Greed is good again at the new Caviar Club, a 1980s-inspired sit-down that’s part steak-and-caviar restaurant, gilded martini lounge and members-only club, coming this October to Fort Lauderdale’s Las Olas Boulevard.
With a price tag pushing $10 million, the Caviar Club, at 833 E. Las Olas Blvd., is billed as an over-the-top Gordon Gekko fever dream of lavish excess: Picture dark burl walnut walls, gold-rimmed mirrors, tufted cheetah-print booths and Cartier gold-banded archways. Restaurateur Marc Falsetto describes the vibe as “nostalgic, old-money elegance,” “fashion-forward” and “intentionally sexy.”
Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel
Caviar Club will take over the former Unique Treasures art building on the corner of Las Olas Boulevard and Southeast Ninth Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Here, past the doorman, table captains in custom-tailored Dolce & Gabbana tuxedos will carve dry-aged prime Wagyu steaks and Dover sole tableside, serve caviar pasta and French dips with au jus gravy in Baccarat crystal. An extensive caviar menu will offer a “grand tasting” in the $2,000 range, while a library of 300 French wines and high-end Champagnes includes a $15,000 Bordeaux. In the late-night hours, DJs will spin an ’80s-inspired soundtrack.
“If the restaurant had a persona, it would be ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ meets the movie ‘Wall Street,’” Falsetto tells the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “It’s gonna be full-on ’80s glam, over-the-top, unapologetically bold and loud. A lot of martinis and a dining room like the interior of a Rolls-Royce. It’s going to be exclusive and very hard to get into.”
So tough, Falsetto insists, that he expects reservations at the 4,200-square-foot Caviar Club (which replaced the former Unique Treasures art store) will be booked months in advance. So tough that celebrities and VIPs — the club’s dues-paying private members — will prefer using its private, secret side entrance rather than mingle with the wait-listers out front, he says.
Why does Las Olas deserve a maximalist restaurant, one that’s loud and lavish in the mold of Bemelmans Bar, The Polo Bar and other stately New York drinking dens?
Two reasons: Falsetto loves the 1980s, and Fort Lauderdale restaurants don’t have “enough luxury.”
“This city is on fire economically,” Falsetto says. “There’s a huge demand from people who are doing very well, and they’re tired of driving to Miami and Palm Beach for luxury. Every day, people are moving here from New York. They expect a different caliber of restaurant and we’re going to give it to them.”
Caviar Club marks the first solo-owned restaurant to fly under his Falsetto Hospitality banner (formerly Handcrafted Hospitality), a rebranding he says reflects a pivot toward higher-end dining. He plans to open two more luxury Broward County restaurants over the next three years while still running Tacocraft, Pizzacraft and Anthony’s Runway 84 with other partners.
The man helping him romanticize the decade of Reaganomics, yuppie power suits and brick-sized car phones is New York designer Garrett Singer (Manhattan’s Torrisi, Flyfish Club), in charge of its Art Deco-style lighting, dark wood tones and imported furniture and fabrics.
Falsetto Hospitality / Courtesy
A rendering of the 4,200-square-foot Caviar Club in Fort Lauderdale, which will serve classic American dishes, martinis and high-end wines. Owner Marc Falsetto says luxury cars will line the block around his new restaurant. (Falsetto Hospitality/Courtesy)
Roughly half of the restaurant will be a 40-seat martini lounge, distinguished by low ceilings, pink Dolce & Gabbana chairs and “more animal prints than the Serengeti,” he says, adding that his wife and sommelier, Danielle Falsetto, will curate a lineup of 300 French and American wines, including vintage Bordeauxs and Petrus vintages.
Yes, there will be a formal dress code (dress shirt, pants). Those attempting to slip past its red velvet rope in caps, shorts or flip-flops can take their business elsewhere, Falsetto says.
“That dress code will be enforced,” he says. “We’re going in the complete opposite direction of Fort Lauderdale’s reputation for boats and flip-flops to the golden age of the 1980s.”
The menu, helmed by Falsetto’s longtime executive chef Robbyns Martinez (Anthony’s Runway 84), will feature prime rib, dry-aged steaks flown in from Chicago and Japan, and hamburgers ground on-site.
Falsetto says opening night at Caviar Club will be distinguished by a status symbol parked on Las Olas: A luxury 1989 Mercedes 560 SEC Widebody.
“And it will definitely have a car phone,” Falsetto adds.
Caviar Club, at 833 E. Las Olas Blvd., in Fort Lauderdale, is expected to debut this October. Visit CaviarClubFTL.com.
Falsetto Hospitality / Courtesy
A rendering of Fort Lauderdale’s new Caviar Club, a steak-and-caviar restaurant and martini lounge expected to debut this year with American classics like dry-aged prime Wagyu steaks and Dover sole carved tableside by waitstaff in tuxedos. (Falsetto Hospitality/Courtesy)