Venue Spotlight
Along the promenade of the East River in Williamsburg, Brooklyn — overlooking the majestic Manhattan skyline — has emerged a sonic force aptly named Superior Ingredients. Located at the iconic 74 Wythe Avenue, the 20,000-square-foot multi-level facility roared onto the New York nightlife scene in the summer of 2021. Its cultural and communal impact was prompt and profound.
Since opening, the venue has played a prominent role in reimagining and revitalizing the neighborhood’s burgeoning dance music scene. A concoction of the best elements of premium hospitality, intimate nightlife experiences, and mega-club culture, Superior Ingredients has solidly established itself as a preeminent domestic dance music destination.
Giolí & Assia on The Roof at Superior Ingredients
Eric Cunningham
Hundreds of internationally acclaimed acts have graced the stages at Superior Ingredients, including house music legends Marco Carola, Danny Tenaglia, Louie Vega, and Todd Terry. It’s also played host to emerging renowned artists like Dombresky, LP Giobbi, and Wax Motif. In 2022, the venue hosted an impressive 156 dance music shows across its distinct spaces, The Roof and The Room. In 2023, the team is aiming for an ambitious 250.
Superior Ingredients’ recipe for success is no secret. It’s been meticulously crafted and well-earned. Just ask Josh Kaiser, CEO of 74Wythe Group, which owns and operates the venue. Kaiser, a nightlife veteran of and the well-known business force behind brands like Pink Elephant, CroBar, Griffin, and Happy Valley, delivered Superior Ingredients to revitalize a fundamental element of New York nightlife. Kaiser represents a small partnership group with a massive vision to showcase the vast tapestry of the dance music world, delivering an experience that commands genuine and loyal engagement to the local community.
Eric Cunningham
Superior Ingredients operates with an innovative “hybrid approach” to its programming, hosting a slate of public and private events at all hours of the day and night, from bar mitzvahs to wedding receptions, brand activations, to breathwork classes. All with the mission of providing a hub for the local community to create memorable experiences.
“We’re perpetually flipping the rooms, seeking to optimize the venue, and the audience never sees the magic,” says Kaiser. “In the early months, people were telling us, ‘Dude, this is crazy. What you’re proposing isn’t possible.’ But the team has made it happen. In fact, when people turn up at 11:00 on a Saturday night to party, for us, that’s a fun second act.”
So, too, is the 74 Wythe Avenue building on its second act as a nightlife destination. Previously, the building was home to Output, one of the foremost independent nightclubs in the world and the first fully licensed venue in Brooklyn dedicated to house and techno. Output was ranked No. 24 on DJ Mag’s Top 100 Clubs in 2019, the same year its run as a storied institution closed.
“The folklore behind Output came to a sad, abrupt stop, and there were a lot of people who felt a vacuum in the marketplace,” says Kaiser. But Kaiser and partners saw an opportunity to create a new venture bolstered by that same love of diverse dance music—and focused on exceptional hospitality and customer experience.
Superior Ingredients was born, paying homage to the building’s origins as the late-1920s spice-blending factory of the same name. And much like the paprika, turmeric, cloves, and parsley once imported and blended at 74 Wythe Avenue, the venue’s sonic amalgamation of many dance music genres has produced delicious results.
“I would say it’s super important to delineate that they are two very different experiences, The Roof and The Room,” says Kaiser. “The Roof is more of a Euro-Ibiza, big club vibe. It’s tropical, effervescent, and joyful. You’re going to come into hanging vines and frozen drinks and the best view of the skyline of New York City available in any nightlife venue, anywhere, period.”
The warm, bright energy and breathtaking views of the 5,000-square-foot rooftop have recently attracted artists, including progressive house powerhouse Emanual Satie and Dutch-Carribean brother-sister duo Shermanology, among others. And rain or shine, the party always continues thanks to The Roof’s pièce de résistance, a 150-ton custom retractable glass and steel rooftop.
“When the sun comes out and that thing rolls back, transformer style, the crowd just goes ape shit.”
Indoors, The Room offers a deeper, darker, more sultry experience. The split-level space highlights the industrial warehouse elements of the building’s original architecture with a modernized Art Deco flair. In The Room, clubgoers can experience everything from premium bottle service to aerial performances to exceptional lighting production.
“A lot of the acts in The Room tend to be darker and harder. There is less ambient light more of a light show. It may go from pitch black to pulsing white strobes, where the crowd is coming together and crushing it.”
The Room boasts a d&b audiotechnik sound system — the gold standard for premier clubs and music festivals — providing a crisp, clear, and highly-fidelity sound fit for some of the top DJs in the world, recently including Sam Divine and Dennis Ferrer.
The venue’s Jbird Lounge supplements SI’s unique spaces. It’s an intimate, artisanal cocktail bar outfitted with a DJ booth repurposed from a 200-year-old cathedral pulpit. The team hopes to have this inner sanctum for sultry, elevated experiences open to the public by the end of summer 2023.
So, what’s next for a venue that’s already achieved so much right out of the gates? It’s not only about looking for opportunities to bring in bigger names, but more innovative ones, says Kaiser.
“Output had a solid reputation for cultivating and curating interesting talent. People went there not only to hear acts that they knew, but also to discover acts. We’re hoping to carry on that tradition. With Superior Ingredients, we are looking to create a 20-year rainbow in the community where people get to enjoy this venue and for a prolonged period of time,” Kaiser explains. “Professionalism, courtesy, hospitality, community, and great music — that’s what we’re built on. Come by and see for yourself.”
