join a membership club?Let us know in the comments.
Oh, is that the ham phone? Itsounds like the ham phone ring ring.
Right now we have acaller on the ham phone.
They are an anonymous member atprivate members club Chez Margaux.
And they have graciously agreed to answerall of our questions about the club.
(27:36):
Caller, are you here?
Hi, I am here.
Hi, thanks for joining us.
Happy to talk to you. Thanksfor having me on the ham phone.
So caller, tell us what motivatedyou to join Chez Margaux?
I joined early.
I was one of the foundingmembers and I last
year when it was opening, it wasreally the hottest thing in town.
(28:00):
I think it still is.
And you had Taylor Swiftgoing all the time and
everywhere I went I justkept hearing about it.
It was a place that a lotof my friends were going.
It's a place a lot of my friends weretalking about and I decided that I
wanted to be a part of it.
Because maybe your friends would likeyou less if you weren't a member.
(28:22):
My friends would like meless if I wasn't a member.
I would not be able tohave easy access to it.
I don't want to be someone's guest ifit's a place I'm going to go all the time.
Oh, I like that. Interesting.So what is the experience?
Can you describe it forus? At Chez Margaux.
It's kind of both a restaurantand a going out spot,
(28:46):
a club, and so it depends on thehour, what the experience is.
You can go for dinner at 7:00PM and have a relatively quiet
dinner.
You could stay as the vibe changes overthe course of the night into a little
bit more of a party, especially ifit's a weekend, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday by 10, 10 30,11, it's full of people.
(29:08):
Have you seen any other celebrities there?
Yeah, I've seen a bunch of celebritiesthere. I've seen JLo there.
I've seen Jeff Bezos there.I've seen Selena Gomez there.
I never saw Taylor Swift there.I've seen the paparazzi pictures,
but I've seen a lot ofmega A-list people there.
Is there a dress codeat Chez Margaux and also
(29:32):
how conscious of the dresscode are you when you're there?
They ask, of course, no dirty shoesor gym clothes, flip flops, et cetera.
It's so funny though because Imean it says no baseball caps and
sweatshirts and for sure baseball capsand sweatshirts are worn there when the
Knicks are in season.
You always see the Knicks thereafter the games and I've seen them in
(29:56):
sweatpants a lot, certainly no one's,
certainly no one's enforcingthe dress code on them.
When people ask or you tell peopleyou are a member of Chez Margaux,
how do you feel?
Do you say it with pride or areyou maybe a little embarrassed?
I would say exactly inthe middle, neither.
(30:17):
I don't bring it up in asituation where I could feel
embarrassed. I don't sayit with pride, however,
there have been situations whereI had an out of town business
contact from another country who'dheard about it and was dying to go.
I was super happy to take him.
I don't personally getoff on sharing that.
(30:41):
I could imagine beingembarrassed by it if it
sounds too elitist or too expensive.
Talk to us about the money element.
How much are you payingto be a member there?
Well,
I was an early member andI think we had probably a
(31:03):
slight discount over what the currentrates are now. I wouldn't call it cheap,
but definitely relative to the others,
I think it's probably on the moreaffordable end of the spectrum.
Do you think you get your money's worth?
I go a few times a month reliably,
so I definitely think I'mgetting my money's worth.
One of the things that I likeabout it is you just can get a
(31:27):
reservation.
It's really convenient tohave the reservation and it's kind of like a default
place.
It's really worth it to me to have thatconvenience of a place that I know is
going to be a great experience where Iknow I'm going to have a good time where
I'm going to see people I knowwhere I'm going to see people.
I don't know but want to know.
How would you characterize Chez Margauxcompared to other clubs that you've
(31:50):
either been to in New York or heard about?
To me, Chez Margaux,
the best word to describeit I think is cool.
It just feels very cool. And I'm notsaying it feels cool to be a member.
What I mean is the crowd feels cool.I look at Chez Margaux as TikTok,
it's kind of a little bit ofeverything. It feels very of the moment.
(32:11):
And if you look at somethinglike San Vincente Bungalows,
I think of SVB as Instagram.It's a little more corporate.
It feels a little more like reels alittle more dated and a little bit more
institutional. And so it definitely,
Chez Margaux to me has ayoung vibe, a cool vibe.
It's not all young by theway, but it feels more fresh,
(32:35):
more youthful, more new comparedto some of the other places.
Yeah. I wonder what is the next phase
of member clubs?
There have been more and more thathave been opening in New York.
Obviously it's nothing new,
but it does feel like there's beena particular explosion in recent
history and I wonder howlong will Chez Margaux feel?
(33:00):
Cool.
It's kind of interesting that it tookthis long for something like an exclusive
member's dining experienceto come to New York.
It feels like so made forNew York. Obviously it's more associated with London,
but it's crazy that it took so long.
I don't see them goingaway anytime soon in
part because one of the reasonswhy I think they've taken off
(33:23):
is it's so damn hard to geta reservation these days.
So I think that people willcontinue to want and need ways
to get access to spaces that are more
guaranteed or easier thanjust being part of the
general resi pool.
What's next?
(33:44):
Do you have any predictionsabout the longevity of this or?
I think Chez Margaux, I thinkit's already lasted with heat.
Longer than many people would've thought.
It's hard to keep a hotspot hot.
I just haven't yet seenChez Margaux Cool off.
Have you heard about anybody gettingwaitlisted or rejected these days?
(34:06):
For sure.
I hear a lot of times about people whoget turned down or never hear back.
Why do you think they get turned down?
What's the point of a member's clubif everyone can get in? I mean,
I think they have to curateand select people that
feel appropriate and on brand and on
(34:30):
appropriate for the community.
They wear flip flops, maybe.
They wear flip flops,but flip flops are back,
so I bet flip-flops are actually okay.
Okay. Okay. So say I want guaranteedmembership to Chez Margaux.
I want to give myself the bestchance. What school do I go to?
What job do I get?
What neighborhood do I live inand what's my favorite movie?
(34:54):
Okay.
If you want guaranteedaccess to Chez Margaux,
you probably live in
the surrounding area, let'ssay meat packing West Village,
but you're not a West Village girl. I'mnot saying you're not a girl, you're.
(35:17):
Just not a West Village.
Stereotype of the New York magazine piece.
That's right.
I mean you could have gone anywhere.
I am seeing anywhere from University of
Miami to Ivy League to kind of
dropout.
(35:37):
I think that if you look at kind of who I
think maybe the stereotypical20 something member is,
I think it's all walks of life froma kind of background standpoint.
As long as you havemoney now and are cool.
Bryan's disqualified becausehe's not in his twenties.
(35:58):
There's numbers of all.
Ages.
Yeah, I think that, whatwas the other question?
It was where did I go to school? What doI do for work? You mean you could work,
you could work in,
let's see. You could work infashion, you could work in
(36:21):
anything cultural. Youcould be, like I said,
you could be kind of like a 20 something,
30 something crypto person thatno one knows what you do all day.
Gold rush pioneer.
Gold rush. Pioneer.
Oh, favorite movie was the last.
Oh yeah. What should my favoritemovie be if that's too tough?
(36:43):
What am I watching onNetflix or HBO right now?
I'm getting your You loved Anora. Oh.
Yeah, yeah.
You loved Anora and youmight for all I know you're
watching a free divingdocumentary on Netflix. Could be.
It's really kind of, Iwould say maybe a polymath.
(37:05):
Caller.
I have a theory brewing and I'm wondering
if you ever wait in lines.
At restaurants, you mean?
Yeah. I'm wondering if you ever waitin line at bakeries or to put your name
down in a restaurant. You everfind yourself on a sidewalk?
Are you a line person?
I have been at Lucali, I have done that.
(37:27):
And then while I was at Lucali,I learned about line sitters.
Same. That's where I learned about 'em.
Have you ever used that before?
I sent a line sitter to Ceres recently.
Wow. Ceres pizza in, whatis that? Little Italy,
a hot new pizza place.
How much did you pay for that?
(37:49):
I don't want to talkabout that. It was a lot.
