Omnivore - Lip-synching and lip-smacking at Lips

• Courtesy of LipsUSA.com

The city that gave America Ru Paul now has something like a Vegas dinner theater, Lips on Buford Highway. All the servers are drag queens, who, after dinner, mount the stage to put on a show.

I’ve not been there yet, but friends tell me it’s a fun experience. The closest I’ve come to such was a dinner at Lucky Cheng’s in New York City some 20 years ago. That restaurant, which recently moved from the East Village to Times Square, was formerly a gay bathhouse, the first openly gay one in America. It operated from 1971 to 1983.

Lucky Cheng’s remains popular with celebrities and part-time metrosexuals who consider the venue a journey to the heart of cool. It will be interesting to see if Lips, actually part of a chain, will attract the same kind of crowd. Charlie Brown’s Cabaret, in the old Backstreet club, certainly did. Brown is among the performers at Lips.

I wondered if Lips, located in the recently incorporated Brookhaven, might undergo the same kind of harassment that has plagued the neighboring Pink Pony. It appears not if this, reported by GA. Voice, is still true:

“We are thrilled to welcome Lips to our growing business community in the new city of Brookhaven,” said Arthur Freeman, executive director of the Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce, in a statement. “The presence of a fine dining atmosphere with live entertainment adds a prestigious element to the Chamber’s economic development initiatives.”

Most of the restaurant’s entrees are under $20, and a prix-fixe, three-course meal is available. There’s also a “gospel brunch” on Sundays. You’ll have to wait a few weeks for my next Grazing column to read about dinner there.