XL COVER STORY

The birth of the ultra-lounge

Qua, Belmont, Imperia and Pangaea represent the trend.

By Michael Barnes
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The evolution of Austin nightlife has rarely tracked national trends.

Unlike in other parts of the country, dozens of ancient Central Texas dance halls and beer haunts have survived the urban revolution untouched, authentic to their cores.

The acid-tinged hippie discotheques of the 1960s, on the other hand, transmogrified into dance clubs that cater to all variety of beats — hip-hop, salsa, electronica, house, etc.

Most of the scruffy, lovable venues that served up blues, punk and cosmic cowboy tunes in the 1970s and '80s did not last — or, à la Antone's, moved around or adapted to changing times — but their spirit lives on in dozens of thriving musical establishments all over town.

Gay and lesbian clientele, oddly enough, have enjoyed pretty steady representation at six or seven clubs, including one, Oilcan Harry's, rated among the best 50 in the world recently by Out magazine.

A few iconic watering holes have dried up, sure, leaving fans screaming bloody murder. ("Austin will never be the same! It's Dallas! Or worse!") Although, contrary to a popular punch line, they have not been replaced with lofts. (Horrors!)

We easily found hundreds of clubs and bars in and around town for this second XL club and bar guide. East Sixth Street concentrates on stand-up shot bars, Red River Street on deafening hardcore music, the Warehouse District on the grown-up cocktail crowd, while West Sixth Street and South Congress Avenue attract those restless mobs migrating to fresh options.

The lounge revival — a lushy valentine to a relaxed but classy postwar nightlife — has been around for a while, nationally, but only quietly on the Austin scene, compared with, say, Las Vegas, Miami, New York or Los Angeles. One could always find lounge-y elements at Club DeVille, Firehouse Lounge, Pure, Apple Bar, Molotov, Peacock Bar, Beauty Bar, Brown Bar, Cuba Libre, Speakeasy, 219 West and, of course, the hotel bars at the Driskill, Four Seasons and Intercontinental Stephen F. Austin. The Foundation, perhaps the most ambitious of the early lounge adaptors, is gone, as are Oslo, Fabric and Glass. One of the most enduring such acts is Lucky Lounge, which combines live music with a choice of niches and luscious cocktails. More recently, J. Black's, Creekside Lounge, Joe DiMaggio's, Merkaba Lounge and Union Park, or parts of them, qualified for lounge status.

The big recent news on the club scene is the ultra-lounge. It all started just over a year ago with the high-concept Belmont Restaurant and Bar, which combined a meticulous Rat Pack atmosphere with eats, drinks and the prettiest crowd in town. In just the past few months, it has been joined by similar lounges with high design — and price tags — all located within an easy stroll from one another. Imperia, like the Belmont, serves food but focuses as much attention on its grand lounge spaces. Qua offers bottle service for the over-25 crowd and submerges its patrons in an underwater décor. And then there's Pangaea, an import from the world of Michael Ault, who helped mastermind club innovations on three continents.

Tellingly, none of these places includes a separate dance floor. Still people sway — and flirt — when so moved. Only one of them, Qua, enforces a true dress code, yet all four places inherently encourage fancier threads, along with the usual Austin casual wear.

Do they alter the character of Austin nightlife? Sure. Do they change Austin? Not so far.

They simply offer more choices for a special evening of reveling. You probably wouldn't visit them as regularly as you might your neighborhood hang-out, any more than you'd dine out every night at the Driskill Grill, Aquarelle or Hudson's on the Bend.

These are event lounges. And each of them lights up with a special Austin energy on given nights. There's plenty of party to go around in Austin, but the ultra-lounge adds just four more engaging options.

The Belmont

A Classic American Restaurant & Bar

Spirits drooped in the nightlife community when it was announced that Oslo, the thin, chic club at West Sixth and Lavaca streets, would close last year. While it was replaced by the low-profile Hi-Lo, owner Matt Luckie and his partners were already prepping their next ground-breaker for the spot next door: the Belmont. With restrained décor that recalled Hollywood or Las Vegas in the early 1960s, the restaurant and lounge self-consciously brought back the magic and the smooth service of the "Oceans Eleven" era. "The staff takes good care of you," says lawyer Mark Mayfield. "It attains a nice level of sophistication without being pretentious." It was an instant hit, attracting a lunch crowd, a happy hour crowd, a serious dinner crowd and a late-night crowd (sometimes the same people recycled after disco naps). "I always see somebody I know," says Ashlynn Russey, director of sales for the Austonian. "It attracts different people from different dimensions in my life."