Bad. I bet it was so much. You'reanonymous. You can talk about it.
It's a safe space caller.
Well, to be honest,
the line sitting feewasn't that absurd. It was.
It is absurd. In practice,
I ended up paying I think$180 for two pizzas.
(38:11):
I love that. I think that ifthe pizzas weren't $40 each,
it wouldn't have felt as absurd. Butthe bill got higher than I was expected.
Yeah,
just for full context series pizza isone of the more expensive pizza places.
Takeout pizza places in the city.
I personally paid $70 for a pie there.So $70.
A pie?
Yeah.
$70 For up high.
Yeah, that was really good. I'm sorry.
(38:32):
What was on it?
Yeah, what makes it $70?
The andouille. There was so much and itcost so much. And then an aged balsamic,
they put $9 of an aged balsamic on.
I was talking to the owners and theysaid that aged balsamic cost $9,
just on the pizza.
Okay. We're still thinkingabout about $61 left after that.
Well he said two pie.
The base plane was 40 I think.
(38:54):
What are they putting on this pizza.
Ceres should be a members club.
Oh my god, I love that.
Ceres should be a members club.
So caller, you seem prettyhype on Chez Margaux,
frankly, I'm kind of hype on Chez Margaux,which I'm a little embarrassed by,
but are there any cons toChez Margaux or are there
cons to the larger member club universe?
(39:18):
The biggest con to ChezMargaux is how crowded it is.
There are nights where youcan't move in the bar area
and that's cute. If you are younger,
maybe it's less cute the older you get.
But I think one of the cons that Iwould say about the broader members club
(39:42):
experience, and I think it's reallyimportant, I think some members,
clubs make a really bad experiencefor their guests sub members.
And so that's kind of something that Ithink a lot about. If I were in charge,
I would make sure that non-memberswho are invited guests,
sub members feel really welcome.
I think that's one of thereasons that I hate SVB.
(40:04):
Don't put a sticker on myphone. I'm not an animal.
I went to dinner thereand sat down at the table
before my host arrived and theywouldn't let me order a drink.
And it's just like, don't sit me atthe table. I don't want to be here.
They made me feel worse
and I get the idea of prioritizingthe member experience,
(40:26):
but I think it's really important toalso make your members' guests feel
welcome.
Well, caller, this has been veryenlightening and fun and yeah,
I want to thank you for joining us.
Well thanks for having me. I would loveto refer you Hannah to Chez Margaux.
Anytime. What.
About me? See Caller said Hannah.What about me not Bryan, come on.
Hannah said she wanted in.
(40:48):
I know, I didn't say that. I'm too proud.I was annoyed at how much I liked it.
Yeah, you're too cool for Chez Margaux.
I know. I wish I wasn't.
Thanks caller. Talk to youlater. Thank you so much.
If you like this episode,
please make sure to and subscribe torestaurant people on YouTube and all of
(41:08):
your preferred podcast platforms.
In terms of clubs, ChezMargaux is probably one of the better ones. That said,
I do not fully condone Chez Margaux.
I'm not telling my friends to go signup and become a member of Chez Margaux.
I'm not signing up for Chez Margaux, butI had a very nice time.
I don't know how long thatcan last in terms of its
(41:31):
hotness. I'm curious about it.
I think it's interestingthat our caller mentioned
not wanting to play thereservation mania game.
They are almost willing to pay the
premiums of club membership so that
(41:53):
they don't have to stress aboutwhere am I going to dinner tonight.
Yeah, I feel like I've heardthat from other people too.
So do you think that's kind ofimpacting restaurants at all,
the proliferation of these clubs thatthey take in business away from non gated
restaurants in New York City and beyond.
Yeah, I mean I thinkobjectively these private clubs,
(42:14):
if they're attracting repeatguests are taking away business
from non gated restaurants.
But also we all know that the coolest
restaurants are goingto always be non gated.
So it's not like members are nevergoing to go to non gated restaurants.
I'm really interested in this ideaof what is the difference between a
(42:36):
restaurant in a private member'sclub and a sort of ungated public
restaurant.
And I wanted to hear from someonewhose work back of house at a private
club.
So I tracked down an anonymouspastry chef of a private
club in Philly, and I talkedto them about their experience.
And when I was talking to this person,they told me in their time at the club,
(43:00):
this is their fifth executivechef that they've been through.
It's in the only a couple of years.
And so I think what happens is thechef comes in and they're like,
oh my God,
what a cushy job with my salary andbenefits and it's just going to be like a
country club, but smaller. I canput whatever I want on the menu.
And the reality is people are reallyopinionated and they're giving their
(43:23):
feedback directly andexpect to be accommodated.
But yeah, it's like having a restaurantfull of annoying VIPs. Yes. Oh my god.
There is one high profilemember at this club in Philly,
and apparently wheneverhe comes to dinner,
he will order a grilled chicken parm and
the kitchen has to make itfor him. There's no grilled chicken parm on the menu.
(43:46):
There's not even achicken parm on the menu.
And apparently he doesn't wantanything fried or breaded.
So they will grill a paillard,put pizza sauce and cheese on it,
bake it in the oven and send itout with whatever side he wants.
But because he donated so much moneyto the club, there's no leeway.
And so these in private clubs,
you don't have to behave well.
(44:09):
There's no public shaming about you'rebeing an asshole to the server or
you can demand whatever you want.
And I guess when you reacha certain point of wealth,
maybe that's just whathappens. But frankly,
a couple thousand dollars to me, youare not the richest person in the world.
How dare you tell them youwant a special off thing.
(44:31):
That's insane.
It sounds pretty spot on for thepeople who go to these places though.
Totally.
Just the level of entitlement. And also
it's partially the club's fault.
It's the monster they'vecreated with this whole,
everyone's a VIP culture and then alsomaking everyone pay double for their
meal. You're paying an initiation,you're paying a membership fee,
and then you're paying for the food.What do you expect from these people?
(44:54):
It better be good.
That's right. I mean, I see both sides.
If you are paying money tobe somewhere you want to
be treated well,
but I guess I can't wrap my head around.
Just go to a restaurant and be nice and
(45:15):
ask the server how their day was.And you'll probably be treated well.
Do you know what I mean?
You love doing that.Always talking to servers.
Every time we go to a restaurant,
I have to listen to you try tobecome best friends with a server.
And I become best friends.
Yeah, I know.
It's nice.
It is nice.
And I get treated really well.
I think that's a big reason why peoplego to these places to get that special
(45:37):
treatment to feel special.People want to feel special.
That's right.
But ultimately,
I don't really think these placesare in competition with New York City
restaurants.
I think they're more feeling avoid left by the departure of
nightclubs. So after thepandemic and during the pandemic,
so many of these New YorkCity nightclubs closed, Cielo,
(46:00):
1Oak, Tenjune, I think it was before,these are just like meat packing ones.
I'm talking about Avenue, the Jane HotelBallroom where I had my 22nd birthday.
These are literally allin the same neighborhood.
And it's a neighborhood where a lot ofthese clubs are opening up like Crane
Club, like SVB, like Chez Margaux, right?
So there's this void that's being filled.
(46:20):
And some people who used to go to theseclubs or people who would've gone to
these clubs are nowgoing to members clubs.
Others I think are going tothese EDM venues nowadays.
Like in Bushwick and Ridgewood.
Yeah, like Brooklyn Storehouse.
Yeah. That's a real place.Brooklyn Storehouse.
Brooklyn Storehouse.
Sounds like you just made that up.
I could have. I don't know. There's also.
(46:43):
I think that's totally right.
I think it's more indicative ofpeople wanting a place to hang out
all night and orderingfancy drinks and mingling
with others who are in theirtax bracket and maybe they're
going to mate with and procreate with.It's sort of like live
(47:04):
Raya is my impression.
For sure.
I heard from someone who, she'snot a member of Casa Cipriani,
but she went there for an event andwas talking to some of the members
afterwards and she said that this waswomen who are all in their twenties,
someone who worked in social media,
someone who worked for Walmarthq and this Walmart HQ person was
(47:28):
reverse commuting.
