Weather 
Down a winding white staircase in the Meatpacking District, past cheeky signs insisting there’s “nothing to see here,” there’s a new playground for New Yorkers — one that feels every bit as exclusive as the city’s ever-expanding roster of members-only haunts.
Welcome to Lady Delilah, a new 10,000-square-foot supper club from Hollywood nightlife kingpins John Terzian and Brian Toll, the LA-born duo behind celebrity magnets Bootsy Bellows and The Nice Guy.
Coinciding with Delilah Los Angeles’ 10th anniversary, the Manhattan debut at 353 W 14th St. marks the brand’s fifth location — and its most sophisticated iteration yet, conceived with New York in mind.
By 10 p.m. on opening night last Friday, beneath the sultry glow of amber-lit chandeliers, burlesque dancers in beaded lingerie and feathers floated between crammed tables as live singers serenaded diners lingering over dinner and a well-dressed crowd packed the bar.
Part old-Hollywood glamour, part downtown Manhattan cool, Lady Delilah occupies a space somewhere between a swanky restaurant and a full-blown nightclub — so coveted, in fact, that Drake celebrated his 40th birthday there before it officially opened, while Lauryn Hill performed for a handful of guests during opening-week festivities.
The best part? No wildly expensive membership card required.
Across Manhattan, exclusivity increasingly comes with a hefty price tag, as a steady stream of private members’ clubs courts the city’s wealthy social set.
It’s estimated that Manhattan is home to some 50 private clubs, with more on the way.
Residents are constantly keeping tabs on the latest openings, scrambling to secure applications and jockeying for spots on increasingly competitive waiting lists at places like ZZ’s Club, Casa Cipriani and Chez Margaux — where initiation fees and annual dues can run into the thousands, and getting in can be more competitive than gaining admission to an Ivy League school.
But Terzian and Toll aren’t exactly crusading against the members-only craze. Their h.wood Group operates its own private club in Los Angeles, and Terzian says he’s a fan of New York’s members-only scene, too.
For Manhattan, however, the pair wanted to stick with the formula that made Delilah a celebrity magnet: a lavish dinner, complete with $135 caviar service and $73 lobster fettuccine, that can turn into cocktails, bottle service, and a star-studded night out rubbing shoulders with The Weeknd or Justin Bieber.
Given its reputation as one of the most sought-after nightlife spots, it’s no surprise that securing a reservation at the supper club is notoriously difficult — and its NYC debut is unlikely to be any different.
“We felt strongly that whenever we entered the NY market it would be first with Delilah,” Terzian told The Post. “We did not want to change the model.”
What NYC nightlife is missing
And the numbers suggest New York’s after-dark economy is moving beyond the conventional bar scene.
While the number of traditional bars and nightclubs grew just 1.5% between late 2023 and mid-2026, entertainment and gaming venues surged 37.5%, while event spaces increased 11.8%, according to a July report by analytics firm Live XYZ.
Manhattan’s restaurant count, meanwhile, climbed 6.2% — suggesting dining is playing an increasingly prominent role in the city’s evolving social scene.
“I think New York is probably the best city in the world with culinary and bars; however, there has been a strong void of that upscale combination,” Terzian said.
Lady Delilah is designed to fill that sweet spot, offering dinner, cocktails and live entertainment without requiring guests to change venues as the night unfolds.
Growing up in Hollywood’s golden era
Long before Lady Delilah, Terzian and Toll were two LA boys coming of age in Hollywood’s hard-partying heyday — when Paris Hilton ruled the velvet rope, paparazzi swarmed club entrances and getting into the right hotspot was practically a competitive sport.
The West Coast friends founded h.wood in 2008, a hospitality company that helped define LA’s nightlife landscape, with establishments like The Nice Guy.
“There seemed to be a lot more nightclubs, and each night there was one spot everyone had to be at,” Terzian recalled. “It was a different spot every night of the week. That whole system is gone.”
He remembers the period fondly, from the infamous back room at Bootsy Bellows to the group’s early Coachella blowouts.
“That was a very fun era,” he said.
But beyond the wild nights, the era taught him two enduring lessons: the importance of creating memorable experiences — and protecting the people having them.
From paparazzi to privacy
The days when being photographed outside Hollywood’s hottest club was the ultimate status symbol have given way to a different kind of luxury: privacy.
“The rise of social media and everyone having cameras now has drastically changed how people are in nightlife places,” Terzian said.
Today, discretion can be as coveted as getting past the velvet rope — a shift reflected in Delilah’s emphasis on keeping cameras at bay.
And that desire for privacy extends well beyond the h.wood empire.
Soho House prohibits photography inside its clubs, while San Vicente Bungalows goes a step further, requiring guests to cover their phone cameras with stickers.
“Privacy is one of the most important things now,” explained Terzian. “We go to great lengths to keep our guests feeling safe and protected.”
But social media has also introduced another tension into nightlife: How spontaneous can a night out really be when everyone is documenting — or even producing — it for an audience?
Still, while the party scene has evolved, the desire to let loose hasn’t disappeared. Terzian said expectations for design, food and cocktails have all dramatically increased.
The stakes, in other words, are higher than ever.
And whether it’s a traditional nightclub or an intimate supper club, Terzian believes people ultimately want the same thing: “escapism for their nights out.”
Delilah at 10
That enduring appetite for a memorable night out has helped keep Delilah’s party going for a decade — an eternity in an industry where even the hottest celebrity haunts can burn out overnight.
Since opening in Los Angeles in 2016, the old-Hollywood-inspired supper club has expanded to Las Vegas, Miami and Dallas, and now New York.
Terzian credits the brand’s staying power to its restaurant-first approach — and the founders’ refusal to become absentee hosts.
“It’s truly a restaurant first. So it is seen more as dining with fun,” he explained. “We all live and breathe the Delilah brand and are physically in the venue.”
Now, with Lady Delilah, the pair have brought that formula to a sprawling subterranean playground in the Meatpacking District, complete with plush furnishings, glittering chandeliers, private dining rooms and a stage for nightly live entertainment.
But for two men who have spent nearly two decades creating rooms everyone wants to be in, the secret to a successful night out remains surprisingly elusive.
“I wish there was an actual secret sauce to it all. The truth is you never know,” Terzian admitted.
Instead, the pair have built their hospitality empire on a relatively simple philosophy: Create the places they’d want to spend time in themselves, and hope the right crowd follows.
“Our philosophy has always been and will always be a ‘If you build it they will come’ type of model,” Terzian said. “We truly build and create places that we want to eat, drink and hang in constantly.”
In the changing nightscape, perhaps the real luxury is the art of the room, and finding one you never want to leave.
