Blue Martini   

You won't score a full meal here, just a chance to sip high-end cocktails while rubbing elbows with other beautiful party people. A small, classy space, the Blue Martini offers drinks and nibbles along with live music. Liquor is the main focus: A lengthy martini menu includes such incarnations as Up All Night (a splash of Red Bull provides the "up"), the Purple Passion (Chambord dominates) and the namesake Blue Martini (a splash of Blue Curacoa provides the vibrant blue hue.) A better-than-usual wine list and cigar selection ups the swank factor. All that imbibing requires the steadying influence of food. The menu offers platter after platter of noshes from the familiar (fruit and seasonal fruit plate) to the sublime (seared tuna sashimi) to the suspicious-sounding (smoked rainbow trout dip, a reputed patron favorite.) This a grown-up place delivers an environment conducive to conversation, not really a pick-up spot but more a place to network with other up-and-coming singles and couples. Blue Martini has a dress code of sorts (a plaque declares "fashionable attire only"), so dress to impress. -- Lisa Galloway