New Nightspots Are Cookin’

It’s Saturday night at Lucky Duck, and the gang’s all here. The hot new Asian restaurant on La Brea Avenue opened quietly last month, but Hollywood hipsters, musicians and industry veterans already call it home. Over on Sunset Boulevard, at Balboa, a new American steakhouse and bar at the Grafton Hotel, guests play “find the rock star,” scanning an art piece on the wall for hidden references to rock ‘n’ roll icons. At Dominick’s on Beverly Boulevard, music producer Lee Jaffe shucks oysters while telling tales of the Jamaican sea and reflecting on the years he spent living with Bob Marley.

Welcome to Hollywood’s new breed of supper clubs, places with rock ‘n’ roll roots, servicing a club scene that’s growing up. These are restaurants that are drawing a rock ‘n’ roll crowd and are defined by their owners--music industry players and youthful club promoters who are already well-known commodities in the culture of night. The clientele is attracted to these spots because of whom they might run into and because the environment is tailored by their peers. Supper clubs are like an art-directed house party fueled by music, usually played by deejays, who offer the feel of a nightclub without a full-blown aural assault.

“While the supper club isn’t the death of the dance club, it’s definitely an added dimension,” says Josh Levine, the head of marketing at Urb magazine.

“These places offer food, networking and fun, and everybody’s at arm’s length. You don’t have to wade through a crowd or stand in a line or hassle with doormen. It’s a more natural setting.”

Supper club owners responded as the club set matured.

“The same people who were going to nightclubs when they were in their 20s are now going to supper clubs,” says Lee Maen, a former club promoter and now co-owner of Balboa and of Sushi Roku, a successful chain of cutting-edge Japanese restaurants. “When we were young, we used to go to clubs like Tatou, Tripp’s, Power Tools. Now, we’re looking for a more intimate experience.”

“The club thing is dated for people,” says Tom Atencio, a music industry veteran who partnered with Philip Chiang for Lucky Duck. “You don’t want to have to sit there and yell. It’s a different set of requirements now. People need to be nurtured, and you can do that with food and environment.”

To be sure, Lucky Duck is an exquisitely simple, ‘30s-style bistro with high ceilings and small tables nestled side by side. It’s impossible not to meet the people around you. Customers inevitably find themselves engaged in fresh conversations and the exchange of ideas. On any given night, you can look around Lucky Duck and see the likes of photographer Bruce Weber, Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath, and filmmaking spouses Sofia Coppola and Spike Jonze--all followers of a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.

The eclectic clientele is just what you’d expect from Atencio and Chiang. In his career as a music manager, Atencio’s managed such acts as New Order, Jane’s Addiction and No Doubt, and was a co-founder of Lollapalooza. Chiang designed album covers, back when album art mattered, before entering the restaurant arena with Mandarette on Beverly Boulevard and the P.F. Chang’s chain.

“I’ve been to Lucky Duck three nights this week,” says Levine. “I run into the people I want to see from the music and entertainment establishment, and eat great food.”

Two tables over, Juvencio Jimenez--a stylist with a long clubbing history--says he also comes to Lucky Duck every chance he gets. “The food is amazing,” says Jimenez, who brings up a good point. If the edibles aren’t edible, these places wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Basically I did this restaurant as my favorite collection of Asian recipes,” says Chiang, who was born in Shanghai and raised in Tokyo.

“I tend to pick Chinese food that is more Japanese in a sense. I have a cleaner, leaner presentation. At the same time I’m a big fan of street food.... I love the vendors that come out at night. I try to bring some essence of that, not physically but spiritually.”

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Across town at Dominick’s, a 3-year-old restaurant that recently hit its stride, chef Keith Silverton has the winning edge. He’s also the Chef Most Likely to be Listening to the Doors while cooking. The rock is evident: J. Lo’s in the house, as are Dave Grohl and Dave Matthews, Moby and Slipknot.

“What we offer here is a sanctuary ... , there’s a sense of community,” says Jon Sidel, Dominick’s owner.

As with any nightlife venture, a sexy history doesn’t hurt. From the late ‘40s to the mid-’60s, Dominick’s was known as the secret spot where the Rat Pack brought its mistresses. Sidel, a veteran club promoter and owner, found the location and snapped it up.

In fact, many trace this rockin’ trend to the early ‘90s, when club promoter-turned-barkeep Sidel partnered with Sean MacPherson and began opening such restaurants as Swinger’s and the Olive. In ‘89, they debuted the Melrose Avenue bar Small’s K.O., which became a central artery for L.A. rockers. In the ‘90s, you’d find nestled up to the bar at Small’s the guys from Stone Temple Pilots, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Black Crowes mingling with such rock veterans as Joe Strummer and the Buzzcocks. By ‘94, Swinger’s was a rock ‘n’ roll breakfast club featuring waitresses with great gams and a mind-blowing jukebox. But anyone who was anyone in the ‘90s will tell you that the Olive was the springboard for the current supper club rock rash. A cheeky Fairfax Avenue restaurant, the Olive was the place to be seen at night.

It wasn’t elitist by any means, but you simply couldn’t get in the door by midnight. There were too many people hovering around the bar and cozying up in booths. Looking back, it was ridiculously uncomfortable, but it was so exciting to be there.

It was a room with heat, and people in Hollywood like heat. By the time the partners opened Jones on Santa Monica Boulevard in the mid-’90s, they’d fine-tuned the merger of rock and dining so well, the walls featured classic portraits of underground scene icons, such as L.A. groupies, X’s John Doe, the Runaways and the glam band Zolar X.

