Asian chic, Hollywood style

Each time I leave Geisha House, I pick up some matchboxes with the image of a geisha’s lips, crimson against her white powder. The same potent image, blown up to billboard proportions, floats over the models-in-waiting sprawling inelegantly on the bar’s built-in sofa. They’ve made it. They’re here sipping cocktails, yelling into their girlfriends’ ears, flirting beneath the mysterious geisha’s serene gaze.

What an oddly theatrical setting for this frenzied bar scene. But this is the new Hollywood, where set decoration and fantasy are the only things that guarantee the right crowd will come frolicking.

Food? I doubt anyone really is here for that. But that’s why Geisha House is so unusual. The food is actually pretty good, a big cut above the nosh at most trendy places, and not one but two in-house sommeliers pour rare sakes and pricey bubbly.

The scene is effervescent, with cars piling up in front, security guys who actually welcome you inside, motioning you toward the entrance: a corridor lined with timber posts painted red as the geisha’s lips, the same red used for Japanese temples.

To the left is a relatively calm sushi bar where a team of sushi chefs flash their knives for a small audience. The real action is in the sake lounge/bar and in the dining room beyond it; the place is packed. High above, images from Japanese anime and sci-fi scroll across video screens set into the wall. Nobody watches them, really. The effect is subliminal, firing off neurons, jangling your nervous system.

A photomural of Ginza in Tokyo runs across the entire back wall of the dining room; it’s backlighted in candy-pink neon. The other walls are covered in a riotous patchwork of brightly colored brocades with Japanese motifs. Lightly padded, they’re not only decorative but also serve to muffle the sound slightly. Because when girls want to have fun, they want to be loud. Add in a cranked-up music system and the place is rocking.

On the mezzanine, where there’s also seating, a poker-faced DJ with white-blond hair that gives her the look of a startled chicken spins some great sides: Aretha, Van Morrison, the Stones, a dizzy mix of ‘70s cuts. Irrepressible, the music muscles through the small talk. People snap their fingers, bob to the beat, and at different points each evening, some will not be able to resist. They’re up and dancing.

But what about dinner? Waiters sporting some designer’s vision (the guys are in striped gondolier sweaters worn with short brocade aprons, the women in striped halters) wish everyone a wonderful time, and they actually seem to be sincere about it. As Geisha House is owned by the Dolce Group, the same outfit that owns Dolce in West Hollywood, that’s surprising. Dolce’s front desk is notoriously rude. Here, it’s manager David DeBacco who seems to make the difference. A seasoned professional, he once headed up Nobu Europe, launching Nobu restaurants in London, Paris and Milan. At Geisha House, everyone from the doormen to the hostess who patiently waits while you decide if you want to sit upstairs or down to the runners who bring your plates is free from even a smidgen of attitude. This definitely is not business as usual.

It is loud, though: You can hear the person seated next to you, but that’s about it. Never mind -- everybody’s having too good a time to wax philosophical.

A sommelier will be by to see if he can offer insight into the wine list, or pair a sake with any of the dishes. For those eager to get into the world of sake, the sommelier will pour tastes of three very different styles, and you can go from there. It’s up to you how crazy you want to get. They’re hoping the same people who would go for the Cristal Champagne will spring for the $400 bottle of sake. And some do.

If sake doesn’t quite do it for you, the overpriced wine list does offer some interesting choices, only every time we tried to order one, they seemed to be out of it or couldn’t find it. It makes me wonder how much of the list is for show and how much is actually in the cellar. In that light, the $35 corkage fee is ludicrous.

Nibble, sip, nibble

The menu from Tokyo-born Genichi Mizoguchi, who was at Megu in Tribeca, has so much more to offer than the usual sorry club food. It’s not exactly dinner per se, more like an invitation to graze. Organized by cold and hot dishes, tempura, robata-yaki, etc., it also includes a few soup and noodle dishes and, of course, a large selection of high-quality sushi and sashimi.

To start, while you’re looking over the selections, nibble on edamame, soybeans steamed in the pod, which arrive so hot they practically burn your fingers. Crispy wonton skins are topped with tuna sashimi scribbled over with unagi sauce -- not a sauce made of eel, but rather the sweet, dark glaze traditionally brushed over eel just before it’s served. They’re a delicious little bite.

