[Ads-l] New sense of "supper club" =?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=94_?=underground or secret restaurant

[Dan Goncharoff]

A few comments:

"supper clubs" are called clubs because they are not legal businesses. They
are legally functioning as an informal gathering of invitees. There is no
price, although contributions are suggested. Advertising would be
dangerous, inviting a knock on the door by the health authorities.

"pop-up" refers to any temporary business, but is not necessarily illegal
-- a restaurant may invite another chef to use their (legal) space as a
pop-up on an otherwise closed evening, for example.

Regards
DanG

DanG

On Thu, Apr 9, 2015 at 1:21 PM, James Callan <scarequotes at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James Callan <scarequotes at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      New sense of "supper club" =?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=94_?=underground
> or
>               secret restaurant
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I was talking with some coworkers about Salut, a self-described "supper
> club," by which they mean an underground ("pop-up") restaurant.
>
> I grew up in Wisconsin, so I was familiar with the term "supper club," but
> there was nothing secret about them.
>
> Apparently, however, as Wikipedia puts it, "A newer usage of the term
> supper club has emerged, referring to underground restaurants."
>
> From what I can tell, it's frequently prefixed with "underground" or
> "secret," but not always. And the secret version is the only definition of
> "supper club" my younger, California-born coworker knew.
>
> Examples:
> One increasingly popular approach- make new friends around the table, with
> the help of technology.  Startups like Grubwithus and Spoondate make it
> easy to meet new people over affordable restaurant meals. Similarly, the
> explosion of supper clubs over the past four years underscores a growing
> interest in having more adventurous and deeper social experiences around
> food than possible at restaurants. Supper clubs are unofficial pop-up
> restaurants, generally organized by amateur chefs and located in people=E2=
> =80=99s
> homes.  According to the Supper Club Fan Group Ning page,  there are 300+
> clubs all over the world, although I=E2=80=99ve heard estimates in the
> thou=
> sands.
>
> http://www.foodtechconnect.com/2011/08/10/former-airbnb-employees-launch-su=
> pper-club-discovery-reservation-platform-gusta/
>
> It=E2=80=99s like a dinner party with strangers. Closed-door restaurants,
> a=
> lso
> known as underground restaurants or supper clubs, are private eateries
> tucked away in a chef=E2=80=99s home. And though they=E2=80=99re not
> widely=
>  advertised,
> they are often some of the most sought-after tables in town.
>
> http://www.lonelyplanet.com/food-and-drink/best-of-food-and-drink/content/t=
> ravel-tips-and-articles/77622
>
>
> --
> James Callan
> Twitter: @scarequotes
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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