Bold flavors and small plates with many seafood options dominate the menu at the new Between Boutique Café and Lounge, 1324 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Wicker Park.

Chef Radhika Desai, the former sous chef at Vermillion, blends spices in ways that create food bursting with unique flavors. The menu, which provides a South Asian flare, offers items such as curried lobster bisque; sliced, marinated beef tenderloin with plum wine, sesame oil and mint; coconut crepes stuffed with potatoes, mustard seed oil and Manchego cheese; and spicy Mantou burgers with Camembert Cheese and Moroccan-spiced fries.

Owner Carl Anderson, who used to plan menus for events for Wolfgang Puck Catering, previously co-owned restaurant Usagi Ya in the neighborhood and recently opened the Between Boutique Café and Lounge as a tribute to his wife, Lu Lu. Anderson described Lu Lu as "a beautiful, crazy Chinese girl" who "likes to create her own fashion." She might wear a prom dress one day and pink camouflage the next, and Anderson says she "likes things that are eclectic and out of the ordinary."

Anderson said "Radhika is a blessing for us" and that he chose Desai to be the chef because of "her attitude and her love of what she wants to do and her drive."

Also, when Desai created impressive chorizo-stuffed waffles and cumin-dusted chicken breast drizzled with a vanilla saffron cream sauce during the interview process, she especially impressed Anderson with her cooking.

The most popular menu item is the lobster trifecta, a trio of lobster salad, lobster cakes with black pepper truffle aioli and curried lobster bisque.

Anderson tries to create a cozy, romantic feel throughout the restaurant and lounge, with downtempo music playing and menus resembling love letters. "Everything is all small plates, so it helps to engage conversation," he says.

Plush red velvet couches and chairs fill the space, and the exposed brick wall behind the bar is painted a color that's somewhere between pink and red, the color of Lu Lu's hair when Anderson first met her. (Her hair is now dark.) Some booths have long, red fringe curtains, which provides a semi-private feeling in the booths. Lu Lu picked out all of the furniture, decorations and other interior design elements in Beijing, where she was born.

Besides creating flavorful food, the restaurant offers many creative martinis, including vodka on the cobb, a salty-sweet drink with vanilla vodka, hints of orange and caramel, shaken over minty ice cubes and topped with cheddar popcorn. Also on the menu is a beer martini, with Miller beer, triple sec, Absolut Citron and limejuice.

Just as Lu Lu can be unpredictable fashion-wise, the crowd at the restaurant can be unpredictable as well. Visitors have included both the well-dressed and jeans-and-T-shirts crowd, out-of-towners and restaurant-goers from the neighborhood. "It is growing every week, which is a good thing," Anderson said. "Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays are pretty swamped. Which is great."

Between Boutique Café and Lounge, 1324 N. Milwaukee Ave., is open from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Friday; 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday; and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday.