By MERIDITH FORD
Journal Restaurant Critic

PROVIDENCE -- Looking for a little Manhattan? Longing for some Sex and the City style right here in Little Rhody? Fret no more.

A few trendy night spots give the feel of a Manhattan club/cocktail lounge -- and no, don't even think of calling them nightclubs anymore.

Indeed, they aren't nightclubs. Stylish and chic, each of these four late-night places rolls a little bit of everything into an entertaining evening, from small, tapas-style bites to scene-stealing beverages. Live music, retro tunes -- or maybe just a Van Morrison CD -- offer pleasant distractions, as does the inevitable people watching that makes a late night out worthwhile.

Warehouse loft in Midtown

If you're Midtown-minded, the kind of reveler who wants to drop in for a late-night bite after a show and catch a little piano bar (or maybe even some foot-stomping country), The Hi-Hat should be your first stop.

It's hard to believe that this sophisticated cabaret-style club used to be a Talbot's in Davol Square. City Lights also occupied this spot.

Dark and cavernous inside, the space resembles a Manhattan warehouse loft broken up into various nooks. Brick walls surround a spacious bar that is guaranteed to be three people deep on a busy Friday or Saturday night.

Curved, plush banquettes give way to the central focal point of the largest space: a stage fronted by a large dance floor reminiscent of the clubs of the '40s and '50s. Picture the stage set of any Astaire-Rogers film but replace the glitzy deco decor with a more subdued, rustic look and you'll have a good feel for what Hi-Hat is like.

And if you want to sit at one of those plush banquettes, you'd better make a reservation. Otherwise, you'll be perched atop a comfortable bar stool toward the back of the room, as I was, or nestled into a comfy, oversized sofa-chair.

The list of acts runs the gamut from jazz to pop to tenors serenading the room with Big Band-era standards.

The menu is as much a draw as the entertainment, though. Designed by former Empire chef-owner Loren Falsone with an assist from manager Joe Barone, it possesses her flair and talent. It's precisely executed by chef Tony Adams, who worked for Falsone at Empire before it closed last year.

WHILE FALSONE and Empire may have moved on, she -- lucky for us -- left one of her best calling cards -- a bubbling cheese fondue for two. This was a favorite at Empire, and I couldn't resist ordering it: served in a mini crock, it's a mix of hot, stringy, bubbling cheeses -- mellow, nutty Gruyere and Emmental -- sprinkled with chopped scallions for a bit more tang.

Emmental is more commonly known as Swiss cheese, but don't think that just because your deli serves cheese with holes in it that you are getting a true Emmental. The best are made in Switzerland or France, have a mellow, rustic flavor and are stringy when melted.

Frankly, I could just dip my finger in the whole gooey mess, but it's served with some of the most decadent crostini -- thin slices of rustic Italian bread toasted until crisp and crunchy, then practically immersed in olive oil and garlic. When the cheese meets up with the bread, magical sparks fly -- like the Tracy and Hepburn of food.

The strength of the menu is its appetizers. Falsone has created a varied selection of tapas plates that range from a chi-chi version of stuffed clams to a roasted half-rack of lamb with minted onion salad. (I regret that my favorite, other than the fondue, was taken off the menu -- sweet, caramelized Turkish dates stuffed with roasted almonds and wrapped with silky, salty prosciutto. Apparently, nobody liked these goodies but me.)

What's still on the menu? Grilled shrimp, Thai style, for one. Plump and tender, they're best when dipped into a delicious, crunchy peanut sauce offset with an afterbite of hot pepper. They come skewered on a stick like shrimp satay.

Beef strips come skewered, too, but with little flavor to their overly sweet cola glaze. And they get little to no help from a sesame dipping sauce.

But there are lots of other temptations -- bruschetta, fried calamari, stuffed quail with a cinnamon-balsamic dressing. Large salads that could serve as a meal, antipasto and bistro-style sandwiches such as top round roast beef with Swiss cheese and horseradish dressing, and the classic croque monsieur -- the panini-style French grilled cheese with ham and Swiss.

DESSERTS ARE A DRAW as well. Pumpkin cheesecake was tart and creamy with a strong pumpkin flavor. Balancing all that smooth creaminess was a pignoli tuile -- a lacy cookie made with pine nuts, with a crunchy texture and buttery flavor.

Cocktails are really the beverage focus here, and you can get anything from a kir royale to a kamikaze. But don't forsake the wine list unless you're really hankering for a cocktail.

