Going Dutch

Robots, orgies, ice palaces, and the Mistress of Scent -- welcome to Amsterdam import Supperclub.

By Marke B.

'OH IT'S ABSOLUTELY wild. And it just keeps getting better," says Princess Kennedy, the infamous SF trash-drag personality, when I ask her how it's going with her hostess gig at the mind-bogglingly plush new restaurant-club-performance space-art gallery on Harrison called, simply, Supperclub.

"There's just no limit to the creativity," she continues. "And look at me – I'm gorgeous!" She's just finished taking part in a Barbarella-esque "cold war-space opera-industrial thing" at the club, in which she played an evil fembot wheeled out on a giant serving tray. She looked like a tranny-Bionicle supermodel, or what you'd get if half of Paris Hilton's face suddenly peeled away to reveal the glowering cyborg within. Awesome hot, but a tad unnerving.

Kennedy's roll-on part was wedged within a much larger, smorgasbord-like "concept" that included a giant mad-scientist laboratory setting; hunky cohost Stu Gerry riding a vintage motorcycle into the restaurant and onto the stage; a jackboot-outfitted butch dyke accusing a petite masseur of being a Russian spy and tying her up in a castle dungeon (where she was menaced by a headless dog until she confessed); and a corporate speech by a CEO during which three of his employees were bound in chains behind him. All for the benefit of diners enjoying a sumptuous five-course prix fixe meal. In bed.

Fab.

The "in bed" part is a staple of the Supperclub allure, which involves treating diners to demiurgic feasts (prepared by well-respected chef Jerry McGinnis) in one of the more than 30 oversize beds that dot La Salle Neige, the roomy, pure white dining space. (The menus change weekly and are devised to complement the performances metaphorically.) Attached to the dining area is le Bar Rouge, a sweet little alcoholic enclave that attracts a more cocktail-inclined crowd. La Salle Privé is the gallery annex next to the bar. On weekends (and weekdays when the vibe is right) Supperclub opens la Salle Neige up into a large dance floor featuring a kickass sound system and digital video projections.

Owners Tad Glauthier and Alex Lustberg brought the multifaceted Supperclub concept over from Amsterdam, where the original Supperclub (by eccentric Dutch restaurant design team IQ Creative, BV) has become famous among international scenesters for its huge, orgiastic parties. (It's also spawned quite a franchise. In addition to Supperclubs in Amsterdam and SF, there is now a four-deck "Supperclub cruise" aboard Dutch steamship Comtesse every weekend and a Supperclub Rome, with Supperclubs in London and Singapore and a "Supperclub cruise Méditerranée" on the way). All the Supperclubs share a fierce, genre-shattering commitment to "crazy creativity" that can sometimes overwhelm newcomers.

"It's kind of an education process to explain what we're up to, because it's definitely not the kind of thing people are used to," says Eric Glaser, Supperclub's promotions manager and creative director of the space opera-industrial thing performance described above. "But they're really starting to catch on to what we do. And it's an education for us as well, finding out what works in this kind of 'anything goes' atmosphere."

"For instance," he continues, "we just had a fantastic experience with the Mistress of Scent. We brought her in to go from bed to bed, offering an array of sensual oils to test and mixing custom ones on the spot for our guests to take home. And she went great with our dinnertime massage service. She's definitely coming back. I still have a little bottle of lavender-ginger-bergamot on my desk. And then we did this amazing ice palace thing where everything in the club was frozen."

Because the nightly performance spectaculars encompass so many cool-kitsch genres, dynamic visuals, and eye-popping forms of artistic expression, shorthand descriptions of them are usually suffixed by that catch-all word, "thing." Besides the "ice palace thing" (featuring glacial decor, frozen cocktails, and, yes, simulated ice-skating), Supperclub has also played host to such theme nights as the "retro-future-robot thing" and the "ancient bacchanal/Roman orgy thing." Throughout it all, cohosts Kennedy and Stu act as combination mâitre d'-ringmaster-MCs. "The only thing people are sure to get during a Supperclub experience," Glaser says, "is great food and a mind-blowing adventure."

If this all sounds like an upscale version of Burning Man (except for the great food part), that's because it is. "I've been to Burning Man the last 10 years it was put on," Glaser says, "and Tad and Alex have been there several times. The creative genius of the playa infuses everything we do. We have the groundbreaking ingenuity of Supperclub Amsterdam to draw from, but we also have this incredible yearly event in our own backyard whose energy and spirit we try to pay homage to in our presentation."

And Glaser is quick to distance Supperclub from the Vegas-style cabaret dining experience, or SF's own vaudeville-under-a-big-top, Teatro ZinZanni. "We're not 'first course, then acrobats on stilts, second course, then fire-eating drag queen,' etc. – although we do feature those kinds of performers. We focus on being more 'interactive,' constantly having something going on that patrons can engage or participate in. Of course, we also make sure there's time to eat, because the food's the best part."

Upcoming Supperclub events include a Trannyshack 10-year anniversary celebration, giant-screen film showings with truffle-butter popcorn, and dance parties with DJs Adrian and the Mysterious D. And for New Year's Day, Supperclub's planning to throw a hangover-slaying morning party called "Breakfast in Bed."

Um, how perfect is that?

Supperclub. 657 Harrison, SF. Restaurant Tues.-Sun., seating 7:30 p.m.; Le Bar Rouge Tues.-Sun., 6:30 p.m.-2 a.m., Prix fixe five-course menu $65; reservations requested. (415) 348-0900, www.supperclub.com.