STYLE : DESIGN : Friendly Waters

With a two-story glass facade and a sleekly modern interior, chef John Sedlar’s new Santa Monica restaurant, Bikini, contrasts sharply with his first, Saint Estephe in Manhattan Beach, with its fancy French name and Southwest decor.

Designed by Cheryl Brantner, who’s known for understated lighting and furniture (she did Patina in L.A.), Bikini’s minimalist interior is a quiet backdrop for Sedlar’s multicultural cuisine. Set in a new mixed-use building, “it looked like an aquarium,” Brantner recalls thinking when she saw the raw space two years ago.

Armed with that first impression, and a mandate from Sedlar that the restaurant fit in with other sophisticated eateries springing up in Santa Monica, she created an inviting environment with references to the ocean. A wall of aniline-dyed birch, dubbed “the wave,” looms like a red tsunami in the two-level dining room, its smooth surface punctuated by square niches. Downstairs, these recesses will eventually house objets d’art. Upstairs, cobalt-blue glass windows suggest portholes. Artist Eric Orr’s sculpture near the entrance adds cascading water: “Nothing says bikini and beach more than that,” Brantner says.

Like its namesake, Bikini is full of sensual forms, from the front-door pulls (two wavy lines of steel form the outline of a woman’s torso) to the sconces above the booths (ovoids of cobalt-blue glass and gilded steel). A mural by Muramasa Kudo--Sedlar’s “tropical Sistine Chapel”--depicts sea nymphs with flowing hair.

Throughout the restaurant, rich textures and colors warm up the furnishings executed with a craftsman aesthetic. Cool terrazzo covers the floor and bar, while geometric shapes on the ceiling and walls are finished in birch veneer and dyed shades of lime, celery, saffron and burgundy. An entry stairway (located at the north end of the room like a point on a mariner’s compass) has sides of hammered steel that resemble polished silver.

Bikini is a space designed to indulge the senses. So why the whimsical name for such meticulous design and serious food? Says Sedlar simply: “Because it’s sexy, we’re near the beach and I’ve already got a restaurant with a French name.”