New York City’s hottest restaurants have long operated as semi-private clubs, even if you didn’t know it. The Nines has a VIP number for reservations, as does Balthazar and Minetta Tavern. There’s in-the-know emails for Polo Bar, and a special status for hard-to-get bookings on Resy. For the back room at Emilio’s? You pretty much need to know Emilio himself.
Money can get you into these places, sure. Amex Black and Platinum Cards come with reservation perks. Dorsia promises you entry for a pricey minimum spend. Slipping the maître d’ a stack of bills is always a classic. Access, however, is mostly granted through a combination of cult, cash, and clout. Come here a lot, bring a cool crowd, and put your card down? Your table is right this way.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that Major Food Group’s Mario Carbone, Jeff Zalaznick, and Rich Torrisi—the founders of Carbone, the crown jewel of the city’s social dining scene—decided to make what was unsaid, well, said. Loudly. Last week, their second location debuted in Hudson Yards. But only to a select few: ZZ’s Club, which features two restaurants, the Japanese-focused ZZ’s and Carbone Privato, is members only. The cost of entry? A $20,000 initiation fee, followed by $10,000 yearly dues.
If that seems steep, it very much is: the median income for New York City is $70,663, meaning ZZ’s is only accessible to the upper, upper echelon of the wealthiest people in the world.
Yet, Major Food Group is betting they’ll pay. They’ve already been paying. Since opening in 2013, the 110-seat Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village has built so much buzz it’s become an empire: Carbone Miami location has a two-month-long waiting list, and during the F1 Grand Prix, reservations went for $3,000 a head for a pop-up on the beach. In 2021, Major Food Group opened the first ZZ’s Club in the Design District. Reservations were by application only. This December, a sales gallery will open for their multi-million dollar condos in Edgewater.
Why? People love the food, sure. But they also love being in a room where influence and affluence intersect; where at any given night, Leonardo DiCaprio could be sitting at the table next to Barack Obama, or Rihanna next to Jeff Bezos. If the Illuminati really does exist, they’re eating at Carbone.