Welcome to the Club

No membership is required, although a reservation is highly recommended for the newest club on Park Avenue South. The Hurricane Club, a Polynesian inspired theme restaurant in the heart of Gramercy recently opened to mix reviews. I decided to check it out with some old friends last week and wasn't impressed. Although we got seated right away, our waiter was aloof and distant and the food was just OK.

I give it credit for trying to be the next Tao, but it's just not cutting it. There is no fortune cookie dessert and the prices are high for the quality of food. I really enjoyed my cocktail though and if you're into the fruity Caribbean style drinks, this is right up your alley. I started with a #21, a cucumber and vodka martini and saw some other interesting drinks on various tables. There were these huge watermelons probably filled with a mix of alcohols with foot long straws for everyone at the table. It reminded me of freshman year of college and the fishbowls that made everyone feel sick the next day.


The menu is extensive and most things are meant to be shared so we started with a pu pu platter. This was the best thing we had all night. It came with coconut shrimp, Peking duck sandwiches, deviled eggs, snapper civeche and bbq chicken cones. The shrimp and Peking duck were the best. Both pretty simple in concept but the shrimp were really interesting looking - like little circular haystacks with a shrimp inside.


We moved on to order a crispy calamari salad that was pretty good and had a good kick to it and the crispy chicken spring rolls. It was recommended to spread your sauce of choice on a piece of lettuce and then wrap your spring roll around it. It made it a lot less messy to eat and according to Polynesian tradition it's considered the polite way to eat.

Next we ordered the golden chicken that was a little dry and smelled like chocolate for some reason. It was supposed to be in a spicy peanut sauce but we all tasted peanut butter instead. We also got the Hawaiian fried rice and the lobster noodles fra diavlo. The rice came in a hot stone bowl resembling a guacamole mortar and it was made at your table. A semi cooked egg was placed on top and was mixed in at your table. The bowl is so hot that the egg becomes fully cooked by the time the mixing is complete. Quite a cool concept and the final product was tasty as well. The lobster dish was missing some chunks of lobster and I didn't really understand how an Italian dish ended up on the menu, but it was tasty nonetheless.

We decided to skip dessert even though the menu options looked good and instead ended the night down the block at the new Gansevoort Hotel. All in all the company was great but the service and quality of food could have been a lot better! Go for the scene and creative cocktail menu but maybe wait a little so their servers can get their act together.