THE hottest new nightclubs in town are . . . restaurants.
After dinner hours, eateries of every stripe are turning into wild party zones, where patrons risk indigestion by shimmying on tables.
“All you need is someone to throw their arms up in the air and say ‘Hey!’ and people are banging on their plates with their silverware to the music,” says a man named Unik, whose Wednesday night parties at Serafina, at Lafayette and East Fourth streets, draw the likes of Mary J. Blige and Mark Wahlberg. “Anything can happen.”
Unik’s dance-fest is the hottest ticket in town. If you can finagle your way past the four doormen (arrive early), you are guaranteed a good time. And not because of the pizza.
Unik and partner KyKy run around with microphones to make sure everyone is whooping it up.
There’s even a VIP room where conga players beat away as patrons dance on any flat surface they can find.
Every Sunday brings “Greek Night” to Baraonda – a little cafe at the corner of Second Avenue and 75th Street.
Women get on top of tables, people throw their hands up in the air and waiters break dishes on the floor while a deejay plays everything from Greek music to salsa until 5 a.m.
“It’s like South Beach in New York,” says patron Debra Meltsner, 35, a marketing consultant. “Like summer in the winter.”
If it’s Monday night, it must be Isla, on Downing Street between Bedford and Varick streets, which hosts its “Havana in HI-FI” party. The white leather banquettes, palm trees and scrumptious Cuban cuisine create an atmosphere conducive to table-hopping and mingling past 1 a.m.
A young professional crowd is packing the Russian Tea Room, at 152 W. 57th St., on Thursday nights, when the tables are removed to make way for dancing until 4 a.m.
With its high ceilings, gold-plated mirrors and crystal chandeliers, you feel like you’ve snuck into a prince’s castle.
The flavor is distinctly Mediterranean at Chazal, a French eatery at Madison Avenue and 26th Street where a deejay spins music until 3 a.m., Thursday through Saturday.
This Saturday, the massive, two-level Italian restaurant Scopa, at 79 E. 28th St., at Madison Avenue, will be hosting its first ’80s pop, rock and hip-hop party until 4:30 a.m.
“A lot of people are looking for a place where you can go, have a couple of drinks, be part of the scene, eat and have a good time,” says owner Chris Walsh. “These days, there’s a much more mature crowd.”
In other words, they’d rather hop on the tables than hop from club to club.
