CLUB REVIEW : West Hollywood Butter Needs to Butter Up the Crowd

Butter may be a side dish on the table, but with a little effort the new club of that name (at Checca on Mondays) could turn into a main course.

Styled after a Sunday night funk club at Nel’s in New York, Hollywood’s version of Butter includes radio deejay Mike Nardone spinning old school funk, soul and contemporary hip-hop.

On a recent Monday, the music was a booty-shaking blend of Sly & the Family Stone, James Brown and rap artists Slick Rick and the Fugees. The soulful selections should have inspired a lively, dancing-room-only vibe inside the artfully elegant, two-room venue, but for the most part, the crowd was barely lukewarm.

To be sure, it takes more than music to set a club’s tone. Since Butter is set up like most contemporary nightspots--it’s located in a venue that changes promoters from night to night--the hosts need to work a bit harder to make guests feel comfortable.

Instead of simply taking the cover fee at the door or checking guest lists, they might want to greet newcomers and thank them for coming out.

Perhaps it’s an old-fashioned way of doing business, but in a club as new and intimate as Butter it might make the difference between a solid, long-running affair or a typical fly-by-night venture.

* Butter on Mondays at Checca, 7323 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. 21 and over, $10 cover before midnight, $15 after midnight. (213) 850-7471.