June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Sting and the Police are back. But can a restaurant return from the dead?

Manhattan's famed Monkey Bar and the short-lived Varietal underwent major overhauls earlier this year. Seeking redemption, they've been resurrected with new menus and new chefs.

Monkey Bar, located in east midtown's Hotel Elysee, was a steakhouse when it closed in March. Within three months, the bar reopened and the restaurant began serving Patricia Yeo's Asian- inspired cuisine.

The room has been around since the mid-1930s. It's always been popular. It's always been silly. It never seems to die.

What's the secret to such a long, hedonistic life? A mix of greatest hits and new material. And alcohol is a big part of the experience. It's the Keith Richards of restaurants.

The bar is more or less the same. That is to say, it's loud, dark and crowded. Only the cloud of cigarette smoke is missing. Primates dress up as humans and monkey around -- as part of the bar's restored murals.

Patrons drank dry martinis or red wine. I ordered a Blueberry Joe from the revamped cocktail list.

I was the only person drinking a Blueberry Joe, a mixture of purple berries, tequila and coffee that looks like Kool-Aid. The dark brew balances the sweet berries. You can't taste the tequila, but you feel it afterward.

Cuttlefish, Banana Jam

For a more sedate primate experience, walk back to the formal dining room and try Yeo's grilled cuttlefish. Dip in banana jam, enjoy the fruity rush, then bam. Chili pepper fills your mouth. Champagne cocktail, please.

This is the new material (some of it a bit too new). I've read of bar patrons in the old days who sang along with tunes from ``South Pacific.'' On Wednesday, I heard European-style techno beats filling the dining room.

Better is the revamped decor. Gone is the art deco design. In its place is another monkey mural -- more restrained than the one in the bar -- with the animals hanging from trees.

Monkey Bar was considered a competent purveyor of internationally inflected cuisine in the 1990s, with chefs John Schenk and Kurt Gutenbrunner at the helm. The global fare was an intelligent counterpoint to the venue's surreal exoticism.

Yeo, also chef at Sapa, continues the worldly tradition with crispy salt-and-pepper chicken paired with an addictive soybean and chili sauce, and halibut steamed in a Thai hot-and-sour clam broth.

Order a Banana Split cocktail at the bar for dessert. You'll blend in with the decor, not the crowd.

Our dinner for two, which included two drinks each, three appetizers, two entrees and two desserts, plus an inaugural 50 percent food discount, cost $142.

Monkey Bar is at 60 E. 54th St., near Park Avenue. Information: +1-212-838-2600.

New Varietal

Like David Lee Roth's tenure as Van Halen's vocalist, Varietal's heyday was brief. So was the closure.

It opened in December. The dining room closed in April. It reopened five days later -- thanks to new chef Wayne Nish.

The venue, on a desolate stretch of Manhattan's West 25th Street, originally served Ed Witt's fussy fare and Jordan Kahn's avant-garde pastries.

Caramelized mushrooms for dessert, anyone?

I had loved Kahn's scientific sweets. I hadn't liked my 3 1/2-hour tasting menu, which took place as I perched on a tiny plastic bar stool.

Those stools are the same, but tolerable because your meal won't last more than an hour.

Simpler Offerings

Nish, a Kurt Russell look-alike, knows a thing or two about simplifying and shortening. He used to serve elaborate tasting menus at March on the Upper East Side. Earlier this year, he renamed that restaurant Nish and introduced a four-course, $59 prix fixe.

At Varietal, dining-room patrons select three courses for $48. The same menu is available a la carte at the bar.

Expect Nish's internationally inclined cuisine.

Also expect surprises. I thought my snail lasagna would be a mille-feuille of sorts. It turned out to be a single, thin sheet of al dente pasta with a scattering of expertly braised escargots, chanterelles, spring vegetables and tarragon.

I was worried that delicate scallops wouldn't be able to assert themselves inside ravioli. That pasta was merely a gossamer sheath, encapsulating large chunks of sweet mollusk. Tomato butter coated the outside for a hint of acidity.

Orange Panna Cotta

Sheep's milk panna cotta, faintly sour, is just as effective as a version Nish serves uptown. Here, it benefits from bitter orange marmalade.

One gripe: Tempura fried shrimp -- 16 of them -- were overbattered and underseasoned. The gigantic portion was more appropriate for a Red Lobster restaurant than for fine dining.

That's the new material. The greatest hits remain; Varietal still offers more than 60 wines by the glass.

My Saturday night dinner, which included two glasses of wine, cost $84.

Varietal is at 138 W. 25th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues. Information: +1-212-633-1800. Nish is at 405 E. 58th St., call +1-212-754-6272.

(Ryan Sutton is a writer for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this story: Ryan Sutton in New York at rsutton1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 12, 2007 03:36 EDT