Forget Zero Bond and Casa Cipriani, New York City’s most exclusive private club is a poker venue above a Korean restaurant on East 58th Street.
Tony Park, a real estate mogul who owns Anto Korean Steakhouse, wanted an exclusive hideaway where he and his good friends — mostly finance guys and entrepreneurs — could hang out above his high-end eatery.
So, in December, the 47-year-old launched a private club on the third floor. Members pay $20,000 annually to socialize, get special treatment at Anto, smoke cigars, play poker and karaoke.
Perks include monogrammed silverware and personalized lockers to store bottles of Macallan, expensive cigars and the like — “Anything they don’t want to take home,” Park told the Post.
Tony Park at the chef’s table on the second floor of his Anto’s Korean Steakhouse. Upstairs, it’s a private club with poker, karaoke, cigars and single malts. Brian Zak/NY Post
Members also get their own key to the space, which they can access at any time.
“There are members who like to come before work to smoke cigars and drink coffee,” said Park. “He let himself in and went upstairs.”
Poker nights often begin with dinner downstairs, where steak and lobster are served in Louis Vuitton suitcases, with smoky dry ice, and caviar is served on mini Korean potato pancakes.
Steak and lobster served in a Louis Vuitton suitcase with smoke coming out. Brian Zak/NY Post Shortly after the presentation. steaks are cooked on a tabletop grill. Brian Zak/NY Post
The club grew organically. Park’s friends tend to use the private dining room on the second floor for drinks and card games at night, but she wants the space to be used for its intended purpose.
So, he turned the third-floor apartment into a luxurious man cave decorated in rich browns and equipped with leather couches, big-screen TVs, a well-stocked liquor cart, a humidor full of cigars and a karaoke machine that worked in three languages.
“I told me [guys], ‘You want to play poker? Going up. You want to sing, go up. You want to smoke a cigar? Go upstairs,’” he said.
But, its point of pride, is the leather-and-baize poker table. “I just got it,” Park said enthusiastically.
The dealer, a Wharton graduate, was new to poker, but he picked up the game quickly. Brian Zak/NY Post
Currently there are 20 members, and the Park can accommodate no more than 32 people.
On a recent Wednesday night, about ten men gathered around a table to play no-limit Texas hold’em. (This game is completely legal because it takes place in a private place and the house does not benefit financially.)
Thirty-year-old Macallan and cabernet sauvignon – plucked from a cellar containing nearly 5,000 bottles – flow freely. A state-of-the-art ventilation system clears the air of cigar smoke. A lone woman sneaks into the dealer’s place, despite knowing nothing about poker.
“Of course he’s thinking about it,” says a real estate guy in the game. “He graduated from Wharton.”
Members use their lockers to store whiskey, cigars and monogrammed silverware. Brian Zak/NY Post
The action was fast and reckless, with bankers and financial brokers over-betting without a care.
The enthusiastic and lucky Park wins hands down because his rags are better than his cheating nemesis.
A player at the table kindly asked, “How did I lose this game?” ”
The cards are in the air and the chips are on the table at Tony Park’s private club. Brian Zak/NY Post
At about 10:30 p.m., Park ordered a Little Italy Pizza — he likes the crust to be made with Japanese breadcrumbs — then asked his restaurant manager to suggest the best cognac on the house. The game goes on until after midnight.
As French drinks were poured, a Wall Street executive wearing a Run DMC sweatshirt, scooped up a pot and said, “When I think about hospitality, I think of Tony. He is a real estate man who has the luxury of being kind to his friends.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