The wine list is interesting, with a good emphasis on by-the-glass selections. Whites include several good German bottles, from Gewurztraminer to a Chateau D'Orschwihn pinot blanc. Reds are mired in Merlot, although bold Italians -- a 1998 Bolla La Poiane Valpolicella for one -- show up, too.

What would I go back for? The cheese fondue, of course. What would I like to try that I didn't? The Green Goddess salad.

Uber-green in SoHo

So maybe Midtown isn't your bag. Let's say you're the SoHo type. Peel off the snow boots, baby, pop on those Isaac Mizrahi pumps and head over to Tazza in the Alice Building in Downcity.

I admit that my pumps, as well as my companion's full-length fur coat, didn't seem to go over at first with the uber-green crowd that hangs out at this newly opened downtown oasis. They both brought a lot of downward glances.

But the loud (and live) Latin music, the wine and the fun food are great equalizers. Tazza has all the feel of a sophisticated haven for artists, and it is. By the end of the evening, we were sharing conversation with students from the bar (who wanted to know where my friend got her coat) as well as colleagues we ran into. Tazza attracts an eclectic, lively crowd.

Tazza calls itself a cafe, but it's also a bar, a breakfast joint and a new lunch spot. Manager Daren MacDonald, who has worked for Starbucks and Warwick's former Cafe Coffee, told me by phone that the food was supposed to be an "accessory," but, as it turns out, the small bites are as much a part of this new club's popularity as the coffee and drinks.

The super glossy bar is C-curved toward the back of a large open space. High tables and bar stools flank it; the remainder of the room is filled with tables, with one side lined with a linear, sleek suede banquette.

Tangerine-colored lights drip from the center ceiling of the room, and above the banquette are psychedelic glass panes, inset into the wall, hand blown by local artist Damon Carter. It felt like Austin Powers shacked up with Jackson Pollack. Groooovy, baby.

Just as we were ordering a glass of wine, Rebel Without a Cause silently projected onto the back wall, mid-movie. It was pleasantly distracting to catch glimpses of James Dean and Natalie Wood throughout the evening.

WHILE THE CAFE seems to concentrate on coffee drinks and espresso, I came to eat. The menu -- not surprisingly -- lacks scope, but what is there is satisfying. Kitchen manager Michael DeMatteis acts as chef.

I thought a cheese platter of smoked Gouda, provolone and a creamy blue looked a little parochial. Grapes at the center of the plate, overly ample mounds of cubed cheeses (apparently some of these artists are starving artists) -- the whole thing had that "no time to make it so I bought it at the supermarket" look.

But who can argue with those cheeses? Especially on excellent crostini. The blue cheese was particularly crumbly and tangy, yet spread well across the crunchy bread. And call me corny, but I love the hard texture and smooth, smoky flavor of smoked Gouda. It's the antithesis of artisanal, but it sure tastes good.

An arugula salad was nutty-flavored and dressed with a light drizzling of olive oil and fresh lemon juice. Sharp chards of Parmesan dotted it all over, and thin slices of rich, soulful brasaola balanced the whole affair.

All three of the bruschetta in a medley suffered from mushiness, but in the end did fine as long as we didn't try to pick them up.

One, a fresh take on the classic Tuscan combination of cannellini beans and pancetta, got a lovely saltiness from chubbily sliced black olives instead of the Italian bacon. Astringent parsley was an excellent addition, all dressed with olive oil.

Another was drenched in a salad-like combo of chopped tomatoes, basil, garlic and Parmesan cheese. But my favorite was topped with pungent, rustic, earthy-flavored roasted red peppers seasoned with garlic and parsley and drizzled with olive oil.

A journalista friend let us try a bite of his panini -- the classic Italian grilled sandwich, this one with Parma prosciutto and mozzarella. It all melted together in a salty, gooey, ham-and-cheese mind meld.

What would I go back for? The smoked Gouda mixed with cannellini beans from the bruschetta. What would I like to try that I didn't? Another panini, please.

Swimming in Tribeca riches

So SoHo is waxing so-so for you. Maybe you're looking for something a little more Tribeca. You want understated chic. The kind of place that's swimming in if-you-have-to-ask-you-can't-afford-it attitude.

You should be at POP on Broadway, just north of Washington Square in Newport.

