Hoping to be the one
WHEN I walk into One Sunset, the giddy new “ultra-lounge” on the Strip, I can’t help pointing out to one of my heat-seeking friends that this was once Barfly. And that right behind the maitre d’s podium was a mile-high black-and-white photo of Beat writer Charles Bukowski’s craggy mug. Different time, different mood. One Sunset is more dressed up and proper, someplace you could bring your rocker mom -- or grandmother. She’d probably think the vibe is too innocent.
Though Barfly was a Paris import, One Sunset comes via New York’s Meatpacking District, where the owners -- event planner Celeste Fierro and restaurateur Erica Cohen -- opened the original One Little West 12th. They’re also behind the New York steakhouse STK.
They’ve got the crowd, all right, and as the night progresses people just keep coming -- in textbook hip-hop attire, in leathers, in striped cotton shirts and gold chains, in wispy summer dresses, in long shorts, the better to display tattooed calves and ankles. Women stand around sipping pink cocktails from oversized martini glasses, shaking their hips to the music.
To start, I try one of those pink cocktails, the One Sunset, a martini made with Patron Gold, blood orange and lemon juices, and honey. But it’s not very cold, and headache-making sweet. Not to make a snap judgment, but it seems as if they’ve hired the bartenders more for their looks. The waitresses, in flirty black dresses designed by “Project Runway” winner Jeffrey Sebelia, are pleasant for such a trendy venue. That’s a plus.
Designer Lionel Ohayon has taken one big room roughly the size of a football field and given it flow. The Moroccan-themed Champagne Lounge and raw bar at the front segue to the Centre Bar Lounge with a flotilla of low sofas and tables, then halfway along into the Dining Lounge, which looks like an open-walled teahouse constructed in the middle of the room. At the far end, where a wall of candles flickers (what trendy restaurant can do without a wall of candles?), is the aptly named Candle Lounge.
Chef Christopher Ennis has designed a modern American menu with something for every appetite. Or so it would seem. You can stop in with friends to demolish a two-tier “celestial platter” of oysters, clams, jumbo white shrimp and prawns, lobster and more for $125. Or order a drink and mini grilled cheese sandwiches for $13, which includes tomato soup. From the looks of the plates sailing by, the most popular item so far has to be “Erica’s bad ass cheeseburgers”: They’re sliders on doughy buns barely marked by the grill, topped with caramelized onion and blue and Gruyere cheeses.
In trying so hard to be different, the chef comes up with some odd dishes. Surf ‘n’ turf tacos are two crisp, generic taco shells, one filled with beef tenderloin with capers and cornichons, the other with yellowfin tuna dressed up with banana and coconut. They’re both quite dismal. And caramelized osso buco lettuce cups? You’ve got to be kidding.
We rummage through the menu looking for something that’s less exuberant with the number of ingredients and settle on what looks to be a Margherita pizzetta. It arrives deconstructed into offset rectangles, the crust limp, the taste oddly limp too, despite the fresh mozzarella and, in One Sunset’s variation, oven-dried tomatoes. Next.
Clams casino royale are not at all bad, featuring applewood smoked bacon and a jolt of piquillo peppers. I like the “sloppy pig” too, basically a pulled pork sandwich with “melted” shallots on one of those soft, sweet buns. That comes from the “crave/comfort” section of the menu, where you’ll also find mini-Reubens, Buffalo chicken skewers and mac ‘n’ cheese carbonara. Just the thing to fuel a night out.
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One Sunset
Where: 8730 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood
When: 5:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily
Price: Raw/chilled, $10 to $125; organic/free-range, $14 to $17; pizzettas, $10 to $12; “wet/wild,” $14 to $22; “crave/comfort,” $13 to $17; Sunset strip steak, $38. Full bar. Valet parking.
Info: (310) 657-0111, www.onelw12.com