Address: 305 W. Sixth St.

Contact: 457-0300, www.thebelmontaustin.com

Hours:11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Mondays-Fridays, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturdays-Sundays

Opened:September 2006

Owners: Daryl Kunik, Matt Luckie and Brian O'Neill

Size: 13,000 square feet (including rooftop and patio); Capacity: 846

Bars: Four; Tables: 98

Signature drinks: Belmontini, Mai Tai

Age: All welcome before 9 p.m., 21 and older after 9 p.m.

Dress code: Austin casual

Imperia

Architect Dick Clark and designer Joel Mozersky have done more to transform Austin eating and nightlife than most chefs and club owners combined. They joined forces for Imperia, the Chinese restaurant and lounge that occupies the very spot where Clark revolutionized the Warehouse District scene during the last century through Mezzaluna. As with that establishment, Imperia attracts a post-work crowd with its sleek, stylish surroundings and distinctive menu. "We try to provide an all-around experience," says managing partner C.K. Chin. "We take the club side as seriously as the restaurant, so you never have to leave." Tempting, that.

Address: 310 Colorado St.

Contact: 472-6770, www.imperiaaustin.com

Hours: 3:59 p.m. to midnight Mondays-Wednesday, 3:59 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursdays-Fridays, 5:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturdays and 5:30 p.m. to midnight Sundays

Opened: August 2007

Owners: Michael Girard, Diggy Taylor, C.K. Chin

Size: 4,000 square feet; capacity: 299

Bars:One; tables: 53

Signature drinks: Imperia Bubble Bath, Lavendar Lily, Wasabi Bloody Mary, Jade Martini, Imperia Pearl

Age: Everyone welcome, 21 to drink

Dress code: Casual but sharp

Qua Bottle Lounge

Maybe it is about the sharks after all. One can dismiss the creatures swimming under a transparent plate as a novelty or rankle because it offends trans-species sympathies, but, in fact, Qua's shark tank is the lounge's centerpiece. Everything else — waterfalls, tropical fish tanks, swooshy walls and couches — lead to the lighted pool that might have been intended for a dance floor, but is not used as one. Qua ups the ante on Mike Yassine's previous high-concept clubs, such as Vicci and Pure, wrapping the customer in an almost Babylonian opulence while pampering the expense-accounters with bottle service and ice tables. "It's for people too old for Sixth Street and too young to stay at home," says Lindsey Hess, a saleswoman at Calvin's Fine Jewelry. "The energy is high and the crowd is gorgeous." Creating a bit more tension is the velvet rope and the exclusion of those deemed too young or under-dressed to partake, although some Qua fans think these simple standards improve the level of social interaction inside. "They certainly behave better here than on Sixth Street," says hair stylist Mandy Silver.

Address: 213 W. Fourth St.

Contact: 472-2782, www.quaaustin.com

Hours: 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Wednesdays, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays-Fridays, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturdays

Opened: October 2007

Owners: Yassine Enterprises Inc.

Size: 5,800 square feet; capacity: 299

Bars: 3; tables: 32

Signature drinks: Premium Champagnes

Age: At least 25

Dress code: Fashionable evening or business attire strongly suggested; no tennis shoes or athletic attire

Pangaea

Can you remember a new Austin club that generated so much instant attention — negative as well as positive? Inevitably, because lead owner Michael Ault is not from Austin, and because he's attracted notoriety in the world's top club markets, some locals felt that his safari-themed Pangaea, a concept tried out in London and New York, among other places, intruded on indigenous club culture. In fact, during its first few weeks, Pangaea has cemented a following drawn to its worldly DJs, spatial arrangements that encourage lounging and dancing, and, of course, scads of lookers flirting without aggressively hitting on one another. "I feel safer here with this crowd, my crowd," says business administrator Bethany Perkins. "It's classy." Even nightlife regulars, such as mortgage broker turned professional model J.P., are impressed: "It used to take me going to five clubs to find what I find here."

Address: 409 Colorado St.

Contact: 472-8882, www.pangaea-austin.com

Hours: 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays-Saturdays (also for private events)

Opened: November 2007

Owners: Michael Ault, Omar Wolff, Steven Seymour, Ken Howery

Size: 8,000 square feet; capacity: 465

Bars:2; tables: 50

Signature drinks: Bottle of Grey Goose and Red Bull

Age: 21 and older

Dress code: 'Nothing specific, but need to indicate a readiness to rage.'