When restaurateur Michael Stanley first toured the space that would become Sunness Supper Club at 2465 East Sunrise Boulevard, it wasn’t just the spacious downstairs dining room and expansive kitchen space that titillated him. Upstairs he discovered a warren of anterooms and tucked away chambers that mystified as much as they intrigued. “I was already sold on the space for the restaurant but the second floor had so much potential and spirit that my desire to turn it into a speakeasy and lounge was immediate,” he notes in a statement. In the winter of 2024, Sunness Supper Club opened its doors to much critical and popular acclaim and now, almost a year to the day later, Bar Betty – the restaurant’s second floor speakeasy and lounge – has officially made its grand debut.
Open Tuesday through Saturday evenings beginning at 7PM, Bar Betty (named after Michael’s grandmother, as Sunness is named after his grandfather) is accessible via a hidden interior staircase (and elevator) linking the two floors. Once upstairs, guests will feel utterly transported, ensconced in a contemporary, space that simultaneously nods to the building’s past as a once well-known Chinese restaurant, Jade Palace. In fact, the overall décor and design encompass two wildly different aesthetics. The foyer, upon entering, evokes a Far East-leaning look and feel, complete with red lanterns, and a mammoth stone buddha, rescued from the original space and refinished to gorgeous new glory. Playing off the unique dragon wallpaper, the entrance to Bar Betty is nothing but dramatic. From there imbibers enter the bar through a red door, which gives Great Gatsby vibes from the dropped tin ceilings and black walls to the moody lighting and Art Deco-style wallpaper. All this combines to make the perfect, shadowy setting for Bar Betty’s nightly entertainment, from live Roaring 20’s style torch singers to the new Thursday night burlesque show…