Shark Club Goes Dancing

Not content to feature only a restaurant and bar at their upscale, $12-an-hour billiards hall, the Hanour brothers this month added a dance area to their Shark Club in Costa Mesa.

The Shark Club’s Dance Opera was created to satisfy pool players who found themselves grooving with their cues between tables. But besides the dance floor, patrons also got a $5 cover after 10 p.m.

But for the chance to party in one of the county’s most beautiful nightspots, who’s complaining?

The small sitting room behind the bar was transformed into a cavernous hideaway, the entrance cloaked by yards of plush, ruby drapes. Inside, more yardage hangs voluminously along the walls.

At 30-by-20 feet, the dance floor is small and could prove a setback if the Shark Club becomes a more popular dance destination.

However, the size of the room hasn’t yet deterred the crowd, which keeps flowing in and out no matter how thick it gets (which can be as heavy as the choking, flavored smoke that spurts out every 15 minutes).

The music is good ol’ R & B dance music from the past three decades’ Top 40 charts, sometimes mixed with techno.

Besides dancing and 25 pool tables, there’s a variety of activities available at the Shark Club, including sampling tasty California cuisine ($4.50 to $8) and the ongoing crowd-pleaser on Friday nights of watching the sharks being fed at midnight. From the bar, beer is $3 to $4; cocktails $3.75 to $5 and wine $3.75 to $4.50.

Note: This Saturday the Dance Opera will turn to a gloomy, minor key with a 7:30 p.m. Halloween bash. The cover is $10--but think of it as an investment: The best costume takes home $1,000.

* DANCE OPERA AT THE SHARK CLUB

* 841 Baker St., Costa Mesa.

* (714) 725-0206.

* Thursday 11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., Friday and Saturday 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. Dancing begins at 10 p.m.

* $5 cover after 10 p.m.