Mild to Hot

THE PREMISE: The opening of La Boca del Conga Room, a new restaurant at the Conga Room, hosted by Jimmy Smits and Sheila E.

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REALITY: “What we wanted to do was carry the ideology that has been successful in terms of dance to our cuisine,” says Smits, Conga Room part-owner and erstwhile “NYPD Blue” detective. More Ricky Martin-bred crossover madness? “We conceived the club way before there was any quote-unquote explosion,” argues Smits. “It’s good that you’re finally getting it. I knew how good my music is. And I know how good our food is.” Now 200 or so invited guests get to know what Jimmy knows. A few come clad in knockout designer numbers but have trouble eclipsing the sartorial splendor of the Conga Room waitress brigade, which has some members wielding sugar cane stalks laden with grilled shrimp. After the Champagne and hors d’oeuvres social in the downstairs restaurant, guests trickle up to the ballroom for live ‘40s-style salsa.

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I’M ON THE LIST: “I drive by this place on my way to work all the time and I imagine Jimmy Smits in here dancing,” says once-upon-a-time co-star Sharon Lawrence. “And now Jimmy and I are both in that big ‘NYPD Blue’ in the sky.” Dennis Franz and wife Joanie also drop by for what may or may not be his first visit. “My wife swears that I’ve been here, and I keep telling her I certainly would remember,” he says. So, does all this current and former Blue constitute a reunion? “Not really,” says Smits, doing the math. “That’s only two out of 12.” Off in the corner, but still conspicuously present, is Conga regular Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. There’s Alan Thicke, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and a few other celebrities of that letter grade. And the couple nobody could take their eyes off--Tony Curtis, looking suave in a mid-length Armani jacket, and wife Jill, wearing pigtails, a short, candy-colored Pucci dress and just bursting with . . . youth. “We come here every now and then to dance,” Curtis says, apparently unaware that a special event is in progress. “Is it different than it was before?” he asks. “Why am I the last to know?”

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CELEB QUOTIENT: Some old, some new, some borrowed from sports and a few Blue.

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WOW FACTOR: Technicolor tropical textures and spicy salsa band create satisfying initial buzz; still, it could use more afterburner.

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CHOW LINE: Wine and champers plus ceviche, grilled shrimp and duck snacks--palate pleasing but leaves many bocas craving un poquito mas.