The night beckons

The girls tumble out of a hand-waxed SUV. Lara Flynn Boyle-thin, they’re dressed like twins, identical pants worn low to show off the blue scrawl of a tattoo inscribed at the small of their backs. The flash of red sole under their teetering heels could only be Louboutin. As they head toward the entrance of White Lotus in Hollywood, a cellphone cries from the depths of a purse. Hauled out, it pounds out a manic tune, flashing blue lights like a police cruiser.

“We’re here,” one says, whispering conspiratorially into the phone. “Where are you?”

Obviously inside, and not waiting with the crowd behind the velvet rope. Not so long ago, this wouldn’t have been the beginning of a great dining experience. But right now in L.A., White Lotus is just one of a new breed of restaurant -- the splashy late-night lounge -- that captures the spirit of the moment.

True, every season sees a few trendy spots open, and close, as the fickle crowd finds a new allegiance. But this season the crop of restaurant-lounges sprinkled across the city has reached critical mass. And now club crawling is as much about the food as the drinks. The usual nibbles -- little fried things, burgers, nachos -- have morphed into sophisticated tapas or full-scale meals that might tempt a finicky gourmand.

New York has its Balthazar and 66, but no other city has embraced the genre of the restaurant-lounge as enthusiastically as Los Angeles. We’ve got an endless supply of svelte actors and industry insiders eager to see and be seen. We’ve got innovative young designers willing to put their talents to work to create glamorous and edgy settings for night owls. And gutsy entrepreneurs intent on forging a new genre halfway between restaurant and club. Together, they’re re-imagining the relationship between indoors and out with highly theatrical spaces that flow from one into the other. The climate, after all, is with us.

The era of the hyper-glamorous restaurant and club began in Paris in the late ‘90s with Buddha Bar, a huge underground place that evoked 1930s Shanghai, with a two-story-tall golden Buddha and a menu that served Paris its first taste of Cal-Asian fusion. The chef was Kazuto Matsusaka, longtime chef at Chinois on Main. Paris fell hard for both the place and the exotic food.

Soon after, Matsusaka showed up in L.A. to open Barfly, an offshoot of another plugged-in Paris bar, but somehow this one never really took off. It packed in the crowds at first, the way they all do until the next more alluring venue opens. It could be the Charles Bukowski theme doesn’t play as well in L.A. as it does in Paris or maybe its moment hadn’t quite arrived.

Meanwhile, other serious chefs began showing up on the lounge-restaurant scene. Fred Eric, who went on to found Vida and Fred 62, the 24/7 diner, came up in clubs such as Olive and Flaming Colossus (both long gone), where he found an enthusiastic audience for food so mischievous and bent it practically stood up and played tricks.

Soon chefs, otherwise seen in more sedate dining rooms, were enlisted to add luster to anything trendy. Ken Frank closed his haute French restaurant, La Toque, and moved over to the House of Blues, briefly. Claude Segal, once society’s favorite chef, signed on at the sprawling Sunset Room where he basically sleepwalked through his tenure. Moomba, an offshoot of the New York hotspot, flew very high for a while, boasting some of the best cutting-edge cooking in L.A., despite the babe with the clipboard at the door.

L.A. restaurateurs and club owners are discovering, like Las Vegas, that food can be a powerful lure, just one more inducement to spend the evening here rather than there. Waiters in tuxes and a somberly elegant dining room impress a young, free-spending urban crowd less than something with more glamour and excitement. They’re not necessarily looking for a sit-down dinner either, which is why small plates in the tapas vein have captured this audience. A handful of restaurant-lounges are doing their best to create scenes with the right kind of magic.

Seen through a scrim of spindly cedars and a windowsill of flickering votive candles, Dolce reads as a hipster’s version of Dante’s Inferno. Designer-of-the-moment Dodd Mitchell has created a bar where flames seem to lick the bottles and where blonds in backless dresses stand five deep, hoping to catch a glimpse of Ashton Kutcher, an investor in this hot Italian restaurant. Sleek booths feature tables wearing tight-fitting tailored black leather. Former Valentino sommelier Alessandro Sbrendola scrambles up a ladder to fetch bottles of Barolo or Barbaresco from a 2,000-bottle cellar in a valiant attempt to woo the crowd away from cocktails.

In the chic outdoor patio, everyone is smoking with a vengeance. But they’re also eating with gusto. The food is far and away better than most of the other trendy venues. It’s Italian and it’s not old-school either, but well-prepared contemporary Italian cooking from young chef Mirko Paderno. For those who just want to snack, he has an enoteca menu of little dishes, such as grilled Mediterranean cuttlefish, polenta with wild mushroom sauce or potato gnocchi in a fragrant green pesto.

Beneath the soaring white tent at White Lotus, ravenous clubgoers are digging into a Euro-Asian menu: vegetable pot stickers, steamed barbecued-pork bao, Thai bouillabaisse and Tasmanian salmon tartar spiked with Sriracha chile or shark fin soup. The menu, created by Hirozen Obayashi of Hirozen and Sunset Room Executive Chef Andrew Pastore, is the perfect club food for that outdoor patio, watched over by a serene giant Buddha. There’s even a tofu tasting. But you can also catch a late-night dinner or indulge in some excellent sushi washed down with artisanal sakes from the impressive sake list, before heading back to the club under a second tent to disco down.

Oasis is a ravishing riff on Moroccan and Moorish themes from designer Eva Schwarz. The walls are washed in intense cobalt blue, fuschia and persimmon and decorated with a series of Moorish arches and geometric patterns. In the lounge furnished with brocade silk poufs, young Hollywood night owls nibble on exotic appetizers such as deep-fried calamari with romesco sauce, piquillo peppers stuffed with boquerones (vinegary anchovies) and shrimp in Berber sauce. A bottle of Spanish red and the plate of Spanish charcuterie makes a substantial snack for two. In the dining room, dates can get all lovey-dovey at the cozy booths draped with gold mesh canopies and lighted by ornate Moroccan lanterns. Just don’t arrive before 10.

