HotelChatter

First Impressions
For 7:45 on a Saturday night, not a whole lotta people in the joint (maybe three other patrons). Soft opening indeed. We were given a choice between sitting in the lounge seating (plush benches with small tables) or at the bar, and we opted for the bar 'cause we were ready to eat — we plunked down in front of a couple bowls of wasabi peas and scoped out the super-limited sushi bar menu and chatted up the beautiful bartender. Sexy is the vibe here; we even spotted some of those metal-chain curtains near the back of the main space.

What's Happening
Here's what we found out: the full menu — which we caught a glimpse of; think Kobe beef on hot stones and various other super-fancy dishes and presentations — will be debuting at the end of this month or near the front end of March. The furniture, which had not yet arrived when we were in the restaurant, is set to be sort of communal-style, though from a couple of renderings we saw, it wasn't clear if we were talkin' one long giant table or a whole bunch of two-tops pushed up really close together. As things start to get rolling, the hotel is supposedly planning to open up a rooftop bar and sushi bar up by the pool.

The Food
As far as the sushi goes? Delicious. We shared three rolls — a spicy tuna, a roll with scallops and haricot verts and something we'd highly recommend called the Firecracker (pictured) that had crab salad on top. The rolls ran between $12 and $17, with about 6 pieces per roll. Gimlets and martinis were strong but expensive (around $14 a pop), and the staffers are super-friendly, laid back and chatty.

Celeb Scene
According to the bartender we were chatting with, the space saw enough celeb action for a lifetime during inauguration weekend: Oprah and Kid Rock were among the A-list (well, Oprah at least) crowd working the room at a party held in Cha's space a couple weeks ago.

And! We got our own little piece of celebrity action while we were there: about three drinks into the evening, we were informed by the gentleman next to us at the bar that he was waiting around to meet a celebrity client...and in walked all three Hanson brothers. Seriously. Hanson. We were introduced. We had a moment.