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This venue is closed.

With its votive-lit walls, provocative house music, upstairs-downstairs lounges and pillow-laden dining banquettes, Loft beckons from a neighborhood weak on alluring boites. Columbus Avenue isn't strong on chef-driven menus, either, and this restaurant's fine-tuned, amply-seasoned fusion-Moroccan cuisine, courtesy of Spice Market alum Micah Maughn, has quickly attracted a following. An appetizer-heavy menu proffers cocktail-friendly snacks with a North African spin. Crackly, cumin-dusted flatbread is topped with cured ham and figs or lamb and hummus, tuna tartare is brushed with scarlet harissa pepper oil, and chicken satay is served with multi-spice ras al hanout sauce. Satisfying larger plates include  couscous-based stews theatrically presented in cone-topped earthenware tagine crocks from Morocco. Loft's must-try dessert is a flourless chocolate cake flavored with curry. (It works.) The most enticing drink is a bracing ginger-puree martini. (It works all too well.) — Karen Tina Harrison

Sat.—Sun., 11:30 a.m.—4:30 p.m.