A cool (hot) restaurant.

In conjunction with a series of high-end restaurant focus groups, I gave myself an assignment to personally experience some of the restaurants that 20-and 30-somethings rated the "coolest" restaurants in our city (it could have been any city). Having heard that tables at even the "hottest" restaurants were pretty easy to get, because of the economy, I tried for and was actually able to get a 10:00 p.m. reservation at the No. 1 coolest restaurant for the following Friday night. In spite of the fact that eating late is supposed to be unhealthy, my partner and I enjoy late dining and had believed that the only places that served food after an early evening movie were bars and Chinese restaurants. So being offered a 10:00 p.m. dinner reservation on a Friday evening was my first surprise.

Here is what else I saw contributing to the restaurant's "cool" ratings by younger restaurant-goers:

* Being able, and even encouraged, to take drinks from the bar to the table and tabbed on the same check.

* Complimentary flatbread and a chunky dip served within minutes of being seated.

* A wide cross section of price options.

* Availability of many "tapas" or small plates at prices that individually didn't sound expensive but certainly added up.

* Friendly greeters who wanted to know if this was our first visit and make us comfortable--we were welcomed as warmly as the 20-somethings that followed after us.

* A diverse clientele that included a mix of races, clothes, sexual orientations, ages, and lifestyles. The mix of people and clothes looked as eclectic as the mix of items on the menu.

* Large, flowing spaces, including an open kitchen. The kitchen staff was a visually interesting mix of Latinos and Asians. In addition to being part of mixed groups throughout the restaurant, Asian customers congregated at a counter that surrounded the open kitchen, perhaps because it resembled a sushi bar.

* Some of the food we had was very good. I had an entrecote that the waiter described as 4 ounces of sliced prime steak. It was delicious and attractively served. A small plate of thin slices of aged and delicious Manchego cheese was served with equally thin apple slices and a honey sauce. My companion had some very large broiled shrimps--I found them too salty and even a bit softer than I like, but he thought they were great.

* At most of the tables, both chairs and benches were too low to eat at the tables comfortably unless you sat on a the widely available pillows. One young woman described the seating as "global casual."

Tables around us were filled with girl couples, guy couples, and racially mixed party groups that made me think of a comment made by a young man at one of the focus groups talking about a expensive restaurant he considered the opposite of cool:

"That stuffy place reminds me of an old boys' white club where old Republican men sit in stodgy chairs smoking good cigars. It's definitely not my place."

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