So living in New York in anapartment without a window
and reverse commuting to New Jerseyto Walmart hq, which is in New Jersey.
And my friend askedthis Walmart HQ person,
why do you live in an apartmentwithout a window and pay
thousands of dollars to be a member atCasa Cipriani? And this person said,
(47:51):
well, this is just how I calculatethe New York life that I want to have.
I would rather pay more money to belongto Casa Cipriani than pay more money for
an apartment that I'm notspending much time in.
That is unbelievable.
It's also unbelievable that an apartmentwithout a window is legal in New York
City.
Totally.
Next week we'll be talkingabout apartments without Windows legal or ilIegal.
(48:15):
I mean, in some ways it's sort of smart.
I mean, if you want this to beyour life and you're choosing to
spend most of your timeat Casa Cipriani. Sure.
Yeah. It's like this illusion of abetter life. That's right. You go there,
your life isn't outside of Casa Cipriani.You just kind of ignore all of that.
(48:37):
You black all of it out, you try toforget it. And then you live at Casa Chip.
That's what I call it now. Casa Chips.
Casa Chips. These clubs arefilling some sort of psychological,
sociological need to feelimportant to be seen,
to be associated with celebrities.
Something because people clearlyare spending a lot of money to be
(49:01):
there. Or in some cases choosingto live in a windowless room
so they can be a member.
I want to talk to that girl. I want tosit her down, shake her by the shoulders.
I want to talk to her parents.
We need to find her parents and tell themthat their daughter's living in a cave
(49:23):
just so she can go to Casa Chips,
which serves the same food as Cipriani.
You could go to the restaurant.
All for a view of the Staten Island ferry.
You could just ride theStaten Island ferry for free.
I, that's my favorite privateclub. It's the Staten Island ferry.
Yeah. So after our discussion, afterlooking into all of these clubs,
after talking to the anonymousmember, after doing a ton of research,
(49:47):
as your impression changed,
your impression of thesemembership clubs changed.
What are your feelings like now?
Based on our experiencesand everything I've heard,
I feel even more sure than ever thatexclusivity does not equal cool.
And money doesn't buy good taste.
(50:09):
If you want to be a memberof a club, do it. Go for it.
But probably you should still go torestaurants that aren't that club because
the food is going to beway better. What about you?
I started the research for this podcastand I was looking into all these clubs
and I was amazed by howmany clubs there were.
And I actually went to some andtoured some and saw what was going on.
(50:30):
I think I noticed that a lot of themweren't as busy as I thought they were
going to be or weren'treally doing as well.
I was expecting something significantlycooler than Soho House from all these
new clubs. But they are reallyjust Soho House at the end.
Well, they're all going to turn into SohoHouse like Chez Margaux is going to be
inundated with applications. They'regoing to have to accept some people.
(50:50):
And then it's going to feel, I mean,
our caller said it's already feelingsometimes really, really crowded.
And so what's next? I don't know.
What happens when peopleget tired of private clubs,
squid game.
Private jets.
The purge, the Purge, Kansas, the Purge.
Is the obvious next step.Kansas City, Kansas.
(51:11):
City. Kansas City.
Everyone goes to Kansas City.Hey, come with me to Kansas City.
It's my new private club.It's the whole city.
Need help figuring out where to eat thisweekend or maybe where you can become a
regular that's not a membership club.
Check out our incredible reviews andguides on the infatuation.com and at
infatuation on Instagram and at theinfatuation on TikTok. I'm Bryan.
(51:34):
I'm Hannah. Thanks for joiningus. This was Restaurant People,
A Show by Infatuation. See you next time.
As a New Yorker, I amsurrounded by members clubs.
They are slowly and kindof secretly taking over the certain section of New York
nightlife and diningClubs are out, members' clubs are in.
I find the people who go tothese places fascinating,
and I just always wantto know more about them.
I mean,
some of 'em have to be fun if peopleare paying so much money to go there,
(00:22):
but I know intrinsically thatI get icked out by the idea
of them. I know that.
Which is what's the idea?
The idea is you're goingto pay a fee of at least
a couple hundred if not a couple thousand,
if not a couple tens of thousanddollars to join this place that
maybe they have amenities,
(00:44):
but it's kind of just likea restaurant that only rich
people are allowed to go to.
Welcome. This is Restaurant People,
the show for people who eat atrestaurants sometimes from Infatuation.
Hi, I'm Hannah Albertine,
senior editor at Infatuation and amember of the Bryan Kim Fan Club.
(01:06):
I'm Bryan Kim, editorial leadfor Infatuation in New York City,
and I'm a member of theNew York Public Library.
Today on restaurant people. We're talkingabout membership clubs. What are they?
Who are the members? What arethe fees and is it worth it?
Is exclusivity a passingfad or the future of dining?
First, we'll take a deep dive into thehottest membership clubs right now.
(01:27):
Then we'll talk to a member of one ofthe hottest and hardest to get into clubs
in New York City and find out if becominga member has lived up to the hype.
Finally,
we'll talk about our personal experiencestouring and eating at a few of these
clubs and give you our honest reviews.
For those of you who don't knowanything about membership clubs,
this is an episode for you.
Or if you know so much about them andyou want to fact check us and get mad at
(01:49):
us and yell in the comments, welcome.
Or just disagree with our opinions.On membership clubs that we now have.
We do have strong opinions.
We do have strong opinions.
With that. Let's get into it.
Members clubs. They're tooelusive. They're too secretive,
and we did a lot ofresearch into what they are,
why people are going,whether they're worth it.
(02:10):
Why can't you take pictures in any of 'em?
Seems so strange.
Very shady.
I know you've been studying membershipclubs and the history of membership clubs
and different clubs around theworld. What can you tell me?
So membership club cultureis originally rooted in
London,
so we're talking like gentleman'sclubs where aristocrats could drink
(02:32):
and be merry without the eyesand ears of the commoners.
And this is back in the1600s and the 1700s.
Some of them still exist and in a lotof cases you have to be recommended by
someone who's a member and thena second person who's a member.
So it's really at least started as a,
if you know you know,not quite royal level,
(02:55):
but the level down of wealthyelite people in cities.
And still today they're kind oflike country clubs in the city
and America has lots ofold members clubs still.
Have you heard about any ofthe old New York clubs before?
Yeah, for sure. Let's see. New York,
(03:15):
we have the Union Club.
Union Club's one that is still aroundtoday. Do you know when it opened?
I assume during the Civil War.
Before 1836.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
Whoa.
But then, okay, and then wehad kind of the Harmony Club,
which was founded in 1852,
but then the Union League Club 1863.
(03:37):
Do you know how the UnionLeague Club came about?
They were Abraham Lincoln's groupies.
Yeah, pretty much. They were like, Hey,
what's with all theseconfederates in the Union Club?
We're going to start our own club.
Women and black people were not ledinto these clubs Until seventies and
eighties. That's whatwe're dealing with. Oh,
one of the old Londonclubs was called Whites,
which I think tells you everything.
(03:57):
Oh, whites, that's horrifying.
You should see the membership listand a list of previous members at the
Knickerbocker Club. It's allCount Baron, Calvin Coolidge,
Franklin Roosevelt.
Oh, Calvey Cool.
One of my note here says, *****don't even have a website.
So that's how fancy you are.
If you don't even have a website,
(04:18):
you have no worries aboutmembership or membership fees. Wow.
People get mad aboutrestaurants, about phones.
Hot stuff.
This is a membershipclub without a website.
Count Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Oh sure.
Of the Austro-German noble familythe Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Oh no.
Was a member there.
Oh my God.
This is according toWikipedia, by the way.
(04:39):
Your favorite.
Publicly available information.
So that's one kind of club, old school,
university clubs. Thereare sports clubs of course,
and then there's thiscontemporary contingent of
members clubs. Are those similar tothe old school clubs in your opinion?
Break down the sort of difference there.
(05:01):
The new ones are definitely, Ithink more dining focused people.
They're more foodies nowadays.Everybody cares about food.
