Is Orange County hungering for that upscale, West Hollywood blend of entertainment? Restaurant owner Elie Samaha thinks so. : Enter the Roxbury

Roxbury co-owner Elie Samaha tells of a Newport Beach accountant who travels by limo to the Roxbury in West Hollywood for dancing and dinner each weekend. To Samaha, that accountant is living proof that Orange County is starved for the special blend of food, music, dancing and people-watching that until recently was available only in L.A.

Samaha hopes to satisfy that hunger with Friday’s opening of a sister Roxbury at Hutton Centre in Santa Ana. The 16,000-square-foot supper club features a 125-seat dining room with a menu by Orange County restaurateur David Wilhelm, live jazz and recorded dance music with disc jockeys, a VIP lounge and plenty of room just to hang around.

Roxbury is the latest in a string of upscale clubs in Orange County offering themselves as an alternative for locals who reject the theory that night life exists only at Los Angeles clubs and restaurants.

Since its 1990 opening, the original Roxbury has evolved into a spot for Hollywood’s elite, and that has increased its popularity. Samaha promises patrons of the new Roxbury a chance to see some of those famous faces. Among those are Samaha’s wife, Tia Carrere of “Wayne’s World,” and some of the Samahas’ friends: singer Julian Lennon and actors Christian Slater, Richard Grieco and Shannen Doherty. Those stars are under no contractual obligation to appear at the new club, a Samaha spokesman said. Rather, they enjoy the atmosphere in West Hollywood and so are expected to check out the Orange County location, too.

Roxbury is the latest club that uses an out-of-town image to bolster business. Planet Hollywood landed in Santa Ana last year, and the Hard Rock Cafe touched down in Newport Beach.

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Planet Hollywood is co-owned by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis, all of whom have agreed to appear at the club at least once a month. The club also advertises when other famous faces--including Bo Derek and Priscilla Presley--stop by to add movie memorabilia to the club’s collection.

But “people go there because of the food and the movie memorabilia,” co-owner Frank DiBella said, rather than for the possibility of seeing a Hollywood star.

Hard Rock Cafe, meanwhile, is banking on its international reputation and its strong ties to music to draw customers.

Orange County is particularly appealing to club owners because of its numbers: It has nearly 2.5 million residents, many of them affluent, and it draws millions of free-spending tourists and business travelers each year. Those customers, rather than the occasional famous patrons, will determine how successful the new night spots are.

Jannie Herchuk, who monitors restaurant industry trends from Costa Mesa for the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche, said successful club operators are “looking for a specific crowd. . . . If they get that crowd interested and in the door--and give them something of value--then they can work.”

“If there’s something else included (other than food), people seem willing to pay for it. That’s true even if the ticket price is higher.”

Given the increasing competition, club owners must carve their niches carefully. They also must contend with older, more established dining spots such as the Shark Club in Costa Mesa. Founded three years ago by John Hanour, a former Quiksilver executive, the club offers dining, dancing and an upscale billiards hall. In September, Hanour opened a second club, Metropolis in Irvine. It adds sushi and blues music to the Shark Club’s already eclectic blend.

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The clubs’ owners say that they don’t compete head to head for customers. Samaha, for example, maintains that the Roxbury crowd is different from the clientele at either Hard Rock Cafe or Planet Hollywood. That may be true, but Roxbury might appeal to the Metropolis patron: the affluent person 25 or older who enjoys the night life.

Antonio Cagnolo, a partner with DiBella in the company that operates Planet Hollywood, says there is room in Orange County for both the new clubs and more established restaurants such as his Antonello Ristorante in Santa Ana. Those looking to do business over lunch or dinner, he says, aren’t likely to choose a noisy dance club.

Those clubs, however, fill a void in Orange County’s entertainment scene, Cagnolo said. “When I came here in 1975 there was just one club (on Lido Island) and very few (quality) restaurants. . . . In those days, everyone went to L.A. Now, having it here is great.”

Hanour expresses a similar view. The 38-year-old Orange County native says he opened the Shark Club after noticing that Orange County didn’t have the quality of clubs found elsewhere.

“I used to go up into L.A. in the ‘70s,” he said, “and I used to travel to clubs in Chicago and New York” during the ‘80s. . . . I’d had a lot of exposure to the (club) industry.”

Orange County residents, he said, want entertainment like that found in Los Angeles, but they don’t want to live there.

Roxbury’s Samaha notes another factor in choosing an Orange County venue: “You have to offer people convenience. . . . Many people don’t want to drive to Los Angeles anymore.”

One reason, club owners say, is that patrons are heeding the oft-repeated message that drinking and driving don’t mix--especially when long distances are involved. And they cite an increasing sophistication among Orange County residents.

“Roxbury wouldn’t have worked five years ago because Orange County wasn’t ready for it,” said Wilhelm, who created the menus at both Roxbury locations. “Now there’s a level of sophistication . . . both in terms of price and creativity that wasn’t here before.”

Roxbury’s Hutton Centre location mystified some in the local restaurant and entertainment industry, Samaha acknowledged. One restaurant operator has described the location as “a gray area . . . (because) it’s not near anything.”

Samaha, however, noted that 30,000 cars travel past the club on MacArthur Boulevard each business day. And he was “able to negotiate a great lease,” Samaha said, because the two-story building was vacant, and the owner was anxious to find a tenant.