The Funky Buddha Lounge lives up to its credo—"celebrating diversity"—with a veritable car-crash of multicultural decorative motifs. Asiatic imagery abounds in the seductively dark main room, with an accent on dragons (a glass tile-embossed sculpture overlooks the dance floor like a fire-breathing sentinel) and the club's titular potbellied Godhead. There's also the occasional African mask set in exposed brick as well as surreal and Pop Art touches such as a disembodied mannequin leg emerging from a wall. In contrast, the VIP Lounge is brighter, louder and, somehow, more relaxed.

Variety is also the essence of the clientele, a wide-ranging crowd with denizens splitting fairly equally between the black, white and Asian demographics. In fact, Q-Tip, Nick Lachey and Sean Lennon look-alikes were all in evidence on the night we attended. Depending on the DJ, music here can also skew all over the map, anywhere from danceable, mid-tempo hip-hop (think A Tribe Called Quest) to the latest in deep house and dancehall, with the occasional old-school slow jam thrown in for any stray couples hot to get their grind on.

The bar boasts a wide variety of organic juices for mixed drinks, and weeknights offer a variety of "hosted" beer brand specials and mixed drinks in the $5-$6 range. Most impressively, the FBL is in the vanguard of clean-air compliance; state-of-the-art anti-pollution technology was installed well before Chicago's anti-smoking ordinances, making it not only one of the hottest and most distinctive nightspots in town but also one of the healthiest.

Centerstage Reviewer: Scott Faingold