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A supper club is a traditional dining establishment that also functions as a social club. The term may describe different establishments depending on the region, but in general, supper clubs tend to present themselves as having a high-class image, even if the price is affordable to all. In the 2010s, a newer usage of the term supper club emerged, referring to underground restaurants. [1]
Supper clubs, when used in the newer context of underground restaurants, are also known as home bistros, guerrilla diners, [2] secret restaurants, paladares, puertas cerradas, pop-up restaurants, guestaurants, speakeasies, and anti-restaurants.[ citation needed ]
In the U.S., a supper club is a dining establishment generally found across the United States, but currently concentrated in the Upper Midwestern states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa. These establishments typically are located on the edge of town in rural areas. [3]
In 2025, a new meaning for "supper club" had taken root in various places. it now refers to a social venue where numerous people can meet over dinner. [4]
The first supper club in the United States was established in Beverly Hills, California, by Milwaukee, Wisconsin, native Lawrence Frank. [3] Supper clubs became popular during the 1930s and 1940s, although some establishments that later became supper clubs had previously gained notoriety as prohibition roadhouses. [5]
Traditionally, supper clubs were considered a "destination" where patrons would spend the whole evening, from cocktail hour to nightclub-style entertainment after dinner. [6] Featuring a casual and relaxed atmosphere, [6] they are now usually just restaurants rather than the all-night entertainment destinations of the past. [7]
Supper clubs generally feature simple menus with somewhat limited offerings featuring typical American cuisine. [6] Dishes may include prime rib, steaks, chicken, and fish. An all-you-can-eat Friday night fish fry is particularly common at Wisconsin supper clubs, as are brandy old fashioneds. [7] Relish trays with items such as crackers, cheese, carrots, green onions, pickles, cherry peppers, radishes, and celery are typically served at the table on lazy Susans. [6]
Supper clubs in the UK adopted the cabaret concept of the American 1930s and 1940s and aimed to bring the ambience of the underground New York jazz club to the UK entertainment scene, where people could enjoy a dinner without the formality of a ball, whilst enjoying live music. These clubs were often the centre of social networks in both rural communities and cities. Traditional supper club menus consisted of standard American fare, and in the UK there was a concerted drive to give the food and wine a British twist. [8] Some supper clubs were purely informal dining societies whilst others incorporated musical acts to complement the atmosphere. There was also a form of supper club which acted as an informal dating platform. Both have largely been replaced by modern nightclubs.
The term "supper club" is enjoying a revival with slightly different meaning – generally a small underground club (often with roving premises which are only revealed to the guests when they buy a ticket), where guests eat from a restricted or set menu, [9] and are expected to fraternise with other guests whom they may not know. [10]
In the 2020s in the UK 'underground restaurants' and 'supper clubs' started to blossom, with reviews in leading newspapers such as The Times and The Guardian . [11] They range across the UK but are mainly concentrated in London. These are advertised by word of mouth and on social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook. There are a number of ways to find out about supper clubs including social media and the website Eat My World, [12] which lists events all over the UK. Some supper clubs in London are advertised on Grub Club, a London online supperclub platform.
In Latin America, a supper club is typically an underground restaurant known as either a paladar or a restaurante de puertas cerradas (locked door restaurant). Although technically illegal, this type of restaurant is built into the culture,[ clarification needed ] often with higher standards than many licensed establishments. [13] They are becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. [14]
The attraction of the underground restaurant for the customer is the ability to sample new food at low prices outside the traditional restaurant experience. For the host, benefits are making some money and experimenting with cooking without having to invest in a restaurant proper. As one host told the San Francisco Chronicle, "It's literally like playing restaurant... You can create the event, and then it's over." [15]
Dinner usually refers to what is in many Western cultures the biggest and most formal meal of the day. Historically, the largest meal used to be eaten around midday, and called dinner. Especially among the elite, it gradually migrated to later in the day over the 16th to 19th centuries. The word has different meanings depending on culture, and may mean a meal of any size eaten at any time of day. In particular, it is still sometimes used for a meal at noon or in the early afternoon on special occasions, such as a Christmas dinner. In hot climates, the main meal is more likely to be eaten in the evening, after the temperature has fallen.
In a restaurant, the menu is a list of food and beverages offered to the customer. A menu may be à la carte – which presents a list of options from which customers choose, often with prices shown – or table d'hôte, in which case a pre-established sequence of courses is offered. Menus may be printed on paper sheets provided to the diners, put on a large poster or display board inside the establishment, displayed outside the restaurant, or put on a digital screen. Since the late 1990s, some restaurants have put their menus online.
A buffet is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve themselves. A form of service à la française, buffets are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants, and many social events. Buffet restaurants normally offer all-you-can-eat food for a set price, but some measure prices by weight or by number of dishes. Buffets usually have some or mostly hot dishes, so the term cold buffet has been developed to describe formats lacking hot food. Hot or cold buffets usually involve dishware and utensils, but a finger buffet is an array of foods that are designed to be small and easily consumed only by hand, such as cupcakes, slices of pizza, foods on cocktail sticks, etc.
