A seafood hideaway has Hollywood at the door

THE other day I ran into an acquaintance who couldn’t wait to tell me what she thought about the Hungry Cat. She loved the grub but complained that the Hollywood seafood joint was a total hole in the wall -- not the kind of place she’d ever go on a weekend night. And it was uncomfortable and crazy loud to boot. If she thought it was bad now, she should have seen it before the recent renovation that nearly doubled the size.

For me, the fact that it’s a hole in the wall is very much part of the appeal and ensures this little gem’s status as something of an insider’s place. Nobody is going to stumble upon the Hungry Cat by accident. It’s tucked away in the courtyard behind Borders at the northwest corner of Sunset and Vine. And yet without a reservation, and sometimes with one, there’s almost always a wait for a table. But thankfully now there are more seats at the bar.

By tacking on another space, owners David Lentz and Suzanne Goin (Lucques, AOC) have been able to add a raw seafood bar with its own handful of seats, and squeeze in a few more tables. And what’s so unpleasant about hanging out for a while, sipping one of Hungry Cat’s extraordinary cocktails, such as their Pimlico or sidecar (made, like all the cocktails here, with squeezed-to-order juices)? The beautiful thing is the drinks are never too sweet. These are grown-up cocktails for people who love food.

The new Hungry Cat has a more polished, urban Minimalist decor. “We did it the way we should have done it in the first place, if we’d had the money,” says Goin. Now the seats are more comfortable and the space feels more open, so it’s easier to see who’s here. I came in one Friday night to find two friends, who’d come from an ArcLight screening of the film “There Will Be Blood,” digging into a delicious smoked trout salad garnished with arugula and quail eggs. We squeezed around their table while waiting for ours. By the time our guests arrived, we’d inherited my friends’ table. And just as we finished our peel-and-eat shrimp, fried oysters and seafood stew, two other friends -- who had also been across the street at ArcLight, seeing a later showing of the same film -- came in for a late-night bite.

And so it goes.

The cook manning the raw bar steps up the oyster opening as the night wears on, sending out littlenecks on the half shell and seafood platters heaped with whatever’s best that night, while the kitchen gets busy with grilled octopus with romesco, “pug” burgers and house-smoked salmon with saffron aioli. Fried oysters are terrific too. And I think they make one of the best salads in town, a mix of market lettuces with avocado, pecorino and an egg.

And maybe now, with the extra space, it’ll be just a bit easier to get in.

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virbila@latimes.com

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THE HUNGRY CAT

WHERE: 1535 N. Vine St., Hollywood

WHEN: Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tue.-Fri., Sunday brunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; dinner 5:30 p.m. to midnight Mon.-Sat. and 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sun. Limited menu available between lunch and dinner. The bar is open till 1 a.m. every night except Sun., when it closes at midnight.

PRICE: At dinner: oysters, clams and mussels, $2 to $2.50 each; half lobster or crab, $30; peel-and-eat shrimp, $17; caviar, $20 to $75; seafood platters, $45 to $150; dinner items, $10 to $25; cheese, $12 to $18; dessert, $6 to $8.

INFO: (323) 462-2155; www.thehungrycat.com