The floating lounge

Ami Beaucoup, a new martini bar aboard the Pride of Newport riverboat, offers lamb chops and live music to go with the cocktails.A new restaurant is doing business aboard the Pride of Newport.

Ami Beaucoup Martini Lounge has been open for about three weeks on the Pride of Newport, the riverboat near the Coast Highway bridge that is also the home of the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum.

Sabrina Dagostino, one of three partners who own the restaurant, said the concept is the answer to a simple question she asked herself: “If we had a party at my house, what would it be like?”

Based on the restaurant, a party at Dagostino’s house could be expected to include food, live music and dancing. Dinner is served starting at 5 p.m., and the music begins three hours later. After the band plays for a while, the atmosphere at Ami Beaucoup switches from that of a restaurant to become more club-like, Dagostino said.

“We kick it up a notch. We lower the lights a bit and it becomes a fun, lounge-y place to hang out,” Dagostino said. “It’s dancing. It’s more of a couples’ thing.”

Dagostino said the music at Ami Beaucoup is often jazz or blues, and she sees the restaurant as a place for neighborhood musicians to play.

“It’s not about having the Beatles here. It’s about having local bands,” she said.

Dark colors dominate the restaurant’s interior. Diners sit on chairs and couches that are covered with rich brown leather, and tables are made from cherry wood. Glass decorations colored a deep cobalt blue stand out among all the earthen shades.

“It [cobalt blue] just seemed like a sexy color,” Dagostino said.

From the tables at the riverboat, diners have a view of the homes and yachts that line Newport Harbor. Dagostino plans to make the restaurant more accessible to waterfront denizens by adding a boat valet service in the spring.

“You can’t get closer to the water than this,” she said.

The menu at Ami Beaucoup is eclectic, chef James Chavez said. Two of the more popular entrees are grilled lamb chops and seared striped bass.

“Our art in the back is to make the food as intense as it can be,” Chavez said. “Simplicity is the key in all our recipes.”

Ami Beaucoup’s address is 151 E. Coast Highway, Newport Beach.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at andrew.edwards@latimes.com.

20051219irpxjcncDON LEACH / DAILY PILOT(LA)Partners Richard D’Alessio, left, Sabrina Dagostino, Doug Jardine and Dennis D’Alessio run the new Ami Beaucoup restaurant on the Pride of Newport riverboat.