San Diego continues to up its club scene with the debut of Parq on Oct. 28. The Alice in Wonderland-esque experience comes complete with a video confessional, makeup artists at the ready and a Vegas chef serving fancy food fuel for dancing.
Carlos Becerra's Parq replaces the famed On Broadway club space at 6th and Broadway, which shuttered two years ago for a multi-million dollar gut renovation. The 38,000-square-foot finished product is no less than spectacular.
Top interior design firm Davis Ink (AD Nightclub, Pink Cadillac) split the space into a restaurant and nightclub component that can function in conjunction with each other or as separate venues.
Guests enter through two gigantic glass roll-up garage doors, where they're met by a 12-foot-tall psychedelic vertical garden. A park-like oasis with reclaimed wood, custom yucca trees, and various types of greenery contrasts to industrial materials of concrete, aged brick, and metal mesh.
The 5,000-square-foot restaurant features high beams that open into the night sky. A patchwork booth uses upholstery inspired by designer Davis Krumin's vintage jackets. Also spotted in the whale-sized space: Warm walnut wood tones, custom metal tree branch dividers, and an alternating black-and-white striped restroom.
Chef Errol Le Blanc, who worked under Charlie Palmer at top Vegas dining destination Aureole and locally at Cafe Sevilla, brings a farm-to-table experience described as "progressive American." Known for his off-the-wall concepts and creativity, his menu include seared ahi, "jars and such" (confit, toppings, charcuterie), a meat and potato section (White Marble Farms Pork Ribeye) and fish dishes like Maine Lobster Relleno.
Party goers enter the 20,000-square-foot club through a cavernous brick tunnel with chandeliers flickering overhead. Acrylic tubes wrap from the wall overhead to the ceiling and a custom bottle display with hundreds of individual wood boxes, outlined with LED lighting, frames the main bar.
The nightclub resembles a women's makeup lounge, replete with its own bar, where makeup artists stand at the ready to make sure that faces are party perfect--and ready for the photo booth.
General Manager Louis Pelliccia (formerly of LA's famed Kress) says the new space will put San Diego on the map as a nightlife destination, with Cirque-esque performances and top-notch lighting and music. And gone are the days of dead cell phones while waiting for friends to arrive; each booth is stocked with phone chargers.
Check out the Parq menu here:
