Frolik, on the fifth floor of the downtown Red Lion, resembles a combination of a bowling alley, a high-budget production of Alice in Wonderland, and LA as imagined by someone who has never been there. Indoors, angular vinyl furniture surrounds a bar with a ceiling-height glowing blue backdrop; on the patio, stools made of varnished logs dot squares of Astroturf. The first thing I asked Carrie Dietz, Frolik's "director of fun," was, "Are those giant porcelain floor lamps on the patio?" In fact, they are lamp-shaped heaters. Next, of course: "What is a director of fun?" "I create ways for people to have fun at Frolik, whatever they may be," she replied. She challenges guests to games of ping-pong—Frolik has several ping-pong tables, plus shuffleboard—and plans to start presenting frequent diners with purple keys to boxes containing surprises.

The director of fun and I had cocktails and snacks in front of a wall of TVs, which she told me are outfitted with Microsoft Kinect. Under the TVs, there are stacks of board games. The Splish Splash, made with watermelon, vodka, and peppercorns, contained either magic or a perfect watermelon, and the Paper Moon—vodka, lemon juice, lemongrass syrup, lavender, cava—was crisp and fizzy. Frolik's bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with Beecher's cheese and marshmallow cheesecake both made me feel I'd been effectively directed to fun. recommended