undas West is growing up and The Chelsea Room is banking on it. The owners of the lounge at Trinity-Bellwoods, a virtual dead zone in nightlife-speak, have set their sights on an upscale party crowd

Brock Shepherd of Azul Restaurant has a knack for finding great spaces and turning them into cool playgrounds for the artsy local crowd. When he and Fadi Hakim (Citron), Michael McInroy (Canopy Café) and Josh D'Auria met for drinks one night, they found themselves mutually disappointed with the lack of imagination in cocktails offered throughout the city. There were only a few places in town, they pondered, where cocktail alchemy - not atmosphere - reigns supreme.

While Sheppard’s Azul features urban comfort foods, The Chelsea Room - or TCR - is a pure cocktail lounge. Featuring signature cocktails made with ingredients like infused vodkas, flavoured tequilas and Earl Grey Tea. One night, a wildly popular Tequini (Gold Tequila, grapefruit juice and rosewater) kept the chill crowd happy. Many of TCR’s cocktails have complicated ingredients - but often it's just that additional splash, dash or float of a juice or liqueur to propel the drink into that divine rank.

In some ways, the TCR is the lounge equivalent to Azul, giving cocktail lovers the option to get their groove on out on the west side. Be warned, the decor is not extravagant here - not a Feng Shui waterfall in sight. Aside from a polished, backlit bar, TCR’s interior looks like blackened carne asada. Its primary creature comforts are dozens of vinyl chairs filling out the two- room club. TCR does have food; as a subtle reminder that TCR is high-end cocktail, low-end cuisine, entrées are served in little bento boxes, familiar to most of us as Swanson TV Dinners.

TCR is strategically located in what could be the next big thing. Nestled beneath a psychic’s office, it’s a sweet entry to an area that used to draw more car thieves than hipsters. TCR’s owners took a chance and are providing all kinds of young adventurers to the area with a very friendly place to chill out. Let’s just hope the cocktails don’t get stale in the process.