Acme, a Restaurant and Cocktail Bar in NoHo TAKE a spot once occupied by a lowly Cajun restaurant, bring in a team from Indochine, install the Norwegian chef Mads Refslund and add a subterranean lounge with an oppressive doorman. That's the calculus behind Acme, a restaurant and cocktail bar that, since opening in NoHo last February, immediately joined the gilded caste of places you're obligated to visit. At midnight on a recent Wednesday, a cluster of men with blazers and sideburns leaned against the rounded metallic bar and looked for quarry. In a nearby banquette, a more fortunate gentleman in a business-casual sweater made moves on his companion, a lean blonde with a ribbon of tattooed script running down her forearm. THE PLACE With the Smile, Wren, Bond St. and Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria nearby, this airy NoHo corridor has emerged as a cosmopolitan alternative to the East Village mosh pit. As diners upstairs scrutinize hay-roasted sunchokes and brackish foams, bar patrons below sip cocktails and fork at small plates. It's an austere cavern, almost medieval, with brick walls and stone arches above natural-edge communal tables. One could imagine unwinding with a drink after an encounter with thumbscrews. THE CROWD After snagging glamorous creatures during Fashion Week in February (Rodarte and the Last Magazine had parties here), the current inhabitants are plugged-in financiers (many shrouded in black scarves, as if mandated by dress code) and younger women with expensive handbags and leopard pashminas of their own. Patrick Bateman would approve. GETTING IN A doorman guards the basement staircase, wielding the effective "private party" pugil stick. "It's not a large space, so a lot of it is a game of crowd management," said Jon Neidich, an owner, who recommends arriving early. PLAYLIST On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, a jazz trio headed by Theo Hill, a pianist, performs standards and indulges requests from 8:30 p.m. to midnight. Otherwise, music is an atmospheric fuzz of blues, soul and jangling rock "n" roll. DRINKS Ten house cocktails like the Foxy Brown (tequila, brown sugar, ginger, lime) are $13. Small plates like toast with smoked trout and goat cheese ($13) or "duck in a jar" ($14) are served until 1 a.m. Acme, 9 Great Jones Street (between Lafayette Street and Broadway), (212) 203-2121; acmenyc.com. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 6 p.m. to 3 a.m.