Café Americain is celebrating summer with three bashes next month.

The Old Sacramento restaurant is throwing parties for Bastille Day on July 10, the grand opening of Sacramento's first "speakeasy" on July 16 and a Summer Bohemian Ball on July 17.

Owners Mike and Natalya Wahba said they want to turn their champagne and caviar house at 1023 Front St. into the place for Sacramentans to revel in fine food, decadent drink and all things passionate.

"It's all about passion for life, for arts, for food, for entertainment," Mike Wahba said. "That's the standard we want to set."

Fire dancers, the Sacramento Opera, Corti Brothers' owner Darrell Corti and the owners of Sterling Caviar will join them to mark France's national holiday with "A Midsummer Night's Dream Celebrating Bastille Day" from 7-10 p.m. on Saturday, July 10.

The event will include three caviar/Russian vodka pairings with commentary by Corti, French absinthe, champagne and wine tasting with three local wineries yet to be chosen. A sturgeon feast will be laid out in the courtyard, where costumed opera singers and fire dancers will entertain the crowd at intervals throughout the night. Some of the proceeds will benefit the Sacramento Opera, Wahba said.

The Bastille Day bash will cost $100 in advance and $150 at the door — but the first 70 people who sign up for a VIP guest list and make reservations by Monday will get a half-price discount and pay only $50.

"It's a celebration of all the fine arts and culture you find in Sacramento," he said.

On Friday, July 16, Café Americain will unveil its underground, upscale speakeasy, the Crescent Club, with a grand opening where everyone must arrive in Prohibition-era garb ranging from Zoot suits and tuxes to Roaring '20s cocktail dresses and gowns.

Speakeasies were secret drinking holes that operated from 1920 to 1933, when the sale of alcohol was banned throughout the country. Bars with speakeasy themes are a trend in cities like New York and San Francisco, where Slide and Bourbon & Branch operate.

The historic Booth Building, where Café Americain makes its home on the first floor, was originally owned by Newton Booth. Wahba said Booth threw a lot of parties there on his way to becoming governor. The back-door entrance through the courtyard — officially 1150 Firehouse Alley — will be reworked to give the place the feel of an illicit bar from yesteryear.

"It was crying out to be a speakeasy," Wahba said. "Maybe it was. I would not be surprised one bit."

Café Americain is open Thursday - Sunday for dinner from 5-9 p.m. The courtyard is open from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. The Wahbas are talking with the city about extending the speakeasy's entertainment hours until 4 a.m. after the grand opening. However, the bar will stop serving alcohol at 2 a.m., in accordance with state liquor laws, he said.

Plush furnishings, Prohibition-style art and antique wool rugs will be added to an interior defined by exposed brick, a low ceiling, heavy Asian doors and some of the building's 150-year-old street-level walls — in contrast to the restaurant's high red ceilings, candy-colored chandeliers and gilded vintage bordello sensuality.

The kitchen will offer caviar, raw foods such as beet "ravioli" and squash alfredo, and the rest of its menu throughout the night. The space has long been used as a bar or nightclub.

The grand opening and a masked Bohemian Ball will be held from 9 p.m. - 2 a.m. on consecutive nights. Cost for each night will be $25 in advance for the first 100 reservations and $50 at the door. Both events will include cabaret, burlesque, fire dancers and live, late-night blues featuring old blues standards.

The parties are being thrown to offer a romantic, late-night hang out for sophisticated, experienced revelers, Wahba said.

"We want to get away from the nightclub scene," he said. "We want to have a really fashionable, upscale speakeasy. It's kind of hidden and you get the best of everything."

To get on the guest list, email guestlist@crescentclub.us. For more information, call 498-9098. Photo of Mike and Natalya Wahba provided by Café Americain. Other photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.