Nightlife in Universal City

Dreamed up by the masterminds of Vintage Bar Group, The Well pours gourmet cocktails alongside refined pub morsels in a sultry lounge atmosphere. Behind a center island bar that swirls around an aquarium of tumbling martini glasses, barkeepers shake signature cocktails—such as the Hot & Dirty martini with olive juice and hot sauce and the Rumba Punch—and pour beer and wine such as Delirium Tremens and Buena Vista pinot noir. A vast menu of appetizers and small plates elevate simple bar dishes of onion rings, taquitos, and flatbreads with gourmet additions such as sweet-corn batter, fire-roasted salsas, and goat cheese. Co-designed by premier bar stylist Fred Sutherland, the white maple and mahogany-flanked hideaway leads to a majestic keyhole-shaped doorway, revealing a semiprivate lounge perfectly suited for special events or visits from Lewis Carroll. Whether seated on the lounge's overstuffed ottomans or perched on a leather banquette on the main floor, guests can sing along with tunes on the house jukebox, which was lauded as one of the best in Los Angeles by CBS Los Angeles.

Trees play an important role at Bar Food. They've given their wood for the knotty rafters that support the ceiling, the cubbyholes that make up the bar's Wall of Taps, and the barrels that aged the gastropub's collection of more than 200 whiskeys. You'd expect wood to frame the colorful paintings of music icons that gaze down on the whiskey list with immovable looks of envy, but they hang frameless.

Like a 19th-century dockworker's shopping list, the menu promises hearty traditional public-house fare—fries, cheese plates, sandwiches, shepherd's pie, beef stew, and fish and chips. Guests sup on these and other dishes at cozy wall-length booths or out on the streetside patio. Four and 20 taps keep beer glasses full and diners happily cheering for every chicken that dares to cross Wilshire Boulevard.

In creating Premiere Supper Club, Vinny Laresca harnessed his acting experience in films such as The Aviator and Romeo and Juliet to invent a nightlife experience that integrates theatrical drama. The luxurious Kristofer Keith–designed interior combines chic touches of exposed brick, wrought iron, and velvet curtains with decor reminiscent of a Spanish stage performance, including molded stucco arches and oil paintings of bullfighters. But the ambiance isn't the only red-carpet element—the guest list often includes A-list celebrities, as featured in People and on Perez Hilton. See and be seen at the 30-foot downstairs bar, where Grey Goose bottles glitter beneath a longhorn skull, or on the second-story dance floor. Here, DJs spin remixes of hip-hop and indie rock beneath exclusive balcony seating reserved for VIPs and music snobs who shout song requests in Shakespearean verse.