Paris' Experimental Cocktail Club Plans NYC Offshoot

The Experimental Cocktail Club, a rare cocktail bar in Paris that has been buzzed about since its opening in 2007, looks to be expanding stateside. Co-owner Romée De Gorianoff (with partners Pierre Charles Cros and Olivier Bon) is currently in town prepping for his appearance before Community Board 3 next month, where he'll need to convince them why the Lower East Side—the neighborhood of choice for the new bar—needs another fully licensed operation.

While he says it's too premature to comment on the details of the bar (and hasn't said whether it will be an expansion or a tweaked concept), De Gorianoff does mention that it will be the "first French cocktail bar in NYC" and that "it will be a bit like Dorothy Draper meets Serge Gainsbourg." It's an interesting boomerang, given the Paris bar was inspired by De Gorianoff's frequent trips to Manhattan from Montreal. The original L’Experimental Cocktail Club even pays tribute to this fair city's cocktail havens including Pegu Club and Death & Co. It will be interesting to see a Frenchified New York concept try its hand back in NYC.

Those who live in the area should come out in support for their meeting on July 18.
· Experimental Cocktail Club [Facebook]
[photo credit]