Starck-Designed Restaurant Lights Up L.A.

It had all the forewarnings of a tragically hip new L.A. restaurant.

Its owner is Sam Nazarian, one of the biggest names in Hollywood nightlife and creator of paparazzi-stalked hotspots like Hyde, Area and Katsuya. Philippe Starck designed the space, located within the new SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills, with Spanish-born D.C. uber-chef Jose Andres at the helm of an elaborate new dining and restaurant experience called The Bazaar.

Visitors arrive to a sleek all-white valet area and a sidewalk of stalking flashbulbs off bustling La Cienega Boulevard located a Bloomingdale's bag throw from L.A.'s Beverly Center. Not quite Beverly Hills, the street is known locally as Restaurant Row, featuring touristy outposts of The Stinking Rose and Lawry's Prime Rib. A quick-moving valet opens my door without a single hello and advises, "Parking is a flat $15." ...