Ivan Kane's Forty Deuce Cafe and Speakeasy to open by year's end

Nightclub developer Ivan Kane will bring his latest concept, Ivan Kane's Forty Deuce Cafe and Speakeasy, featuring a burlesque show, to Easton Town Center's $500 million expansion now under construction.

Kane’s clubs have gained fame for having celebrity investors Sting and the late David Bowie; reinventing "world-class burlesque" and a variety of other live entertainment; and boasting high-profile clientele including Carmen Electra, George Clooney, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Brad Pitt, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, Ellen DeGeneres, Leonardo DiCaprio and Mick Jagger.

Expected to open late this year in partnership with Columbus-based venture capital firm LOUD Capital, Forty Deuce will be located next to the new RH Gallery — the high-end version of Restoration Hardware — and will be based off its original location in Hollywood and its second location at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay.

Kane hadn't planned to expand the concept to the Midwest.

"I was called by Easton's developers," he said. "When I came to Easton and Columbus and saw what they were doing, and saw how incredibly vibrant and relevant Columbus was, I was blown away. I really was. It's a very sophisticated city, everyone is very nice and welcoming. I literally couldn't find a way to talk myself out of the deal. It fit really well in my wheelhouse.

"I'm excited to see how my concept works in this Midwest flagship."

Kane is so enthusiastic about the project that he plans to buy a home in Columbus "and become part of the community," he said. "I take very seriously opening a venue — I'm an owner/operator."

The new Forty Deuce is "in the area with Forbidden Root, True Food Kitchen and Pins Mechanical," said Beau Arnason, executive vice president of Steiner + Associates, one of the developers and managers of Easton Town Center. "When you look at that, Ivan's concept of a bistro, bar and speakeasy with entertainment really meshes with where Easton is headed as we evolve into more of Columbus' midtown. You need to bring more nighttime energy and active lifestyle, and this really fits."

Forty Deuce on Jimmy Kimmel 5-4-05 fromCarolina Cerisola onVimeo.

The club will be split into the 3,500 square-foot Forty Deuce Café and the 3,000 square-foot Forty Deuce Speakeasy.

The cafe includes a bistro and bar on the street level and retro design elements like traditional checkered tablecloths, a jukebox and a beat-up upright piano. It will be open for lunch, dinner and late-night dining seven days a week.

But it is the speakeasy that will likely create the most discussion. Tucked away upstairs, the speakeasy is an element that has "tapped into the zeitgeist," Kane said.

To access the speakeasy, customers will pass through swinging kitchen doors, past cooks and dishwashers, past the storeroom and stock room, and finally reach a walk-in refrigerator at the back of the kitchen. There, the refrigerator door opens to a concealed staircase that goes up to a landing containing props, mannequins and rusty theater lights. Yet another hidden door opens into the speakeasy, which features a DJ sitting on a revolving turntable, a live band and catwalks that descend from the ceiling. It will be open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, plus assorted additional nights.

One of the entertainment offerings in the speakeasy is the "reinvented" burlesque show, which has appeared several times on the late-night TV show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" In the show, a jazz trio performs as a woman dances while disrobing to a bra and bikini bottom.

"The star of the room isn't just the food, it's the experience," said Kane, who developed the show with his wife, Suzy Kane, a burlesque dancer known as Champagne Suzy.

"I remember very clearly people walking into my original Forty Deuce and the minute they walked in and found it was sexy and lively and fun, they'd go, 'What the heck is this?' I want that kind of reaction, to have people talking about it the next day," Ivan Kane said. "You can go to any number of restaurants, but if you say, 'I went to this place and you're not going to believe it,' then you've got something. For 15 glorious minutes the world stands still. The concept just seems to really resonate with people."

The idea "is to create a smile," Kane said. "There are a lot of choices for food and entertainment. So I had to set the bar very high."

"We've got so many hotels around here, it'll be another great addition for hotel front desks to recommend," Arnason said.

tferan@dispatch.com

@timferan