There’s more great finger food: maguro (tuna) embellished with a dab of chile and set on domino-sized chewy rice cakes. Sparkling fresh halibut sashimi drizzled with a fiery jalapeno ponzu and garnished with Japanese radish is another sure pleaser. I also enjoyed the Italian-accented maguro carpaccio, raw tuna garnished with arugula, a svelte garlic-soy sauce and shavings of Parmesan.

The idea is to order three dishes here, three dishes there, nibble and take in the scene. A couple on a first date trade histories in front of one of the fireplaces punched into a translucent red tower in the middle of the room. Girls in identical blond ponytails and golf caps hold hands on the way to the ladies’ room. It’s a tease: They’re really with their boyfriends. At another table, scruffy screenwriters stuck in rewrite limbo lament their fate, drinking their sorrows away with shots of sake. It’s the same crowd you see at every trendy place early on, before the word is out and the “general admission” crowd, as one of my friends calls it, starts swarming the place, intent on catching a star.

What’s not to like? There’s lights, music, action. And a sushi bar just waiting for your order. Along with the straight-ahead sushi and sashimi, it turns out fanciful hand rolls and sushi rolls. Witness the “green lawn” roll -- cucumber, asparagus, crunchy burdock root and fresh wasabi rolled up with perfectly ripe avocado. Spanish mackerel with pickled vegetables and fresh ginger is another good sushi roll. The sushi chef has a delicate touch with the hamachi-and-scallion roll too. Of course, those who seek the heat can get their fix with a dynamite roll or the spicier “call 911” tuna roll laced with jalapenos. Like Nobu Matsuhisa, Mizoguchi has learned to punch up the flavors for an American audience.

From the regular menu, rock shrimp tempura is wonderful with a glass of chilled sake or Riesling. The delicate shrimp is encased in a lacy batter, fried to a pale gold and served piping hot, to pop in your mouth like popcorn. Grilled chicken yaki features organic chicken breast and leg (one skewer devoted to each) -- delicious with a squirt of yuzu, a sprinkling of sea salt and a little crushed Japanese pepper. Satiny Japanese eggplant is scribbled with two sauces, a sweet miso and a creamy scallion.

A trio of Mongolian lamb chops could be dinner if you’re so inclined. The lamb has plenty of flavor, but I’m more intrigued by the rich funk of cucumber and shiso leaf salad in a sweet miso dressing. Grilled flatiron Kobe steak is one of the better Kobe steaks I’ve tried, and so it should be at $38 for 8 ounces. I could see myself slipping in occasionally for a late-night soboro gohan. That’s a bowl of rice topped with ground organic chicken and seaweed -- and much better than it sounds because the topping has such an intense flavor. It needs all that rice.

The girls, restless, wander upstairs and then down again. The DJ puts on another record. It’s late, but this place is wide awake. The die-hard late-nighters end up in the moon-viewing room, I’m told, one flight up from the mezzanine. Me, I’m going home to bed. This geisha life is exhausting.

We had a conga line in here one night, says the sommelier, shaking his head and slipping us a grin. It’s not L’Orangerie, that’s for sure. With its surrealist setting and fanciful Japanese food, this sexy new Hollywood restaurant and sake lounge sizzles.

*

Geisha House

Rating: **

Location: 6633 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; (323) 460-6300, www. geishahousehollywood.com.

Ambience: Eye-popping Japanese-themed boite with a frenzied bar scene, a separate sushi bar and a two-level dining room with DJ and elevated fireplace. The menu is smart club food, all Japanese.

Service: Friendly and genuinely helpful.

Price: Salads, $6 to $9; hand rolls, $7 to $15; tempura, $8 to $14; robatayaki, $7 to $12; cold dishes, $9 to $16; hot dishes, $8 to $38; sushi and sashimi, $6 to $10.

Best dishes: Rock shrimp tempura, tuna sashimi with unagi sauce, maguro-topped rice cakes, grilled Mongolian lamb chops, grilled chicken yaki, grilled flatiron Kobe steak, green lawn roll, pick-pika roll, coconut cake.

Wine list: High priced, with some interesting choices that they always seem to be out of. Corkage $35.

Best table: One of the booths, or a corner table at the back.

Special features: Rooftop moon-viewing room.

Details: Open Monday through Saturday, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Full bar. Valet parking, $8.

Rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality. ****: Outstanding on every level. ***: Excellent. **: Very good. *: Good. No star: Poor to satisfactory.