A Goth walks into a fancy restarant…”21 Club”
Posted in Food & Drink, New York City History on August 11th, 2009 by admin
Greetings my dear Gothlings!
Having been raised in a French Restaurateur family and being around the food service industry for so many years, from time to time I enjoy treating myself to a meal at a very exclusive and expensive restaurant for the experience. I actually enjoy the entire (proper) ritual of dining out with all of its formality. For a bit of time I’ve shared this past-time with my oldest (oldest as in I’ve known him since we were merely 6 years old) friend, Rum (yep, that’s his name…short for Rumseen…he was born in Iran), who isn’t part of the Goth culture, but is quite a character in his own right. Moreover, he too works in the food service industry and is even currently working at my family’s restaurant! The first chi-chi-poo-poo restaurant we tried together was Le Cirque for lunch, located very near to where we both live…did I forget to mention that my friend Rum also lives three floors below me? That’s how we met as kids. Le Cirque, as expected, had very slim menu choices, pretentious service, and a small portions, meanwhile, at 1pm, I just barely woke up and got ready and was not hungry at all…no more lunches (breakfast) at restaurants for me! No, the best part was spooking out all of the business people and the high society wives, not to mention the staff, with my dress code qualifying, yet “offstream” style…basically, picture me at one of the more snotty restaurants in the city dressed as if I am at Salvation!!! Priceless. With my friend dressed as some sort of an executive, I am sure the staff and patrons simply figured us as a manager/agent having a business lunch with his eccentric musician client. LOL! The lunch was pretty “bleh,” and by the time 3:30pm rolled around I was actually hungry! So after that experiment, my friend and I wanted to try something less modern and a well established restaurant.
Now, there is something you may or may not know about me, and that is I am a HUGE N.Y.C. history buff! I have a ton of books, documentaries, maps, images, etc. all about the history of our fair city (notice how I even dedicated the entire month of August as New York City appreciation month on NewGothCity.com)…so as our next restaurant adventure I chose an establishment that I have been dying to try (just for the history alone), for many many years, is The 21 Club. This restaurant, located on 52nd Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues, first opened in the 1920’s during the Prohibition era and was a very successful speakeasy with secret rooms and the whole deal like in those old gangster films of the 30’s! So cool! If you’ve ever passed in front of it, the outside has a huge iron fence and a bunch of jockey lawn statues poised on and under an iron staircase. Rum and I had 8pm reservation but we showed up a tad early…no problem…for a Monday night the place was populated, but not filled. After being courteously greeted and stating: “Reservations for Sir William Welles,” we were escorted to the center of the main dining room, toward a back wall lined with comfortable banquette seating. the décor of the main dining is a complete oxymoron! The color of the place is of a dark, traditional, and wood laden brown…but dangling from the ceiling are hundreds and hundreds of TOYS! Trucks, cars, helmets, airplanes, and even an Enterprise Starship! The lighting is very low save strategic spotlights focused on the table’s center, thus creating, as my friend put it: “mini seance tables with spooky lighting.” Yes, think back to when you were a little Gothling and used to hold a flashlight under your chin to accentuate a ghost story with the “evil face lighting”…you know you’ve done it…that’s what everyone looked like…especially me! Even though there was a strict dress code of jackets and tie required, I wore my black tuxedo jacket, one of my usual black vests and Victorian cravat (without the mink skull) over a cuffed black shirt. I fit the dress code qualification…just not quite. My friend Rum wore his light grey Armani suit, light blue shirt, etc., etc., etc…his attire was more their norm.
Rum and I got settled into our table eager to get started with the entire chi-chi-poo-poo dining experience; by the way, Rum was gracious enough to let me face out toward the room..a favor I must return at our next outing. Almost immediately all of the adjacent customer’s eyes were upon us…which we naturally ignored. You must understand something at this point: when Rum and I go out to to these types of places we’re like…like…well, have you seen the Blues Brothers (1980) movie? The scene where they’re looking for their old band mate who is working as the Maitre D’ in a very fancy restaurant? Jake & Elwood sit down at a table, act very unclassy, and ask the father of the family at the next table, “Hey! How much for your women?” Well…we’re not that bad…but were are in the spirit while being quite proper, without being too stuffy. The first rule of this is being very polite and friendly to the staff…overly so…like seeing an old friend for the first time in several years and chatting with them on a very equal basis…not on a master/servant level they are used to. This really throws them for a loop. Soon, even though we are first timers, we are perceived by everyone as loyal regulars, no matter how we dress or act. The movie Trading Places (1983) also comes to mind…the 80’s was a great decade when it came to teaching the rich and stuck-up people that being relaxed, having a sense of humor, and releasing that stick up their asses can lead to a fun time. And that is our credo here…without being assholes or douches…we are always very polite and courteous. The Lady of Manners would be proud!
Now, for those who know me well, you knows I likes me my white wine! I ask for the wine list…I receive a tome of at least 100 pages! I shit you not! After reading this bible of wine I quickly found the cheapest bottle to be around $35.00 and the pricier ones to be up to $5,000!!! Oh, and I’m sure they have a private stash that will by waaaaaaay more expensive! Fortunately, they have a special chapter for bottles under $60.00. How considerate! Within this list I found a bottle of wine which I haven’t had in many a year and was ecstatic to find. The wine in question was a Vouvray “Sec” from the Loire region of France (of course, thank you very much). This white wine is amazing! Very dry (that’s what Sec means in French), crisp, light and 13.2% alcohol. YUUUUMMMMY!!! I order a bottle, my friend orders a Mojito (which will end up costing $16.00). The Vouvray was only $47.00…one of the cheaper ones. The Mojito was potent enough that Rum leaves me the entire bottle of Vouvray to consume by myself…no problem, I told him, “I brush my teeth with that amount of every morning!” (no, not really) and proceeded to finish every last tasty drop by the end of the meal. Wheeeeeee! I’m originally from France so this stuff is like water to me…Germans = Beer; Mexicans = Tequila; Greeks = Ouzo; Russians = Vodka; Japanese = Sake; English = Gin; Canadians = Maple syrup…you get the idea!
