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Raphael PallaisInteractive Guide
New YorkHe wanted tarantulas. Meaty, hairy, fist-sized tarantulas. He wanted a lot of them too.
I have fielded many unusual guest requests during my career, but this was certainly one of the more perplexing. A particular gourmand, the guest wanted a fresh batch of tarantulas for roasting a la Fear Factor. Fortunately, he did not intend to have this feast here at the hotel — he wanted them shipped home, so that they would be there when he arrived. Could I arrange it? Bien sur, monsieur.
The Rolodex in my mind started whirling. Who in New York would know where to source arachnids? Suddenly, a thought: a group that serves them at their own elaborate annual banquets, that’s who. I dialed The Explorers Club.
Each year, The Explorers Club hosts a lavish party for its members (adventurers, scientists, discoverers) where the food is famous for being anything but ordinary: menus have included roasted scorpions with durian fruit, cabernet-marinated beaver, and other exotic delicacies — like tarantulas.
The Explorers Club came through, and directed me to a tarantula farm in South America. I was able to make another guest’s wish come true.
The Explorers Club has its headquarters in a beautiful townhouse on East 70th Street, whose interiors are known to be as exotic as the club’s annual feasts. Elephant tusks frame a fireplace. A stuffed polar bear looms on his hind legs in front of a Tudor-style leaded glass window. The head of a wild cat hangs from the rafters.
The club is largely limited to members only. But did you know the club regularly hosts public events? Several times a month the club welcomes the public to presentations by scientists, explorers and conservationists at the forefront of their fields. Tickets are typically around $20 per event, and you must make reservations to attend.
Sorry, tarantulas will not be served.
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Sheri Winters
Santa Monica
Raphael Pallais
New York
Laura Cooper Brown
New York
Sheri Winters
Santa Monica
Laura Cooper Brown
New York
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