Mammoth Mountain has always offered the terrain (thousands of acres), the snow (400 inches annually) and an inordinately long season (snow can last well into the summer), but it has never been the Aspen of California when it comes to nightlife. That is, until now. Enter SBE, the reigning kings of the LA restaurant and nightlife scenes (The Bazaar by José Andrés, XIV by Michael Mina, MI-6, Katsuya and more), who have brought perhaps their most famous brand, Hyde Lounge, to the mountains. But don’t expect an LA club plopped at the base of a ski hill. Hyde Lounge Mammoth Mountain manages to capture the feel of a ski town (the décor is rustic with steel accents and skis decorating the ceiling) while still capturing the sophistication and hip factor SBE has mastered.
The menu offers creative apps (pigs in a blanket, miso-cod lettuce cups and Szechuan-style lollipop wings) and entrées such as sweet soy- and ginger-braised short ribs, Chinese-style bass and bistro shrimp pasta with chicken—all hearty and flavorful options after a long day of making turns. The restaurant-bar-lounge serves lunch, après-ski and dinner, but at 10 PM, tables are cleared, the DJ starts spinning and the vibe becomes clubby and almost unrecognizable from the place in which you dined. It’s a spot with two different personalities—both good, both fun. This is not LA in the mountains; this is good nightlife with a view.