After some debate, we order the food. Rum ordered the lobster roll (he had no idea what that was, and was looking forward to a hot plate…he never got it), which turned out to be a very chunky lobster salad sandwich. I ordered a Caesar salad appetizer and a roasted organic half chicken as an entree. Actually, Rum had the entire bread selection, with tasty butter, as an appetizer, now that I think about it. The food was served and we ate it. Point blank. It was quite good. However, even though the menu seemed to contain very light fare (i.e. a lot of salads, sandwiches, etc.) for dinner, the portions were surprisingly very generous and thus filling — it’s a good thing I was at the gym earlier that afternoon! Oh! Rum also ordered something called “Pommes Souffle” which turned out to be a basket full of…well…imagine if you took a potato chip, stuck a mini bicycle pump into it and puffed the chip up into small blimpy shapes…very crispy, very light, very $10.00 for 12 puffy potato chips! Ha! We’re just doing our part to stimulate the economy. LOL!!!
The highlight of the entire night was not the décor, nor the food…no…the best part was befriending our waiter, Chauncey (I hope I spelled his name right). During our evening we chatted with him and shared that we too work in the restaurant industry (Rum more than myself), and not very far away either. We aslo told him that my family’s restaurant is on 50th Street a few blocks away and henceforth compared funny stories about crazy customers and bizarre food requests. A bond was made…even with the Sommelier, the busboy, the food runner, and the captain. Therefore, at the end of the meal we were treated to two surprises! First, three complimentary desserts, which made us extra full (I don’t eat carbs/sweets at all), but have to at least try a sample out of simple courtesy…oh the sacrifices for good manners!!! Four hours at the gym tomorrow to work that off! Surprise number two: After I paid the bill…uh trust me…you do not want to know…our good friend Chauncey arranged for us to get a special tour of the 21 Club’s secret speakeasy hidden cellar!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember before when I stated that I was a huge N.Y.C. history buff and that this restaurant had its place in it? Well I almost melted in my seat when Chauncey announced that we were to be privileged to a private tour!!! I felt like a Day-Crawling tween who just learn she was going to get backstage tickets to a Hannah Montana concert!
After we left our table, we were greeted by the 21 Club’s Wine Master and was promptly escorted through the kitchen (awesome Kit-chun!!!), down a flight of stairs, and to a cubby-holed arch made of brick and painted with a thick grey paint. Now, to open the secret door to the secret wine cellar and speakeasy room, the Wine Master produced a simple, straight, metal meat skewer as a key! Who would suspect a meat skewer as a key?!?! Moreover, our new friend explained that during the Prohibition era the cops raided such speakeasies, they would be armed with city blueprints of the building to fish out any secret rooms or cellars. The genius of the 21 Club’s founders was that when they constructed the secret cellar it was actually located in the unsuspected neighboring building’s basement, thus it was not visible on the blueprints, and the cops never figured it out!!!
I had the extreme pleasure and opportunity to push open the massive hidden door of the secret cellar…all 5,000 lbs. of it! This thing was friggin’ HEAVY!!! At lest 3 inches of brick and 3 more inches of concrete, reinforced with a steel frame on the inside. Plus the entire locking mechanism was created by a Swiss watch maker! Moreover, to unlock the door you don’t just insert the skewer into a small hole, you have to slightly wiggle and bend the skewer in a special way to trigger the lock. We stepped on in through (watch your head) and past some wine racks with bottles bought and stored for some very notable celebrities and Statesme such as: Gerald Ford, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Elizabeth Taylor, Hugh Carey, Ernest Hemingway, Ivan Boesky, The Nordstrom Sisters, Frank Sinatra, Al Jolson, Gloria Vanderbilt, Sophia Loren, Mae West, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Aristotle Onassis, Gene Kelly, Gloria Swanson, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis, Jr., Marilyn Monroe, and more, both alive and dead. Further back was the Speakeasy room with a beautiful log wooden table that seats at least 12 people for a private reception (I can’t even begin to think how much it would cost to rent out that room for a dinner party). On one side of the room is a tiny wooden booth that was especially reserved for none other than James John Walker, THE MAYOR of New York City during the Prohibition Era, and his private bottles of prohibited liquor, glassware, and room for his mistresses! I LOVE THIS TYPE OF N.Y.C. HISTORY!!!
We thanked or host for the quick tour of the secret cellar (which also doubled as his office) that was kept year-round at a comfortable 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and was escorted back upstairs where we said goodnight to all of our new-found friends/staff.
*A side note on this: my friend and I believe that since it was a somewhat slowish Monday night, the staff wasn’t as chi-chi-poo-poo as if it were a Friday or Saturday night, and thus had their guard down. It was a very relaxed atmosphere, and we, being the unconventional characters that we are, might have been a welcomed distraction, or attraction. Either way, we felt as though we were a breath of fresh air for them, and as a result we had an awesome time! Needless to say, I will certainly be back…especially for a date…this is a great date restaurant! Now…if I can only get a date.
See you in the Dark!
Sir William Welles