Go to a restaurant is ZZ'sClub from the major food group.
There's The Ned in NoMad,there's the Twenty Two.
Not that people didn't careabout good food back in the day.
I think that still was a bigpart of some of these clubs.
Yes. For example,
(05:21):
there's a place in London calledthe National Liberals Club and
our editorial lead,
Jake knows a lot about these clubsand he sort of gave me the scoop.
So this National Liberals Club hasa restaurant where they serve this
three course menu for 45 pounds wherethe second course you eat grilled calves
(05:41):
liver with creamed potatoes.
And the first course is asummer pea arancini with a lemon gel and the wines are
being paired. They're like New Zealandwines, all of them, which is ridiculous.
And then I asked Jake about, I said,oh, the price seems pretty reasonable.
45 pounds for lunch, threecourses. And he said, yeah,
it's less about the price and more abouthow **** incinerated the meal will be.
(06:05):
So old school clubs doesn't seemlike food is the main draw or
even restaurants and diningBut these newer clubs,
some of them are basically supper clubs.
And I think the way that Ithink about our current clubs,
you have two categories. Oneis lifestyle, convenience,
one stop shop, a Soho House is an example,
(06:26):
and some like a place called CasaCipriani in New York has in addition
to clubs, bars, restaurants,they have a gym,
they have a spa, they have aplace where you can cowork,
a place where you can get coffee meetings.That's one kind of member's club.
But then you have aplace like Chez Margaux,
which doesn't have any amenities asidefrom eating and drinking basically.
(06:48):
Yeah, those seem to be kindof the hotter ones nowadays.
You do have ones openingup with workspaces,
There is definitely this restaurantArms race happening with a lot of these
clubs. The Chez Margaux,ZZ's, Casa Cipriani.
Yeah. All have thisassociated restaurant figure.
You have Jean George is doingthe food at Chez Margaux in
(07:11):
New York, ZZ's Club, whichis run by major food group.
They in addition to theworld's first and only private
Carbone, that's the languagethey use on their website,
which I think is so funny.
Private Carbone.
World's first private Carbone?They have a Japanese restaurant,
they have a cigar lounge,
they have a glamorous lounge showcasinga range of music programming.
(07:34):
That's a quote and it's in Hudson Yards.
I want to join ZZ's Club say howmuch am I going to have to pay?
Well, Bryan, it depends. Do you wantto join as an individual member?
Yeah, I think so.
Okay, so you are lookingat, for the New York Club,
a $20,000 initiation fee and thenevery year you got to pay $10K.
That is nuts. It's nuts.
(07:56):
So what if I wanted tojoin with my spouse?
Yeah, you would just be lookingat a cool $30,000 initiation
and still $10K a year.
Okay. So best case scenario,
I'm paying $30K to join this clubIn large
part because it has a private Carbone.
Why wouldn't you just find the Carbonedoor person and give them a thousand
(08:19):
dollars.
Way cheaper way? That'sa way cheaper method.
Hey, let me in whenever.
Just give me a ring when reservationsopen up a thousand bucks.
I think they'd stillsay no though, honestly.
Really?
Yeah, because they'regetting people to pay $30K.
Alright, well this is $30K, so then $10K,$10K to the Carbone host.
But at that point you might aswell just join a different club.
Yeah, you're right. Speaking of differentclubs, if you cannot afford ZZ's,
(08:42):
if you can't afford the $30K, don'tworry. Casa Cipriani's, gotcha.
Oh yeah, how much does thatcost and what is that place?
So Casa Cipriani is part of theCipriani groups and it is their private
club in the seaport area,
downtown Manhattan FiDi all the wayat the bottom where the ferries are.
It's a stone's throw from the StatenIsland ferry. Not a lot of overlap though,
(09:03):
I think between Staten IslandFerry riders and Casa Cipriani.
You never know.
I never know.
You never know. But probably not.
If you want to join Casa Cipriani and
explore the clubhouseand hotel with lacquered
mahogany walls and Loropiana fabric on the walls.
(09:24):
Then you will have to pay 3,900 annual fee
plus a one-time initiation fee of 2000.
That's just for a standard membership.So that's going to run you 5,900 total,
including the inIitiation.
Well, that's a lot cheaper than ZZ's.
As with many of these clubs. It's alittle bit cheaper if you're under 30,
but yes, it is a lot cheaper than ZZ's.
(09:46):
Someone who I talked to who works inhospitality partnerships said that Zero
Bond is the club with the strongestmasculine energy in New York City.
She says the food kind of sucks.There's a sushi restaurant.
There's this one iconic chocolate chipcookie that people seem to be very
excited about.
(10:07):
I mean their fee is justabout the same as the others.
It is $3,850 per year
A thousand dollars initiation fee.
So 48 50 is what you're going to haveto pony up for Zero Bond currently,
unless you're over 45, in which caseit gets a little more expensive.
And from what I've heard,
(10:27):
this person says that they throw goodparties if you want to go to a Halloween
party, if you want to go to a derby party,
I don't know exactly what thatmeans or a New Year's Eve party,
they throw good parties.
So it sounds like the best way to go toZero Bond is to be a guest rather than
pay for it.
Yeah. I might secretly bethe best way to enjoy all.
Of these clubs.
(10:47):
And these.
Clubs for sure.
But it's not just a NewYork City thing. No,
there are private clubsopening around the country.
That's right.
Is there anything you cantell me about those? Hannah.
I'll go back to Londonfor a second. In London,
there's this place called The Groucho,
and when I asked Jake our editorial leadin London, if the food was good there,
(11:09):
he said, honey, you don'teat at the grout show.
It's a strict drinking andsnorting zone, but there is food.
There's also a place calledAnnabele's in London,
which Jake says is for questionablecelebs and disgraced politicians.
Oh, interest.
Which would you rather hang out at?
I guess Annabel's.
Yeah, I'd rather eat.
(11:32):
Yeah. Okay. What else you got for me?
Okay, well in LA, LA is whereSan Vicente Bungalows began.
San Vicente bungalows,also known as SVB. Yeah.
In the biz, people call it SVB.
Started in LA,
just opened an outpost in New YorkCity in the meat packing district.
West Village.
Meat Packing.
West Village.
Oh, you're right. It's Jane Hotel.Yeah, you're right. Hannah's right.
(11:54):
In LA. The San Vicentebungalows. There's two.
There's one in West Hollywood and thenthere's a newer one in Santa Monica,
the one in West Hollywood.
Someone who works in real estate toldme it used to be like a see-and-be-seen
kind of crowd.
It's maybe come down a little bit nowit's more like where you're going to have
a private dinner. It never reallyturns up. It's never really a vibe.
(12:15):
People sort of do business there.
So the people I talk to in LA don'tseem actually that hot on SVB.
What is hot in LA iscalled Bird Streets Club.
Oh, Bird Streets. You've heard ofBird Streets? I've never heard of it.
You sounded like you were excitedabout it. I like name though. Me too.
It's in West Hollywood. It's $10,000per year for a membership for a couple.
If you're by yourself and you'reunder 32, it's 2,500. Yeah.
(12:39):
On par with what we've been talkingabout. This is run by the H Wood people.
There's only one location.It's pretty small.
The person I talked tonever loved the food.
The vibes are sort of like fancy diningroom and then there's a random sushi bar
at all of these clubs. There'salways a random sushi bar.
That is such a big theme. Thesushi bar is such a big theme.
What's up with that.
At all of these clubs?
(13:00):
Doesn't make sense with the theme, butwe'll just throw it in the sushi bar.
It makes sense. Bring inthe dance in Lobsters.
Bird Streets Club in West Hollywood.
Real celebrities go like actualcelebrities. Keanu Reeves,
Jodie Foster.
Oh, oh, actual celebrities.Olivia Rodrigo, Jodie Foster.
The first I think of when I thinkactual celebrities, I'm like,
(13:21):
where are all the actual celebrities?Where's Keanu Reeves? There's Jodie.
Where's the person from the Silence of the
Lambs? These are all fake celebrities.