Heston Marc Blumenthal is an English celebrity chef, TV personality and food writer. His restaurants include the Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, a three-Michelin-star restaurant that was named the world's best by the World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2005.
A cover charge is an entrance fee sometimes charged at bars, nightclubs, or restaurants. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as a "fixed amount added to the bill at a nightclub or restaurant for entertainment or service." In restaurants, cover charges generally do not include the cost of food that is specifically ordered, but in some establishments, they do include the cost of bread, butter, olives and other accompaniments which are provided as a matter of course.
Table manners are the rules of etiquette used while eating and drinking together, which may also include the use of utensils. Different cultures observe different rules for table manners. Each family or group sets its own standards for how strictly these rules are to be followed.
An underground restaurant, sometimes known as a supper club or closed door restaurant, is a social dining restaurant operated out of someone's home, generally bypassing local zoning and health-code regulations. They are usually advertised by word of mouth or unwanted advertising. Websites such as BonAppetour have been created to help people find and book these restaurants.
The Ghetto Gourmet was an underground dining experience in Oakland, California that ran from 2003 to 2008. Diners paid between $40 and $100 and were served a table d'hôte meal prepared by a professional chef at a non-restaurant location. Local restaurant chefs cooked on their days off. Douglas Adesko at Time magazine wrote: "Jeremy Townsend, the original Ghetto Gourmet, came up with the idea when his brother, a line cook, wanted to try some dishes. They started in their house in Oakland, California. Two years and one visit from a health inspector later, Townsend took his idea mobile, trying out chefs in other cities. 'My ultimate dream is to tour the country like a rock band, except with dinner parties,' he says."
Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the US, while categorisation differs widely around the world.
A progressive dinner or, more recently, safari supper, is a dinner party with successive courses prepared and eaten at the residences of different hosts. Usually this involves the consumption of one course at each location. Involving travel, it is a variant on a potluck dinner and is sometimes known as a round-robin.
A pop-up restaurant is a temporary restaurant. These restaurants often operate from a private home, former factory, existing restaurants or similar space, and during festivals. Various other names have been used to describe the concept of setting up a restaurant without the typical level of up-front costs, such as guerrilla diners and underground supper clubs.
Charlie's Burgers is a series of private dining events originated in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2009 operated by Franco Stalteri and Donato Carozza. In 2010, it was ranked by Food and Wine Magazine as one of the top three "word of mouth" supper clubs on its list of "100 Best New Food and Drink Experiences in the World". Each dinner event is hosted by a different high-profile chef and is held in a different location, with the location being secret until the last minute. Charlie's Burgers has collaborated with chefs recognized by The World's 50 Best Restaurants, The Michelin Guide and Relais & Chateaux, in Canada, England and France. In January 2010 it held a dinner event featuring insects for which guests paid $155. In July 2010 it expanded beyond Toronto to offer events in London and Paris. In August 2011, Charlie's Burgers launched its own Champagne, a Grand Cru, Blanc de Blancs from a grower from Oger, Marne, France. Franco is a voter on the world’s 50 Best Restaurant List.
Social dining is meeting either at someone's place or at restaurant to enjoy a meal together. It is a philosophy of using meals specifically as a means to connect with others: eat to socialize.
Pollen Street Social is a restaurant in London, England, run by chef Jason Atherton. It was Atherton's first UK solo restaurant, and in 2011 was named the best new UK restaurant by the Good Food Guide, and the best new fine-dining restaurant in London by Time Out. It currently holds one Michelin star, which it gained within a year of opening. Elements in the restaurant such as the dessert bar have been subsequently included in Atherton's other restaurants. On 22 March 2024, Atherton announced on Instagram that the restaurant would be closing permanently on 31 July 2024.
Prawn cocktail, steak garni with chips, and Black Forest gâteau was the most popular dinner menu in British restaurants in the 1980s, according to contemporary surveys by trade magazine Caterer and Hotelkeeper. It was associated with the Berni Inn chain, which popularised mass-market dining out after the end of food rationing in Britain following the Second World War. The Prawn Cocktail Years, by Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham, called this meal the Great British Meal Out.
Dark dining is the act of eating a meal without seeing the food that is being eaten. The basic concept is that the removal of vision enhances the other senses and increases gastronomic pleasure. Since 1999, specialised dark restaurants have opened in many parts of the world.
A meal is an occasion that takes place at a certain time and includes consumption of food. The English names used for specific meals vary, depending on the speaker's culture, the time of day, or the size of the meal. A meal is different from a snack in that meals are generally larger, more varied, and more filling.
The Original Dinerant, or simply The Original, is a diner serving American cuisine in Portland, Oregon, United States. Owned by Sage Hospitality Resources, Guy Fieri visited the "modern" and "upscale" diner to film a 2016 episode of the Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The diner has hosted competitive eating contests and other special events. The Original has received a generally positive reception and is most known for its glazed doughnut sliders and alcoholic milkshakes. The restaurant's mezzanine level has an amusement arcade and bar called The Dinercade added in early 2019.
Cow by Bear is an American pop-up steakhouse founded in San Diego by an anonymous chef dressed as a Kodiak bear.
