Scene in between

The classy new lounge in Venice sits inconspicuously at the junction of Washington and Abbot Kinney boulevards, an easy miss from any direction but an oasis nonetheless. Menemsha Lounge, an offshoot of the 8-month-old restaurant of the same name, was created last month by restaurateur Brad Johnson, who knows as much about New England seafood as he does about striking up a relaxing and chic scene.

Named after Johnson’s favorite fishing village on Martha’s Vineyard, Menemsha (pronounced me-nem-sha) offers a warm indoor dining room with knotty pine walls and mariner lights, a red backlit bar and Maine lobster tank, and a secluded luscious patio with a stone fireplace and room for a DJ. Menemsha Lounge begins when the restaurant stops serving dinner on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and joins with KCRW-FM (89.9), which provides the musical entertainment.

“More restaurants need to do this,” said Dove Rose of Studio City, who threw herself a big birthday bash on the patio recently. “It makes people want to stay longer, enjoy their food more and just slow down. It’s like Nantucket meets L.A. This is still L.A. cutting-edge but softer and less pretentious.”

The lounge is Johnson’s way of combining his extensive restaurant and nightclub experience to create a new vibe on the beach. A native New Yorker who studied hotel and restaurant management at the University of Massachusetts and spent his summers as a boy on Martha’s Vineyard, Johnson owned Georgia from 1993 to 1999 and was a partner at Roxbury and Sunset Room. He also co-owns V Bar in Las Vegas.

“Stylistically, my concept for the restaurant was to create an understated environment where people were the main attraction and the vibe was relaxed,” Johnson said. “There’s a difference between a restaurant that is just a restaurant and a club that is just a club. There’s a lounge in between those places and Menemsha has just morphed into that. KCRW totally targets the atmosphere we like and music you don’t hear on the radio. They were a big factor in moving in this direction.”

The music, which ranges from jazz to soul and neo-soul, to rock and bossa nova, is ambient and cranks up after 10 p.m., when the kitchen is only serving a bar menu.

The restaurant’s clientele is a hodge-podge of young and old, yuppie and hipster, artist and beachcomber, and, yes, the occasional celebrity who knows Johnson from his Hollywood days.

On a recent Friday night, while Rose celebrated her birthday on the patio with her thirtysomething friends, actor John Enos dined at one table while Sally Struthers and Brenda Vaccaro sat at another, yelling “Oh my God!” every time a new dish appeared.

“First and foremost, the food here is excellent,” said 27-year-old Wendy Moore, an environmental scientist who dined at the bar with two girlfriends. “The music they play here is so good that it’s definitely the kind of place I’d pop in for a drink even if I wasn’t having dinner.’”

That’s music to Glen Walsh’s ears, Menemsha’s program director and co-producer of KCRW’s “The Drop” with DJ Liza Richardson on Saturday.

“My ultimate goal is to build it up,” said Walsh, who spins in addition to booking other talent. “But I don’t want to turn it upside down into a mad party. We want it to be laid-back and people chatting and having drinks and appetizers, but if they want to get their freak on, I’m all for it.”

Richardson will be the guest DJ tonight for “Cha Cha Menemsha,” and Gary Calamar who hosts “Open Road,” on KCRW on Sunday nights will spin next Thursday when Johnson opens his doors to artists and fashionistas for the first installment of Pure Monkey Lovin’ on the Westside. The 8-month-old art and fashion show, hosted by L.A. designer Jose Angel and held monthly at Star Shoes in Hollywood, mixes culture and cocktails by showcasing the work of emerging designers and artists in a party setting.

“I went to one of the shows in Hollywood and thought the Westside and the artistic community would be really responsive to it,” said Johnson. “It’s creative and cool and reminds me of the stuff that happens in downtown New York.”

Menemsha reminds screenwriter Ted Carney of home, but that’s just one of the reasons he frequents the restaurant even though he lives in Hollywood.

“I know that I’m getting seafood from home when I come here,” said Carney, 33, who grew up in New Bedford, Mass. “But this is not your typical mainstream place. It catches people as the night goes. It’s a lucky strike kind of place. So many places in Hollywood are overwhelming. Here you find a lot of nice surprises.”

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Menemsha

Where: 822 Washington Blvd., Venice

When: Dinner, Tuesdays- Sundays, 5:30 to 10 p.m.; bar menu served until 11:30 p.m.

Menemsha Lounge: Thursdays-Saturdays, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Info: (310) 822-2550