Clean lines denote the architecture of this sleek cocktail lounge, open late with a full menu of small bites. The owner is Dan Puerini, who also owns Puerini's, the venerable Italian restaurant that has been an insider's Newport favorite for years. The chef is Marcos Florencio, from Brazil, who worked at Puerini's before handling the kitchen at POP.

Unlike its sister spot, POP is no insider's favorite. This is a place to see and be seen.

Yet a comfortable ambiance is generated by the decor and waitstaff. There is a distinct, almost Scandinavian look to the furniture -- a mixture of boxy tangerine-colored banquettes flanked by colorful ginger-jar lamps. An area to the front of the room is home to an inviting fireplace set into the wall. Also set into the walls are rectangular nooks for candles, offset graciously above the fireplace and down the side of another boldly painted red wall.

The lights are kept low, and while there is live music occasionally (also a DJ some nights), the CDs playing on the night of my visit -- a hodgepodge of the likes of Stevie Wonder and light jazz -- were just loud enough to recognize, but not intrusive at all.

That makes for great conversation, which we had lots of. The menu intrigued both of us, and gave us a lot to talk about.

For one thing, there are 20 or so wines by the glass -- all nicely selected. There are also custom cocktails and martinis, and a frou-frou martini seemed like the perfect way to start things off.

I liked my friend's a lot more than my own, and tended to drink it whenever he wasn't looking, which, as it turns out, wasn't often enough. It was a pleasant combination of vodka and lychee nuts and juice, although the ratio of what-to-what still befuddles me. It tasted astringent and refreshing, almost like vodka and grapefruit, but with a sweet finish.

Mine was a girlie concoction of strawberry liqueur, Reval vodka, Cointreau and cream. The problem was that I had asked for milk instead of cream -- I was trying to count calories (how ridiculous!) -- and it ruined the whole thing. My bad.

THE MENU at POP is exceptionally well conceived -- an edgy combination of trendily presented American-inspired tapas.

I had heard of the mashed potato martini beforehand, so it was something I wanted to try. Frankly, I was interested in almost everything POP had to offer, from a beef-and-lamb burger to a Vidalia-onion-and-ricotta ravioli in a pesto cream sauce.

The cheese trio was perfect for getting things started. A large, roomy plate is filled, but not overly so, with Cotswold, Stilton and brie cheeses and garnished with fresh slices of tart Granny Smith apples and pears.

The center of the plate boasted toasted almonds and olives -- these, when eaten with the brie on an accompanying cracker, are incredibly earthy and rich. When eaten with the sharp boldness of the Cotswold, they are almost otherworldly.

Then there is the Stilton, which is perfection all by itself. Combine it with anything -- grapes, apples, olives, nuts; its creamy texture and tangy flavor would make Spam taste good.

The mashed potato cocktail -- it's really just served as though it were a drink, it's not some vodka concoction -- was pretty close to perfection, too. Cleverly served in an ice cream sundae glass, it was a decadent melange of rich, silky Fontinella cheese, the aforementioned spuds and juicy, grilled tenderloin tips -- all mixed together to make one big beef-and-potatoes sundae.

The real attraction, though, was a flaky salmon fillet, grilled and served like a BLT with yellow tomatoes, baby greens for a little punch, crunchy, salty bacon and a zesty mayonnaise, all on a Portuguese sweet bun. There's something about the way the salmon and bacon mix with the mayonnaise that makes this BLT more than memorable. It's downright cravable.

BY NOW our waitress, in spite of being ridiculously busy, had become our girlfriend as well. She gave us the scoop on what to order for dessert.

The offerings were too good to pass up. Vanilla-bean gelato, creamy and rich, was drizzled with a bit of rich, molasses-like fig syrup and flanked by four candied figs, then sprinkled with pistachios. Hardly an also-ran was the house-made eggroll filled with banana cheesecake -- tangy, yet cloyingly sweet -- with a chopped peanut and caramel sauce.

What would I go back for? That salmon BLT is sounding pretty good right now. What would I like to try that I didn't? Vidalia-onion-and-ricotta ravioli in pesto cream. And next time I won't skimp on the cream in my drink.

Retro, deco, Euro Chelsea

So maybe Tribeca is just a little too yesterday for you. You're a gal or guy for the new millennium. The Chelsea type -- retro, deco, disco, Euro.

What you want is Bevo, in Providence's Fox Point section.

