After hours upscale eateries turn into ritzy nightclubs

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

John Dominis Restaurant displays an onaga and mahimahi arrangement during the sunset dinner hours. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser After-dinner nightspots Auntie Pasto's Kapahulu: Club Dub Wize, 10:30 p.m. Fridays; Club XSI Lounge, 10:30 p.m. Saturday; Telepathic Projects, 10 p.m. Mondays; 739-2426 Big City Diner: DJ Root's Juice, 10:30 p.m. Tuesdays; 738-8855 Cafe Sistina: Zona Latina, 10:30 p.m. Fridays; 596-0061 John Dominis Restaurant: The Spy Bar, 10:30 p.m. Fridays; 523-0955 Nick's Fishmarket: Twilight, 10 p.m. Saturdays; 955-6333 Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar: Club Night, 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 536-6286 W Honolulu: Wonder Lounge, 9 p.m. Fridays and 10 p.m. Saturdays; 922-3734

The view of Diamond Head at night, the city sparkling in street lights, creates an ideal dining atmosphere. It's unforgettable — and the only thing unchanged as John Dominis Restaurant sheds its sophisticated demeanor to become The Spy Bar every Friday night.

Denim tubes replace dinner jackets, patent leather replaces pantyhose.

The tables are cleared away, making enough room for mingling and mixing, for the carefully put-together singles to interact in the proper environment of strategic lighting and convenient drinks.

"The crowd is different here," said Narisa Brakongsheep on her first visit to The Spy Bar, adhering to the "divine" dress code in a halter and fitted jeans. "Places like World Cafe are full of hoochies. Here, it's more upscale. I like it."

Part pick-up joint, part exclusive nightclub, The Spy Bar offers what Oceans and Pipeline don't — the mystique of being open only once a week.

A brunette with blond streaks adjusted her slinky black tube dress, laughing with her mouth open as she cradled a plastic cup of something liquid and mood-altering. Two messy-haired suitors with silver hoops gripped their bottled beers, their eyes darting around the expansive space that held captive the shadows, the voices, the pick-up lines, the cups of something liquid.

The Spy Bar embodies the overused advertising cliché: It's the place to be.

Across Waikiki that same night, bodies wrapped in black moved to a similar groove at the W Honolulu. Instead of soothing dinner music wafting through the suave restaurant interior, the 9 p.m. makeover included trip-hop and house.

Solomon Dennis of Waikiki likes to bring in his own instruments, like his trumpet, and play with the DJ music at Auntie Pasto's in Kapahulu. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Since the success of the Indigo's Green Room, other upscale restaurants around town have hopped on the proverbial bandwagon, closing the kitchen but opening the doors to a clientele of clubgoers on the prowl for something fun, something sophisticated, something different.

W Honolulu flung open its doors almost a year ago, throwing the party called "Wonder Lounge" every Friday night. The target crowd of 25- to 40-year-olds — mostly from east O'ahu, mostly single and flaunting disposable incomes — shows up every weekend, avoiding the teenage-friendly clubs and been-there scenes that have plagued Hawai'i's nightlife.

"We offer a clean, safe and sophisticated environment for people to come and socialize — and it seems to work," said Tom Bell, general manager at the W, known for its nightlife across the Mainland. "People continue to pour in every Friday night, and we see it growing."

About 400 to 500 single-somethings and couples flow through the fine-dining establishment at the foot of Diamond Head, lured by the restaurant's mature atmosphere. The mood-setting candles and stylish decor make you forget about the laundry piled at home or the bills you haven't paid.

Many come strictly to club; others make an evening out of it. Either way, it's bottom-line business for the restaurant.

"What we've noticed at our venue is people come for the upscale experience and stay for the party afterward," Bell said. "We're a destination nightspot."

Taking a cue from The Spy Bar and the W, Nick's Fishmarket in Waikiki devised its plan to carve a niche for itself on the night scene.

The result: Twilight, a serious venue for serious music aficionados who want some serious action.

"What we're catering to now is this new generation of clubgoers," said Nick's general manager Ben Dowling. "We give them a sophisticated place to come to. This has been very successful for us — for everybody."

For the past nine years, Nick's offered some form of evening entertainment, a place to go after work or after dinner. Because this new breed of clubbers wants something to do on the weekends. But they're too young for easy-listening, too old for all-night raves.

"We want to provide what they want," Dowling said. "And we're evolving, too. As the market changes, so will we."

But maybe it's not the clubgoers who have changed, but the way restaurants operate their businesses.

"I think that the business operators are changing their mindsets," Bell said. "In the past, there were always people out there looking for fun, creative, sophisticated nightclubs. But restaurant operators were pigeonholed in their thinking."

Juda Oschner and sister Sunshine Oschner of Kailua show the crowd how salsa dancing is done at the nightclub in Cafe Sistina on a recent Friday night. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"It's a different approach for restaurateurs," Bell said. "There's always people craving a sophisticated nightlife."

Some venues, such as Do Ho's Island Grill and Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar, began with that strategy.

"That has always been in our plans," said Ivy Nagayama, Sansei's general manager.

The restaurant offered late-night options from its inception on Maui with free karaoke. When the Restaurant Row location opened a couple years ago, DJs and strobe lighting already were in the works.

But what lures night prowlers to Sansei Friday and Saturdays isn't just the hip-hop or dim lighting. Unlike the other high-end restaurants, Sansei doesn't close its kitchen. Instead, it discounts the entire menu until 2 a.m. Add free karaoke and it's no wonder Sansei tops many people's list of weekend options.

Even the smaller venues are clamoring for nighttime attention.

Auntie Pasto's in Kapahulu and Cafe Sistina offer their own versions of nightlife. The Italian eatery on Kapahulu spins out nearly every club genre; the restaurant on King Street serves up a Latin-infused evening for those searching for something out of the ordinary.

"We do different things for different people," said Rosie Lopez Mitrotti, entertainment manager at Cafe Sistina, which also offers nights dedicated to Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, jazz and the traditional house/R&B music. "We offer a lot of options."

And clubbers are eating them up. Because this is what they want. This is where they go. And restaurants are quickly figuring that out.

"We bring 'em in and keep 'em all night long," Dowling said. "And it turned out to be a very successful decision that contributes greatly to our bottom line."