The Irish Blokes and the Bailey

The Bailey is a fine exemplar of a wide (if not thickly) spread phenomenon. Let’s call it Urban Los Angeles.

Where once we had nothing but province upon province with Hollywood Hicks lapping up against Westside Yahoos, we now have patches here and there occupied by people of a cosmopolitan persuasion.

Know them when you see them: They wear good shoes. They consume both caffeine and alcohol. They have been to at least two continents.

These unlikely creatures are on view in their natural habitat at the Bailey, a new night spot on Pico Boulevard.

The room is long, narrow and deeply blue, suffused with music that also hews to indigo. A bar with lots of elbow room lines one wall, with booths along the other. The musicians occupy some floor space beside the front door.

By 10:30 p.m., people are standing, but comfortably so, arranged in small groups as if this were a friendly cocktail party. One expects Audrey Hepburn to breeze through kissing everybody and carrying a martini glass and a long cigarette holder.

Instead, Irish-born chef Simon Sewell darts about the room, telling restaurant jokes and showing off pictures of his 3-week-old son.

The food is very, very good and miraculously inexpensive. There’s Jack Daniels jambalaya, chicken Kiev, bangers and mash, salads and satays, and, most fortunately, a $3 plate of onion rings. Next time anyone decides to make a list of reasons not leave L.A., the Bailey’s onion rings should be on it.

Although it’s only been open a scant three months, the Bailey has already attracted regulars. Marcie Hartley comes for the music and the creme brulee. “I try creme brulee everywhere I go and this is the best,” she says.

Hartley is also greeted warmly by the Bailey’s half owner, Greg McElroy. His partner, Brian McCaffrey, is busy tending bar. McElroy is an Irish hellion from way back, a former professional soccer player who smells of leather and motorcycles and until recently was content to own and operate Fair City, an Irish rock ‘n’ roll bar in Santa Monica. “I walked into this place when it was pissing down rain, and it took me three minutes to size up the room and see exactly what I wanted to do, which was an American jazz bar,” McElroy says. “I wanted to re-create the Strip in the ‘50s, New Orleans in the ‘20s. I don’t need loud rock ‘n’ roll anymore because I’m 44 years old.”

Instead, the Bailey features jazz quartets, blues bands, singer-songwriters and such guest performers as singer Nina Hagen. On a recent Friday evening, the Outsiders performed classical jazz. Strains of Nina Simone played in the background between sets.

As McElroy puts it, succinctly, looking about his cool, classy digs: “It’s not bad for a couple of Irish blokes.”

*

Where: The Bailey, 8771 W. Pico Blvd. at Robertson; (310) 275-2619.

When: Open nightly, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Music nightly. Food served until midnight, sometimes 1 a.m.

Cost: Appetizers, $3-$7. Salads, $6-$8. Dinner entrees, $8-$13. Sunday buffet, $12.