Belly’s Pushing All the Right Buttons

Belly, the new tapas lounge on Santa Monica Boulevard, is living up to all its promises--a rarity in this town.

Its owners set out to create a seductively simple nightspot, where everyone’s welcome and every night is the same, i.e., no promoters, no guest lists, no covers. So far, they’ve pulled it off. Taking cues from such way-cool bars as Three Clubs, Daddy’s and the Formosa Cafe, Belly has a simple entrance policy: It’s called an I.D.

Once inside, you feel as if you’re in the belly of a warm whale, with cushions all around and friendly servers working the room. The concept is “I Dream of Jeannie,” with ‘60s-style blues, greens and ambers creating a sexy, playful mood. The club has two outdoor smoking areas, four dining nooks and a deejay platform with a tiny spot for dancing.

Owners Lonnie Moore and Mike Boogie, who met as teens while camp counselors in upstate New York, had wanted to build a bar for a few years, but their only experience was throwing house parties. Moore, a former TV executive at UPN, and Boogie, an actor, spent three years doing homework--drawing up business plans and getting to know other club owners. Once they found the location, they hired the husband-and-wife team of designer Ricki Kline and chef Monica May to design the club and create the menu.

Judging by the club’s overnight popularity, they made a good choice. Each night I’m there, I see familiar faces, return customers and plates that appear licked clean. It’s one thing to enjoy hanging out in a friendly, cozy environment, but at Belly, you get the added titillation of watching who’s checking out whom.

Clearly, it’s a new favorite hangout on the singles circuit. Judging by the number of girls working it, and the number of guys getting phone numbers on cocktail napkins, the twentysomething crowd’s definitely getting jiggy.

Part of Belly’s charm is that everything’s reasonably priced. By virtue of the tapas theme, each dish is an appetizer. But that doesn’t mean the portions are small. You can tank up by choosing from such menu items as empanadas de pollo, ceviche del sol and couscous, while grooving out to A Tribe Called Quest, OutKast and Janet Jackson.

Moore and Boogie favor urban music, so Belly deejays lean toward hip-hop, with doses of R&B;, jazz and funk. This makes for an ethnically diverse clientele, always a bonus in L.A.’s club world. And even though it’s not angling for celebrity skin, the stars seem to enjoy Belly, too. So far, I’ve seen Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown dancing cheek to cheek, and such artists as Ginuwine and Ludacris have chosen the location to host small parties.

It’s easy to see why they like it. It’s intimate--about 200 capacity. It’s as pretty a club as you’ll find, but with the easygoing attitude of a Westside sports bar. Its owners set the pace, sporting baseball hats and jerseys in lieu of the black-on-black clubland tradition.

Now, think about that for a second. Belly’s located in what is predominantly a gay stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard, next door to the famed burlesque club, 7969, and it’s run by “sports” guys.

I think that’s why it’s such a surprising gem. It’s a spot that’s youthful and fresh, where people wear their true colors. Go team.

* Belly, 7929 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 692-1068. 21 and older. No cover.