beef club and beyond: beef club, 75001

Perhaps concerned that by opening Paris' most misleadingly-named wine bar last year, they might have managed to alienate bozos, goombas, and fraternity candidates, the indefatigably ambitious fellows of the Experimental Cocktail Club Group have lost no time launching a new attempt to recapture these critical audiences: The Beef Club, a two story steakhouse-slash-cocktail bar-slash-nightclub, on rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, by Etienne Marcel. In the words of Dave Barry, I am not making this up.

With The Beef Club the ECC gents will now compete with local wine-huckster Olivier Magny, whose moron-magnet wine bar Ô Château on same street has until now been the de facto destination for all those who'd wish the pleasures of Paris to be more like those of Las Vegas.*

What can I say? I wish the ECC folks a lot of luck, not least because the Native Companion works for them and is liable to catch hell if I get too vicious. In the spirit of congratulation on The Beef Club, a place I will inevitably overcome my revulsion to visit sooner or later, I thought I might offer some concept suggestions for the next ECC restaurant venture.

The Fondue Mud-Wrestling Club

The Sauternes Tasting Room With Mechanical Bulls

Caviar Bubble Tea Room

All Gold Restaurant

All You Can Eat Foie Gras Buffet Bar

For Beef Club ECC are working with a butcher called Yves-Marie Le Bourdonnec, who is renowned as much for his chef-wank promotional stunts as for his meats, and also with the proprietor a supplier of London steakhouse The Hawksmoor, cattle-raiser Tim Wilson, who as far as I know has not posed in the buff with raw meat (yet). They intend to serve meat from a variety of provencances, breeds, etc. It's perfectly likely the meat will be high-quality, and solid-if-not-world-class cocktails are all but assured. I expect the wine list to be dull, heavy on Bordeaux, but not unpotable or awful by any means. Service will be excellent.

Slap a nightclub and a cocktail bar beneath it all, and you have the makings of an utterly crass but by no means terrible experience. The crassness comes mainly from the addition of the nightclub, which gives the whole project the air of an amusement park. Not to mention indigestion. Step right up, ladies and gentlemen ! First, devour choice meats ! Then, each other !

We go to different establishments for different purposes precisely to avoid appearing this single-minded.

* Several of my wine scene friends profess to being actually grateful for the existence of Ô Chateau, since it acts as a sort of filter on the city's wine drinkers, saving my friends from corporate team-building retreats, Spring Break adventurers, and various other constitutencies more accustomed to decanting vodka than wine. 

The Beef Club & Beef Ballroom
58, rue Jean Jacques Rousseau
75001 PARIS
Metro: Etienne Marcel
Map

Related Links:

What's In A Name: La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels, 75006
Rien à Voir avec le Vin Nature: La Compagne des Vins Surnaturels, 75006
Ô God No: Ô Château, 75001

A preview of Le Ballroom du Beef Club @ IHeartParis
A sentimental review of Le Ballroom du Beef Club @ 52Martinis
A brief notice on the opening of The Beef Club @ L'Express