You're saying Jodie Fosters Fake.
Where's Jodie Foster the director of theBeaver? Didn't she direct The Beaver?
I dunno what that is.I dunno what that is.
(13:42):
You're always trying to getmovie references In this podcast.
We work for a restaurantcompany, not a movie company.
Alright, go on. So actual celebritieslike Jodie Foster, Keanu Reeves.
Jodie Foster, Keanu Reeves, TravisKelce, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo,
Leo D had his birthday party there.
What separates this, according to myfriend who works in entertainment,
(14:05):
they said the food is actuallygood and people seem to really
know each other. They're getting up.They're saying hi to other tables.
It's friendlier than some other clubs.And then of course there's Soho House,
which Soho House isall across the country.
It's in a weird it beenevery single person I talked
to across the country,no matter where they are,
(14:26):
they said the service at SohoHouse is abysmal, Awful, terrible.
People will ignore you, you'llbe just left alone for hours.
There's no one working there. It'sa disaster. I think Soho House,
they were private then theywent public. I don't know.
I don't really know whathappened with Soho House,
but that is the great uniter of allthe people who belong to these other
membership clubs. Everyone lovestalking trash about Soho House.
(14:50):
True.
So we didn't just talk tomembers of these clubs.
We actually went to a few ofthese clubs ourselves. Hannah,
you want to tell us aboutsome of your experiences?
Yeah, I would love to.
Take us through it.
Need help figuring out where to eat thisweekend or just where to be a regular
and be kind to your bartenders.
Check out our incredible reviews andguides on the infatuation.com and at
(15:13):
infatuation on Instagram andat the infatuation on TikTok.
I was a guest at the Twenty Two,
which is a New York City privateclub that's been open maybe a little
less than a year, maybe around a year.
I went there on a Thursday night,
so it's the summer right now.
(15:34):
So I was warned that itmight be a little dead and
it was indeed quite dead.
We had drinks in this sort of loungeyarea that I'm going to describe as
if you went to a university andyour dad gave a lot of money to that
university,
the dean would probably call you intothis kind of loungey looking place and
(15:55):
they'd pat you on the back andsay, good job, son. Keep it up.
And so there's stained glass.There's a big fireplace,
there's like gold coasters that say club.
And I saw people holdingTrader Joe's bags.
I saw people dishing about women
(16:17):
with platinum blonde hairand very defined biceps.
Were talking about a date thatsomeone went on with a finance guy
who's really into kites. Kites. Yeah.
Like kites. The regular old kites. Okay.Are they like luxury kites?
Is this some world wedon't know about luxury.
Kites? I don't know. AndI'm really interested.
In kit luxury competition. Kite flying.
(16:38):
That's the next episode that I wantto do is kites And then in the dining
room, me and this person,
we were one of two parties.It was really empty.
The food is I guess crowd pleasing.
I ate a too thick veal parm.
They have this $115 **** youspaghetti. It's not called that,
(17:01):
but that's what I call it.
$115.Lobster?
No. It comes with spaghetti,chives and caviar.
I drank white burgundy and and also
their Basquiats in the hall that areon loan from a friend of the owner.
So I think the Twenty Two is oneof the clubs that falls into the
convenience lifestyle buckets.
(17:24):
I think it probably wants tobe more of a nightlife place,
but so far it does not feel that way.
You're basically paying for accessto that university club feeling
lounge.
And also you can get priority reservationsat the restaurant in the bottom,
which is called Cafe Zaffri.
It's also not hard to get in there.
The price is not nearlyas high as a place like
(17:46):
ZZ's.
Gotcha. So the Twenty Two hot or not?
Not.
Wow.
And you went to Casa Ciprianirecently, didn't you?
I did go to Casa Cipriani, yeah. Iwas actually there at a slow time too,
but also who goes to a club at 5:00 PMWhat I can tell you about Casa Cipriani
is that it is beautiful.
Really what makes it beautiful.
(18:07):
I believe I mentioned thelacquered mahogany walls already,
but the whole place is just kindof built out to look like a yacht.
And that's the theme because thesepeople are used to being on yachts.
You want to keep 'em comfortable. Ifthey feel like they're not on a yacht,
they might get scared.
Right.
So they've got this just a luxurioussetup. I only explored one floor,
but I kind of had aloungey cafe on one side.
(18:30):
I sat on a couch, Iate a prosciutto tower.
Oh, what's a prosciutto tower?
It is kind of like a tiered structurewith prosciutto falling off of it.
Okay.
It was delicious. It was really good.
Guess what else I had? Shrimp cocktail.
Also incredible. So CasaCipriani had very good food,
(18:52):
a very comfortable couches. Theyhad a jazz room in the middle.
They poked my head inside ofthe jazz room. Looked very nice.
No jazz was happening.
It was 5:00 PM They had incredible viewsthat honestly it should be illegal to
have these views of Brooklynand just the Statue of Liberty
because other people should have'em too. But only they have them.
Only they have the views.
(19:13):
Yeah. Amazing space.
Unless you go on the Staten Island ferry.
No, even then you don't have that.It's more elevated.
It's on the fifth floor ofthe building I want to say.
So Casa Chips hot or not.
Casa Chips. Medium.
Warm.
I would say medium hot. Yeah. Yeah.
And of course we both recently went Where.
Chez Margaux.
Chez Margaux.
(19:34):
Yeah.
The new-ish. Opened in the past two years.
Private club in the meat packingdistrict in Manhattan With a
restaurant in the bottom from Jean George.
Yeah.
Immediate impressions.
I had heard a lot aboutChez Margaux before I went
(19:55):
there. And the thing that Iheard the most was it's this sexy
red basement with vaulted ceilings and it
feels cool. That's the wordpeople keep using. Cool.
Which I don't actually knowwhat cool is, to be honest.
Do you have a definition for cool.
Cool, cool is No,
(20:17):
I got nothing. Yeah, I don'teither. I got nothing either.
And I walk in,
the immediate thing I noticeis despite the temperature of
92 degrees,
there's a fire in thefireplace in the entryway
luxury. Why not?
You have to line up if you're a guestand you have to be sent a guest pass on
(20:41):
your phone, you scan a QR codelike a jerk. And then they say, oh,
your host is downstairs.You may go downstairs and you walk down the staircase.
It's very dark and the memberswho don't have to check in,
they just walk right past you.And for a second I was like, dang,
that's pretty nice. Theyjust walk right in. I'm dirt.
(21:02):
I have to wait on this staircase like achump. What were your first impressions?
I think before Chez Margaux even opened,
I had kind of researched it alittle bit for the Infatuation.
I was just kind oflooking into the opening.
I might've even written a little openingsblurb about it in our openings guide.
So I actually had a good idea of whatto expect from Chez Margaux and I had
talked to some people who had been there.
(21:24):
Jodie Foster?
Jodie Foster? I don't believe so,but who knows? She is everywhere.
She's an actual celebrity.
Yeah,
but I would say I liked it more than I
thought I would. Does that meanI would become a member? No.
Well, what did you like about it?
It was just a very, very well done room.
(21:48):
Those glossy red ceilings. There'sa leopard print everywhere.
They have these, there's realbooks called Chateau Brion.
It's very dark.
And also the staff is very nice and thinkthat's a big element of these members
clubs is that the staff, all thestaff, no matter who you are,
they treat you like a VIP.Everybody there is a VIP.
You go to a restaurant in New York City,
(22:09):
chances are your service will treatyou nice. They'll treat you nicely,
but you aren't going to be treated likea VIP unless you are an actual VIP at
that Restaurant. So these places arefull of these people who are just used to
being treated really special.
I think what bothers me is that youdon't have to earn being a VIP by being
(22:30):
actually cool or actuallyinteresting or actually kind
At a quote public restaurant.
If you have created a bondwith the bartender or you're a
neighborhood regular, tome you've put in your time.
I think in a member's club, ifeveryone's treated like a VIP,
(22:50):
no one's actually a VIP.
They just get that fast pass the VIPfast pass by throwing money at the club.
That's right. And I agree withyou. The service was great.
