Great Escape-East Coast

by Laura Collis

New York City’s iconic restaurant ‘21’ Club exudes the old-fashioned style of the 1930s. Positioned at the heart of Manhattan, this ex-speakeasy is only moments away from the city’s Broadway and concert halls, luxurious hotels, best shopping sights and most celebrated landmarks.  Its award-winning wine selection and superb American cuisine invites you to embellish in a sophisticated air, where gentlemen wear jackets and ladies dress to be noticed. With three floors of private dining, cozy lounge rooms, and a historical Prohibition-era wine cellar, this townhouse setting epitomizes the perfect host for romantic getaways, intimate family parties and corporate meetings.
You can scan the memorabilia-filled rooms for celebrities, world leaders, and heavy hitters of the city’s business and media powerhouses. Over the decades, its A-list guests have included old-time Hollywood stars like Frank Sinatra and Humphrey Bogart, famous writers like Ernest Hemingway and Dorothy Parker, NBC and ABC news anchors and journalists, the NY Yankees and nearly every U.S. President since FDR.  Its on-camera appearances include: All About Eve, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Wall Street, One Fine Day, The Associate, Sex and the City, and The Apprentice to name a few. Forbes Magazine claims it’s “the restaurant where more deals are done than in the boardroom.”
Executive Chef John Greeley, who claims he’s far from being bored on the job, is a passionate young chef whose love of fine art, culinary excellence, and fresh local ingredients allows him to create innovative and delicious dishes for lunch, dinner, and à la carte. While still only tweaking the classics, Greeley updates his eleven different menus at the start of each season, dishing out “true-blue American cooking” from French fries and burgers to antelope and game to Hawaiian and Alaskan seafood. “We’re doing everything here,” says Greeley, “We’re all about having a good time.” And the critics seem to agree, if you find yourself amidst the glitz and glamour of the Big Apple, “go at least once” to one of New York’s most cherished “staple” restaurants–the ‘21’ Club.
Visit the ‘21’ Club located at 21 West 52nd Street, New York, New York 10019 or go to www.21club.com.