Shouk

622 S. Sixth St., 215-627-3344

What is your business—or the business of the Queen Villagers who frequent co-owners Yis Gigay and Georgia Vass' hangsuite—is Shouk's intent: to hook up diners with an old-world Moroccan experience without losing the nouvelle-lounge vibe.

Which explains why I hear Saint Etienne's throbbing electro-pop "rather than traditional Moroccan music," says Gigay. And why chef Shahar Lubin is serving roasted eggplant with chestnut stuffing and chilled watermelon soup alongside traditional fare like tzatziki and labaneh. And why striped-shirt types sip mint tea underneath etched Moroccan sconces and red-candle chandeliers.

Sitting on a wicker sofa in the high-ceilinged back bar, I spy kids going upstairs to Shouk's private mezzanine. "Oh, it's 11:30. Time for the make-out room," says Gigay, pointing toward the hookah lounge with its pillow-lined bench. "I got this idea traveling through the beach cities of Spain … I wanted this to look like a forgotten Moroccan cave happened onto by cool people."

Presumably by people like the fruit-flavored-tobacco-smoking inhabitants who enjoy sucking on long hookah tubes and gold reeds (provided by hookah sommeliers) as much as they like sucking on each others' faces beneath the white-tent netting.

Tasty stuff all.