I mean the somm absolutely upsold me onwine and I was really happy about it.
We drank delicious stuff.
Yeah. The somm you were flirting with.
I flirted with the somm.
Sorry, Aaron.
Sorry.
What did you think of the foodat Chez Margaux? So the kitchen,
(23:11):
it's the menu is from Jean George. Wellif you don't know who Jean George is,
runs a lot of fancyrestaurants in New York,
such as Jean George on the Upper West
Side.
But also the Fulton andthe menu was really,
it was a huge menu and it waslike a poo platter of JG hits.
(23:33):
There's a cheeseburger withgruyere from the Fulton.
There's a samosa from ABCV.
There's something thatthey call Tuna New Style,
which is like a flatpounded tuna with sesame.
And the server said tous before we ordered it,
you've had it at Nobu Jokes on thatserver. I've never been a Nobu.
You've been a Nobu.
I've been a Nobu.
(23:53):
Okay.
How about that?
Like seven styles ofrestaurant on one menu,
which is quite jarring but also makessense if you think about the draw of Chez
Margaux is you can always, you go,
you sort of are guaranteeing a table.
It's your spot and maybe you don't wantto eat the same exact kind of food every
(24:14):
time you go. So it's nice to have
a variety of options.
Yeah, there's a ton of stuff on that menu.
The thing is these clubs have to be crowdpleasing in order to please the crowd
have to have a lot of options orat least some inoffensive options.
This menu had both, it had a Turkeyclub, a chicken club sandwich I think.
(24:34):
Oh yeah.
So surprising.
What else do we get?
We've got this $150.
I think it was like amiso encrusted strip.
Steak New York strip. Yeah.
Yeah. What else?
48.
We got the tuna. We got a dosa withegg and mint. I want to say. Yeah.
That dosa was not so great.
Yeah, it definitely was a bad.
That was a soggy dosa. It was good becausethe ingredients of a dosa are good,
(24:57):
but the texture was like raw.
It was not very.
Yeah.
We had foie gras terrine,which I really enjoyed.
Me too.
But we only ate half of it.
The rolls were great. I know thatsounds really boring. They were so hot.
They were so hot. They were really puffyto the touch but still had that crust.
The rolls so good.
I was expecting the food to be worse.
(25:21):
I wasn't John George.
You weren't. I know, but.
I've been to a lot ofJohn George restaurants.
I would say that's probablynot one of the best ones.
Okay, sure.
We spent so much money. How muchmoney did we spend on dinner?
We spent a thousand dollars on dinner.
A thousand dollars on dinner.
That's right.
Thanks. In part sixbottles of sparkling Evian.
I believe those cost atotal of $60. Thank you.
(25:43):
The infatuation for buying ussix bottles of sparkling Evian.
We apologize for spending a thousanddollars at Chez Margaux. Don't fire us,
please. I went over mybudget this month. Me too.
But you're in this big boothfor three and a half hours.
It's not like you're worried about, ohthe next reservation's here or whatever.
We could have keptdrinking and hanging out.
(26:05):
They're like a pluralityof spaces where you can go.
There's a room that's entirely leopardprint that has elephant tusks in it where
they serve sushi.There's a room where people just
drink Japanese whiskey.
There's a room behind the nightclubwhere professional athletes watch
television.
(26:25):
Alright, Hannah, so what isthe verdict here? Chez Margaux.
Hot or not on 3 1 2.
Hot, hot.
As far as clubs go.
Yeah, I had a great time. I mean,
I don't think the people make it cool.
I think that restaurant wouldbe cool or cooler if it were
(26:50):
open to the public.The space is beautiful.
So that was just our experienceas guests of Chez Margaux.
But to really get a fullpicture of the club,
we need to talk to a member and we happento have an anonymous member of Chez
Margaux, we can speak toon the ham phone right now.
Jodie Foster.
It's Jodie. Jodie, is that you?
(27:12):
Would you join a membership club?Let us know in the comments.
Oh, is that the ham phone? Itsounds like the ham phone ring ring.
Right now we have acaller on the ham phone.
They are an anonymous member atprivate members club Chez Margaux.
And they have graciously agreed to answerall of our questions about the club.
(27:36):
Caller, are you here?
Hi, I am here.
Hi, thanks for joining us.
Happy to talk to you. Thanksfor having me on the ham phone.
So caller, tell us what motivatedyou to join Chez Margaux?
I joined early.
I was one of the foundingmembers and I last
year when it was opening, it wasreally the hottest thing in town.
(28:00):
I think it still is.
And you had Taylor Swiftgoing all the time and
everywhere I went I justkept hearing about it.
It was a place that a lotof my friends were going.
It's a place a lot of my friends weretalking about and I decided that I
wanted to be a part of it.
Because maybe your friends would likeyou less if you weren't a member.
(28:22):
My friends would like meless if I wasn't a member.
I would not be able tohave easy access to it.
I don't want to be someone's guest ifit's a place I'm going to go all the time.
Oh, I like that. Interesting.So what is the experience?
Can you describe it forus? At Chez Margaux.
It's kind of both a restaurantand a going out spot,
(28:46):
a club, and so it depends on thehour, what the experience is.
You can go for dinner at 7:00PM and have a relatively quiet
dinner.
You could stay as the vibe changes overthe course of the night into a little
bit more of a party, especially ifit's a weekend, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday by 10, 10 30,11, it's full of people.
(29:08):
Have you seen any other celebrities there?
Yeah, I've seen a bunch of celebritiesthere. I've seen JLo there.
I've seen Jeff Bezos there.I've seen Selena Gomez there.
I never saw Taylor Swift there.I've seen the paparazzi pictures,
but I've seen a lot ofmega A-list people there.
Is there a dress codeat Chez Margaux and also
(29:32):
how conscious of the dresscode are you when you're there?
They ask, of course, no dirty shoesor gym clothes, flip flops, et cetera.
It's so funny though because Imean it says no baseball caps and
sweatshirts and for sure baseball capsand sweatshirts are worn there when the
Knicks are in season.
You always see the Knicks thereafter the games and I've seen them in
(29:56):
sweatpants a lot, certainly no one's,
certainly no one's enforcingthe dress code on them.
When people ask or you tell peopleyou are a member of Chez Margaux,
how do you feel?
Do you say it with pride or areyou maybe a little embarrassed?
I would say exactly inthe middle, neither.
(30:17):
I don't bring it up in asituation where I could feel
embarrassed. I don't sayit with pride, however,
there have been situations whereI had an out of town business
contact from another country who'dheard about it and was dying to go.
I was super happy to take him.
I don't personally getoff on sharing that.
(30:41):
I could imagine beingembarrassed by it if it
sounds too elitist or too expensive.
Talk to us about the money element.
How much are you payingto be a member there?
Well,
I was an early member andI think we had probably a
(31:03):
slight discount over what the currentrates are now. I wouldn't call it cheap,
but definitely relative to the others,
I think it's probably on the moreaffordable end of the spectrum.
Do you think you get your money's worth?
I go a few times a month reliably,
so I definitely think I'mgetting my money's worth.
One of the things that I likeabout it is you just can get a
(31:27):
reservation.
It's really convenient tohave the reservation and it's kind of like a default
place.
It's really worth it to me to have thatconvenience of a place that I know is
going to be a great experience where Iknow I'm going to have a good time where
I'm going to see people I knowwhere I'm going to see people.
I don't know but want to know.
How would you characterize Chez Margauxcompared to other clubs that you've
(31:50):
either been to in New York or heard about?
To me, Chez Margaux,
the best word to describeit I think is cool.
It just feels very cool. And I'm notsaying it feels cool to be a member.
What I mean is the crowd feels cool.I look at Chez Margaux as TikTok,
it's kind of a little bit ofeverything. It feels very of the moment.
(32:11):
And if you look at somethinglike San Vincente Bungalows,
I think of SVB as Instagram.It's a little more corporate.
It feels a little more like reels alittle more dated and a little bit more
institutional. And so it definitely,
Chez Margaux to me has ayoung vibe, a cool vibe.