Yes indeed, the Olive--which closed in the mid-’90s when the partners decided it had run its course--and the still happening Jones were restaurants with attitude.

Few will deny that Dominick’s continues the saga. Among its investors are Michael Stipe and Mike Mills from R.E.M., and a slew of music industry honchos, including Maverick Records’ Guy Oseary.

One of the key common denominators of this new wave of hot spots is pricing. The most expensive item at Lucky Duck is $16, while a four-course fondue dinner at the new Beverly Hills hot spot Joya is $35.

“You can eat, meet, drink and feel entertained,” says Steven Tapp, a top L.A. hair colorist at the Parlour whose clients include Cameron Diaz and Ricky Martin. Tapp says he lived out the excesses of L.A.’s ‘80s nightlife and now enjoys a supper club environment. “You want to have a martini, be able to lounge and maybe even have a twirl--keep it simple.”

“I still like going to live music clubs, but supper clubs feel so couture,” says rocker Ashleigh Meyer, who at 21 represents the younger side of the scene.

“It’s fierce, I like the trend. You can still rock out, but it’s on a whole different level.”

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The youthful appeal of such supper clubs as the Little Door, the Hollywood Canteen, Joya, the Lounge and North have a lot to do with the people who are in the driver’s seat--they’re all owned by promoters and clubbers from L.A.’s rock and bar scenes.

“Some of the larger advantages of coming out with a rock ‘n’ roll background, you understand the people and the nuances of your city and they’re very subtle,” says Marc Smith, whose keen eye led to the hipster supper club North and the hipster bar Three Clubs. “Because we’re the people of the night, we have the advantage of knowing the city.

“The younger people want to come to your place and you understand their needs. I always see them changing and adapt accordingly.”

It’s like science, baby, mathematics, like when you add a hot actor-club promoter to your team and wind up with the Hollywood Canteen, a place that had been around for decades that suddenly becomes the hottest spot in town.

By virtue of his connections and, not incidentally, his good looks, actor-clubber Michael Sutton was just what owner John Kim needed to add to the Canteen mix. Suddenly, the models are in the house. And on a good night, that means the Canteen transforms into a real house party.

“It’s like throwing the roof off the sucka, without having to clean up in the morning,” says Sutton, who played Stone on the soap opera “General Hospital” and is a longtime Hollywood nightclub promoter, who became Kim’s partner.

“I come here for the ladies,” says Cesar Hernandez, a 29-year-old Hollywood resident who gets right to the point. “The hot women have moved here, and I’m just following their lead.”

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As are the boys in the line at Joya in a Beverly Hills. Joya’s owner, Chris Pike, is also a partner in Las Palmas, a Hollywood supper club so hot, the fire marshal has cited it three times for overcrowding. Now, you just about have to be a member of ‘N Sync to get in on a Wednesday night.

At Joya, people dine on fondue before dancing it off on the dance floor.

Vine, a new low-key bar and restaurant on Vine Street in Hollywood, is also banking on fondue, a dish that lends itself to social dining.

“Bo Derek gave us a fondue recipe that’s been in her family for generations,” says Simon Jones, Vine’s co-owner.

“We want this to be the spot people come to when they’re just not ready to go home.”

On a quiet Wednesday at Vine, actor Dave Foley is chatting with actor Alex Desert, who will always be remembered for his role in “Swingers” as the scenester who wanted to blow the scene as soon as he arrived. Now, he’s an investor in Vine.

Like Vine, one thing Lucky Duck lacks that its guests really appreciate: a guest-list-toting pit bull at the door. Just the name alone--Lucky Duck--offers an upbeat, welcoming tone.

“That whole idea of a velvet rope is antiquated and not applicable to what we’re doing,” Atencio says. “We’re all about mixing it up.”

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Restaurants That Rock

Balboa: This new Grafton Hotel bar and restaurant is following in the footsteps of such ber -hot hotel spots as the Standard Lounge, the Whiskey Bar, Sky Bar and Bar Marmont. 8462 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 650-8383.

Dominick’s: It’s a gang, not a club--the karmic convergence of the musical universe. 8715 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 652-7272.

Hollywood Canteen: Sexy, fun and young--three of Hollywood’s favorite things. 1006 Seward St., Hollywood, (323) 465-0961.

Joya: One of the few that’s a bona fide dance club. 242 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, (310) 274-4440.

The Lounge: Offering live music and live times, by the folks behind the Gate, a legendary L.A. supper club. 9072 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 888-8811.

Les Deux Cafe: Throw a rock, hit a rock star. 1638 N. Las Palmas Ave., Hollywood, (323) 465-0509.

Little Door: Red-hot spot owned by the former promoters of the Flaming Collosus, a long-running dance club in the ‘90s. 8164 3rd St., L.A., (323) 951-1210.

Lucky Duck: The hands-down winner in the “good vibrations” category. 672 S. La Brea Ave., L.A., (323) 931-9660.

North: At nearly 4 years old, a veteran and a favorite choice of Vince Vaughn, Johnny Knoxville and George Clooney. 8029 Sunset Blvd., L.A., (323) 654-1313.

Vine: While still putting on its finishing touches, this wine and fondue bar’s investors include so many people from the Hollywood scene, it’s already a party. 1235 Vine St., Hollywood, (323) 960-0800.