Tantra is a first too: a Silver Lake Indian restaurant decorated with the drama of a Bollywood set. Sizzling cinnabar, hot pink and gold spice up the dining room. There’s a pool scattered with rose petals and, next door, a glamorous lounge equipped with a state-of-the-art sound system. Neighborhood bohemians lounge on soft divans sipping cocktails with names like Shiva’s Revenge and Tiger’s Milk while the heroes and heroines of old black-and-white Bollywood movies swim across plasma screens. It’s so dark in here it feels clandestine, but there in the gloom you can make out indie filmmakers and members of edgy neighborhood bands scarfing down samosas and chutneys, saag paneer and fragrant curries. As bar food, it’s brilliant.

Paladar is a Modernist take on the idea of Cuba, snuggled up to the sizzling Hollywood club Nacional. The restaurant’s walls are lacquered in tobacco leaves. A red star is stenciled on the window. And Tag Front, the designers, have enclosed part of the dining room in a see-through iron cage. Though service can stumble, the food here makes everything worth it -- it’s the best on the scene. Joseph Herrera turns out terrific updated Cuban fare and the bar, of course, makes a mean mojito. Everything is delicious, from the octopus salsa and shrimp sofrito to the beguiling salads of hearts of palm and artichoke, and watercress and yellow beets in a coconut milk dressing. Really hungry? Zero in on the sumptuous medianoche of ham, shredded pork and Swiss cheese on a bun with a heap of perfect fries. Marinated skirt steak comes with a smart papaya Chimichurri and sweet plantains or spiced tostones come with everything else. Not to worry. You can dance off the calories next door.

Open-air chic

Falcon, designed by architects John Friedman and Alice Kimm, is a sleek, sophisticated club with a cozy indoor bar furnished with booths and shaggy ottomans. The drama of this Hollywood entrant unfolds in the large patio with a bar and an open fireplace at either end. Minimalist in aesthetic, it sports high concrete walls softened by a few languid plants and piazza lights strung just under the sky. Down a few steps from the bar, it feels like an open-air cocktail party with guys standing in a huddle in front of the fireplace, girls perched on the bleachers that run along one wall sipping espresso martinis. Tres soigne. The bar keeps the room humming, and the food isn’t bad either. You can order homemade potato chips or decent California-style pizzas, topped with mushroom and Fontina, say. As for the rest of the menu, it’s familiar: caprese or Caesar salad, steaks, burgers and meatloaf.

The Falls on Sunset Boulevard takes the more conventional supper club route with a menu that’s tilted toward continental. It’s a dress-up kind of place with curvaceous little chairs and extravagant high booths. The food is among the most appealing of these places, with starters such as a velvety asparagus soup garnished with crab or a classic hearts of Romaine with Caesar dressing. Then it’s a flavorful Delmonico steak or bone-in rib-eye, and for non-carnivores, a sumptuous papardelle with lobster. A lounge menu goes for comfort food like a great mac and cheese, made with homemade pasta and Vermont white Cheddar.

At Firefly in Studio City, the lounge and bar is an English library with velvet couches, portraits of the gentry and shelves stocked with books you wouldn’t want to read in a million years, even if you could see. The dining room is all outdoors, a magical space with a handful of private dining cabanas and smaller tables gathered around an adobe fireplace. Pierced brass sconces cast intriguing shadows. And because the roof is open to the sky, smoking is allowed, which means those who do indulge are puffing away with abandon. It’s the chance to be bad, after all. Get crazy. Howl at the moon. In between, nibble on fried olives with garlic aioli, platters of charcuterie or farmhouse cheeses, or Gary Menes’ light almond flour-crusted fried calamari. The food doesn’t have to be this good, but Menes is winning fans with his slow-cooked pork breast, herb-marinated roast chicken and Colorado T-bone lamb with sweet red pepper lasagna.

Lucky Strike Lanes brings the restaurant-lounge concept to a bowling alley at Hollywood and Highland. The soundtrack jumps. Videos are projected on huge screens at the end of the lanes where it’s party time as waiters serve wacky cocktails, finger food and heartier entrees from the entertainment industry caterer Along Came Mary. This is not your mother and father’s bowling alley for sure with homemade potato chips, mozzarella s’mores and turkey burgers. In the end, though, you might want to skip dinner and save your money for your very own Lucky Strike pink bowling ball.

Or a pair of Prada bowling shoes.

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For food and drinks

Barfly, 8730 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood; (310) 360-9490. Tuesday through Saturday, 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., Monday, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Dolce, 8284 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood; (323) 852-7174. Daily, 6 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Falcon, 7213 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood; (323) 850-5350. Daily, 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.

The Falls, 8210 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles; (323) 822-2082. Tuesday through Saturday, 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Firefly, 11720 Ventura Blvd., Studio City; (818) 762-1833. Monday through Saturday, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Oasis, 611 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles; (323) 939-8900. Monday through Saturday, 6 p.m. to midnight.

Paladar Bistro Cubano, 1651 Wilcox Ave., Hollywood; (323) 465-7500. Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday, 11:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, 5 p.m. to midnight, Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m.

The Sunset Room, 1430 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood; (323) 463-0004. Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Tantra, 3705 W. Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake; (323) 663-8268. Tuesday through Sunday, 6 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.

White Lotus, 1743 Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood; (323) 463-0060. Tuesday through Saturday, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.