It's not all young by theway, but it feels more fresh,
(32:35):
more youthful, more new comparedto some of the other places.
Yeah. I wonder what is the next phase
of member clubs?
There have been more and more thathave been opening in New York.
Obviously it's nothing new,
but it does feel like there's beena particular explosion in recent
history and I wonder howlong will Chez Margaux feel?
(33:00):
Cool.
It's kind of interesting that it tookthis long for something like an exclusive
member's dining experienceto come to New York.
It feels like so made forNew York. Obviously it's more associated with London,
but it's crazy that it took so long.
I don't see them goingaway anytime soon in
part because one of the reasonswhy I think they've taken off
(33:23):
is it's so damn hard to geta reservation these days.
So I think that people willcontinue to want and need ways
to get access to spaces that are more
guaranteed or easier thanjust being part of the
general resi pool.
What's next?
(33:44):
Do you have any predictionsabout the longevity of this or?
I think Chez Margaux, I thinkit's already lasted with heat.
Longer than many people would've thought.
It's hard to keep a hotspot hot.
I just haven't yet seenChez Margaux Cool off.
Have you heard about anybody gettingwaitlisted or rejected these days?
(34:06):
For sure.
I hear a lot of times about people whoget turned down or never hear back.
Why do you think they get turned down?
What's the point of a member's clubif everyone can get in? I mean,
I think they have to curateand select people that
feel appropriate and on brand and on
(34:30):
appropriate for the community.
They wear flip flops, maybe.
They wear flip flops,but flip flops are back,
so I bet flip-flops are actually okay.
Okay. Okay. So say I want guaranteedmembership to Chez Margaux.
I want to give myself the bestchance. What school do I go to?
What job do I get?
What neighborhood do I live inand what's my favorite movie?
(34:54):
Okay.
If you want guaranteedaccess to Chez Margaux,
you probably live in
the surrounding area, let'ssay meat packing West Village,
but you're not a West Village girl. I'mnot saying you're not a girl, you're.
(35:17):
Just not a West Village.
Stereotype of the New York magazine piece.
That's right.
I mean you could have gone anywhere.
I am seeing anywhere from University of
Miami to Ivy League to kind of
dropout.
(35:37):
I think that if you look at kind of who I
think maybe the stereotypical20 something member is,
I think it's all walks of life froma kind of background standpoint.
As long as you havemoney now and are cool.
Bryan's disqualified becausehe's not in his twenties.
(35:58):
There's numbers of all.
Ages.
Yeah, I think that, whatwas the other question?
It was where did I go to school? What doI do for work? You mean you could work,
you could work in,
let's see. You could work infashion, you could work in
(36:21):
anything cultural. Youcould be, like I said,
you could be kind of like a 20 something,
30 something crypto person thatno one knows what you do all day.
Gold rush pioneer.
Gold rush. Pioneer.
Oh, favorite movie was the last.
Oh yeah. What should my favoritemovie be if that's too tough?
(36:43):
What am I watching onNetflix or HBO right now?
I'm getting your You loved Anora. Oh.
Yeah, yeah.
You loved Anora and youmight for all I know you're
watching a free divingdocumentary on Netflix. Could be.
It's really kind of, Iwould say maybe a polymath.
(37:05):
Caller.
I have a theory brewing and I'm wondering
if you ever wait in lines.
At restaurants, you mean?
Yeah. I'm wondering if you ever waitin line at bakeries or to put your name
down in a restaurant. You everfind yourself on a sidewalk?
Are you a line person?
I have been at Lucali, I have done that.
(37:27):
And then while I was at Lucali,I learned about line sitters.
Same. That's where I learned about 'em.
Have you ever used that before?
I sent a line sitter to Ceres recently.
Wow. Ceres pizza in, whatis that? Little Italy,
a hot new pizza place.
How much did you pay for that?
(37:49):
I don't want to talkabout that. It was a lot.
Bad. I bet it was so much. You'reanonymous. You can talk about it.
It's a safe space caller.
Well, to be honest,
the line sitting feewasn't that absurd. It was.
It is absurd. In practice,
I ended up paying I think$180 for two pizzas.
(38:11):
I love that. I think that ifthe pizzas weren't $40 each,
it wouldn't have felt as absurd. Butthe bill got higher than I was expected.
Yeah,
just for full context series pizza isone of the more expensive pizza places.
Takeout pizza places in the city.
I personally paid $70 for a pie there.So $70.
A pie?
Yeah.
$70 For up high.
Yeah, that was really good. I'm sorry.
(38:32):
What was on it?
Yeah, what makes it $70?
The andouille. There was so much and itcost so much. And then an aged balsamic,
they put $9 of an aged balsamic on.
I was talking to the owners and theysaid that aged balsamic cost $9,
just on the pizza.
Okay. We're still thinkingabout about $61 left after that.
Well he said two pie.
The base plane was 40 I think.
(38:54):
What are they putting on this pizza.
Ceres should be a members club.
Oh my god, I love that.
Ceres should be a members club.
So caller, you seem prettyhype on Chez Margaux,
frankly, I'm kind of hype on Chez Margaux,which I'm a little embarrassed by,
but are there any cons toChez Margaux or are there
cons to the larger member club universe?
(39:18):
The biggest con to ChezMargaux is how crowded it is.
There are nights where youcan't move in the bar area
and that's cute. If you are younger,
maybe it's less cute the older you get.
But I think one of the cons that Iwould say about the broader members club
(39:42):
experience, and I think it's reallyimportant, I think some members,
clubs make a really bad experiencefor their guests sub members.
And so that's kind of something that Ithink a lot about. If I were in charge,
I would make sure that non-memberswho are invited guests,
sub members feel really welcome.
I think that's one of thereasons that I hate SVB.
(40:04):
Don't put a sticker on myphone. I'm not an animal.
I went to dinner thereand sat down at the table
before my host arrived and theywouldn't let me order a drink.
And it's just like, don't sit me atthe table. I don't want to be here.
They made me feel worse
and I get the idea of prioritizingthe member experience,
(40:26):
but I think it's really important toalso make your members' guests feel
welcome.
Well, caller, this has been veryenlightening and fun and yeah,
I want to thank you for joining us.
Well thanks for having me. I would loveto refer you Hannah to Chez Margaux.
Anytime. What.
About me? See Caller said Hannah.What about me not Bryan, come on.
Hannah said she wanted in.
(40:48):
I know, I didn't say that. I'm too proud.I was annoyed at how much I liked it.
Yeah, you're too cool for Chez Margaux.
I know. I wish I wasn't.
Thanks caller. Talk to youlater. Thank you so much.
If you like this episode,
please make sure to and subscribe torestaurant people on YouTube and all of
(41:08):
your preferred podcast platforms.
In terms of clubs, ChezMargaux is probably one of the better ones. That said,
I do not fully condone Chez Margaux.
I'm not telling my friends to go signup and become a member of Chez Margaux.
I'm not signing up for Chez Margaux, butI had a very nice time.
I don't know how long thatcan last in terms of its
(41:31):
hotness. I'm curious about it.
I think it's interestingthat our caller mentioned
not wanting to play thereservation mania game.
They are almost willing to pay the
premiums of club membership so that
(41:53):
they don't have to stress aboutwhere am I going to dinner tonight.
Yeah, I feel like I've heardthat from other people too.
So do you think that's kind ofimpacting restaurants at all,
the proliferation of these clubs thatthey take in business away from non gated
restaurants in New York City and beyond.
Yeah, I mean I thinkobjectively these private clubs,
(42:14):
if they're attracting repeatguests are taking away business
from non gated restaurants.
But also we all know that the coolest
restaurants are goingto always be non gated.
So it's not like members are nevergoing to go to non gated restaurants.
I'm really interested in this ideaof what is the difference between a
(42:36):
restaurant in a private member'sclub and a sort of ungated public
restaurant.
And I wanted to hear from someonewhose work back of house at a private
club.
So I tracked down an anonymouspastry chef of a private
club in Philly, and I talkedto them about their experience.