I'll just say this up front: There areplenty of reasons to try chef Jonathan Jackson's menu of late-night bites. The food is imaginative, but not too far out. And here's something to set a date for: By the end of February Bevo will be adding 20 carb-free, Atkins-inspired small bites to the menu.

What is far out is the projection of colors and images across the back of one wall and the zany, semi-loud, Euro disco that plays on a loop all night long. Bathed in earth tones, one wall is decked with rectangular insets. Inside each, funky, larger-than-life martini glasses dangle, constantly rotating, from an invisible string.

It is Bevo's drinks that make (and stake) the claim for this cocktail lounge. This is martini mecca.

Other places in Providence can say they make more than 50 martinis. They can't say they make 135. And they don't make these martinis. Some names, including a few I tried, are not part of family-hour protocol. Many are R- to X-rated.

And they taste realllll good.

LET'S START with the G-spot martini: light rum, banana liqueur and bubbly champagne that adds a little lift while cutting some of the sweetness. Of course, there's a cherry. What Bevo calls a combo of vodka, triple sec, lime juice, blue curacao and cream is too naughty to print.

As for bites, Bevo offers a nice twist on fried calamari by tossing it in a light, nutty pesto instead of the usual hot peppers.

Hefty-sized wonton triangles are filled with a pungent cheese and lumps of crab meat. They're a meal when dipped into a thin, au-jus-like sesame-soy sauce, salty and nutty and very light.

Grilled shrimp are a little too dry but get lots of perky help from a cocktail sauce pepped with horseradish. Grilled vegetables -- namely eggplant and squash -- seemed out of place and didn't marry well with the shrimp, but tasted good on their own.

What would I go back for? Another G-spot martini. What would I like to try that I didn't? Another martini, Ms. bartender. You pick.

******

Details, details

Hi-Hat, 3 Davol Square, Providence. (401) 453-6500, www.thehihat.com. Upscale dress required: No sneakers or T-shirts. Reservations accepted. Smoking in bar and lounge area only. Wheelchair accessible. Open for lunch and dinner Mon-Thu 11:30 to 1 a.m., Fri 11:30 to 2 a.m., dinner Sat 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. V, MC, AM, DIS. Parking lot, free valet on Fri-Sat nights. No highchairs or booster seats.

There is a $5 cover charge Tue-Thu from 7 p.m. and a $8 cover on Fri-Sat from 8 p.m. Appetizers and other eats range from $8 to $25 (for a grand antipasto for two). Desserts are $6 and $8. Wines by the glass are $5 to $8; bottles range from $22 to $200. Cocktails are $6.50 to $10.

POP Kitchen and Cocktails, 162 Broadway, Newport. (401) 846-8456, www.popkitchenandcocktails.com. Casually upscale. No reservations. Wheelchair accessible. Smoking throughout (no cigars). Open nightly from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. V, MC, AM, DIS. 21 and over only. On-street parking.

The tapas-style menu ranges from $4 to $10. Desserts are $6 to $8. Wines by the glass are $5 to $8; bottles range from $21 to $60. Cocktails are $7 to $9.

Tazza, 250 Westminster St., Providence. (401) 421-3300. Casual. No reservations. Smoking in bar area after 5 p.m. Open for lunch, coffee and small bites Sun 8 a.m. to midnight, Mon-Wed 7 a.m. to midnight, Thu 7 to 1 a.m., Fri 7 to 2 a.m., Sat 8 to 2 a.m. V, MC. On-street parking, with free valet Fri-Sat. Live music on Fri-Sat evenings, sometimes Thu (call for info). Poetry on Tue beginning in February. No highchairs or booster seats.

Small bites are $3.50 to $12.95. Coffee and coffee drinks are $1.75 to $4. There is an extensive by-the-glass selection of wines ranging from $5.50 to $9. Bottles range from $20 to $43. Cocktails are $6 to $9.

Bevo, 566 South Main St., Providence, (401) 751-2386. Casually upscale dress required: No sneakers or T-shirts. Reservations accepted. Smoking throughout. Not wheelchair accessible. Open Thu 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., Fri-Sat from 5 p.m. 2 a.m. V, MC, AM. 25 and older only. On-street parking, plus side lot. $10 valet on Fri-Sat. No highchairs or booster seats.

Menu items are $12 to $18. Wines by the glass are $5 to $9. Bottles range from $25 to $395. Martinis are $9 to $12; other cocktails are $5 to $10.