Tinkering with a clubby hangout

Vida, Fred Eric’s 8-year-old Silver Lake restaurant, has always felt like a clubhouse for the Eastsiders who drop by for a drink or one of Eric’s fanciful dishes.

It’s a fine place to hang. The crowd is eclectic and the bartender is a pro. Maybe that’s why the bar has always seemed more crowded than the dining room. The background music, which reflects the slightly wacky, surreal atmosphere, is one of the attractions too.

But Eric came up in the clubs, where trends are short-lived and scenes have to be continually reinvented. When I drove by a couple of weeks ago, a banner outside the restaurant announced “Vida Nueva.” To reinforce the new concept, which is called Vida Beverage Club and Restaurant, somebody has stenciled what look like Louis Vuitton logos all over the facade. (On closer inspection, they turn out to be crossed knives and forks.)

Inside, the decor has gone girlie with garlands of fake flowers, the kind that customarily decorate Easter bonnets or the bosoms of maiden aunts. Sparkly little chandeliers hang from the ceiling. The tables now have gold tops and the chairs are upholstered in pink. Or is it salmon? It’s hard to tell under all the romantic lighting.

Eric has completely revamped the menu too. Gone are such signature dishes as Thai Cobb salad in favor of a series of small dishes that fall into the categories “cool plates,” “sticks -- tasty food on a skewer,” “bowls,” “deeper dishes” and “hot plates.”

I can see how mac ‘n’ cheese, chicken enchilada and a beef chili, say, might go over with the bar crowd, but most of the new dishes don’t seem nearly as interesting as the ones on his old menu.

Still, it’s nice to be able to get a butter lettuce salad with Stilton cheese, grapefruit and avocado or “rolls rice du jour” in inventive variations. “Duck delicious” is a bowl of spicy Sichuan-style broth bulked up with duck and tofu. The ornate chicken enchilada comes in its own little casserole in a sweet black mole sauce. And there’s a decent beef brisket chili with jalapeno corn bread that cries out for a beer.

Although the new menu is quite a bit tamer than Vida’s old one, it’s still infused with Eric’s irrepressible whimsy. Just another neighborhood restaurant this definitely is not.

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Vida Beverage Club and Restaurant

Where: 1930 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles

When: Open from 6 to 11 p.m. daily (or later, depending on business). Full bar. Valet parking. All major cards.

Cost: Plates, $4 to $12

Info: (323) 660-4446