And when I was talking to this person,they told me in their time at the club,
(43:00):
this is their fifth executivechef that they've been through.
It's in the only a couple of years.
And so I think what happens is thechef comes in and they're like,
oh my God,
what a cushy job with my salary andbenefits and it's just going to be like a
country club, but smaller. I canput whatever I want on the menu.
And the reality is people are reallyopinionated and they're giving their
(43:23):
feedback directly andexpect to be accommodated.
But yeah, it's like having a restaurantfull of annoying VIPs. Yes. Oh my god.
There is one high profilemember at this club in Philly,
and apparently wheneverhe comes to dinner,
he will order a grilled chicken parm and
the kitchen has to make itfor him. There's no grilled chicken parm on the menu.
(43:46):
There's not even achicken parm on the menu.
And apparently he doesn't wantanything fried or breaded.
So they will grill a paillard,put pizza sauce and cheese on it,
bake it in the oven and send itout with whatever side he wants.
But because he donated so much moneyto the club, there's no leeway.
And so these in private clubs,
you don't have to behave well.
(44:09):
There's no public shaming about you'rebeing an asshole to the server or
you can demand whatever you want.
And I guess when you reacha certain point of wealth,
maybe that's just whathappens. But frankly,
a couple thousand dollars to me, youare not the richest person in the world.
How dare you tell them youwant a special off thing.
(44:31):
That's insane.
It sounds pretty spot on for thepeople who go to these places though.
Totally.
Just the level of entitlement. And also
it's partially the club's fault.
It's the monster they'vecreated with this whole,
everyone's a VIP culture and then alsomaking everyone pay double for their
meal. You're paying an initiation,you're paying a membership fee,
and then you're paying for the food.What do you expect from these people?
(44:54):
It better be good.
That's right. I mean, I see both sides.
If you are paying money tobe somewhere you want to
be treated well,
but I guess I can't wrap my head around.
Just go to a restaurant and be nice and
(45:15):
ask the server how their day was.And you'll probably be treated well.
Do you know what I mean?
You love doing that.Always talking to servers.
Every time we go to a restaurant,
I have to listen to you try tobecome best friends with a server.
And I become best friends.
Yeah, I know.
It's nice.
It is nice.
And I get treated really well.
I think that's a big reason why peoplego to these places to get that special
(45:37):
treatment to feel special.People want to feel special.
That's right.
But ultimately,
I don't really think these placesare in competition with New York City
restaurants.
I think they're more feeling avoid left by the departure of
nightclubs. So after thepandemic and during the pandemic,
so many of these New YorkCity nightclubs closed, Cielo,
(46:00):
1Oak, Tenjune, I think it was before,these are just like meat packing ones.
I'm talking about Avenue, the Jane HotelBallroom where I had my 22nd birthday.
These are literally allin the same neighborhood.
And it's a neighborhood where a lot ofthese clubs are opening up like Crane
Club, like SVB, like Chez Margaux, right?
So there's this void that's being filled.
(46:20):
And some people who used to go to theseclubs or people who would've gone to
these clubs are nowgoing to members clubs.
Others I think are going tothese EDM venues nowadays.
Like in Bushwick and Ridgewood.
Yeah, like Brooklyn Storehouse.
Yeah. That's a real place.Brooklyn Storehouse.
Brooklyn Storehouse.
Sounds like you just made that up.
I could have. I don't know. There's also.
(46:43):
I think that's totally right.
I think it's more indicative ofpeople wanting a place to hang out
all night and orderingfancy drinks and mingling
with others who are in theirtax bracket and maybe they're
going to mate with and procreate with.It's sort of like live
(47:04):
Raya is my impression.
For sure.
I heard from someone who, she'snot a member of Casa Cipriani,
but she went there for an event andwas talking to some of the members
afterwards and she said that this waswomen who are all in their twenties,
someone who worked in social media,
someone who worked for Walmarthq and this Walmart HQ person was
(47:28):
reverse commuting.
So living in New York in anapartment without a window
and reverse commuting to New Jerseyto Walmart hq, which is in New Jersey.
And my friend askedthis Walmart HQ person,
why do you live in an apartmentwithout a window and pay
thousands of dollars to be a member atCasa Cipriani? And this person said,
(47:51):
well, this is just how I calculatethe New York life that I want to have.
I would rather pay more money to belongto Casa Cipriani than pay more money for
an apartment that I'm notspending much time in.
That is unbelievable.
It's also unbelievable that an apartmentwithout a window is legal in New York
City.
Totally.
Next week we'll be talkingabout apartments without Windows legal or ilIegal.
(48:15):
I mean, in some ways it's sort of smart.
I mean, if you want this to beyour life and you're choosing to
spend most of your timeat Casa Cipriani. Sure.
Yeah. It's like this illusion of abetter life. That's right. You go there,
your life isn't outside of Casa Cipriani.You just kind of ignore all of that.
(48:37):
You black all of it out, you try toforget it. And then you live at Casa Chip.
That's what I call it now. Casa Chips.
Casa Chips. These clubs arefilling some sort of psychological,
sociological need to feelimportant to be seen,
to be associated with celebrities.
Something because people clearlyare spending a lot of money to be
(49:01):
there. Or in some cases choosingto live in a windowless room
so they can be a member.
I want to talk to that girl. I want tosit her down, shake her by the shoulders.
I want to talk to her parents.
We need to find her parents and tell themthat their daughter's living in a cave
(49:23):
just so she can go to Casa Chips,
which serves the same food as Cipriani.
You could go to the restaurant.
All for a view of the Staten Island ferry.
You could just ride theStaten Island ferry for free.
I, that's my favorite privateclub. It's the Staten Island ferry.
Yeah. So after our discussion, afterlooking into all of these clubs,
after talking to the anonymousmember, after doing a ton of research,
(49:47):
as your impression changed,
your impression of thesemembership clubs changed.
What are your feelings like now?
Based on our experiencesand everything I've heard,
I feel even more sure than ever thatexclusivity does not equal cool.
And money doesn't buy good taste.
(50:09):
If you want to be a memberof a club, do it. Go for it.
But probably you should still go torestaurants that aren't that club because
the food is going to beway better. What about you?
I started the research for this podcastand I was looking into all these clubs
and I was amazed by howmany clubs there were.
And I actually went to some andtoured some and saw what was going on.
(50:30):
I think I noticed that a lot of themweren't as busy as I thought they were
going to be or weren'treally doing as well.
I was expecting something significantlycooler than Soho House from all these
new clubs. But they are reallyjust Soho House at the end.
Well, they're all going to turn into SohoHouse like Chez Margaux is going to be
inundated with applications. They'regoing to have to accept some people.
(50:50):
And then it's going to feel, I mean,
our caller said it's already feelingsometimes really, really crowded.
And so what's next? I don't know.
What happens when peopleget tired of private clubs,
squid game.
Private jets.
The purge, the Purge, Kansas, the Purge.
Is the obvious next step.Kansas City, Kansas.
(51:11):
City. Kansas City.
Everyone goes to Kansas City.Hey, come with me to Kansas City.
It's my new private club.It's the whole city.
Need help figuring out where to eat thisweekend or maybe where you can become a
regular that's not a membership club.
Check out our incredible reviews andguides on the infatuation.com and at
infatuation on Instagram and at theinfatuation on TikTok. I'm Bryan.
(51:34):
I'm Hannah. Thanks for joiningus. This was Restaurant People,
A Show by Infatuation. See you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Paper Ghosts: The Texas Teen Murders
Paper Ghosts: The Texas Teen Murders takes you back to 1983, when two teenagers were found murdered, execution-style, on a quiet Texas hill. What followed was decades of rumors, false leads, and a case that law enforcement could never seem to close. Now, veteran investigative journalist M. William Phelps reopens the file — uncovering new witnesses, hidden evidence, and a shocking web of deaths that may all be connected. Over nine gripping episodes, Paper Ghosts: The Texas Teen Murders unravels a story 42 years in the making… and asks the question: who’s really been hiding the truth?
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com