At the darkest corner on the darkest street in the darkest hour of the economy, what should come bounding onto this grim stage with hope and cheer but the Cosmopolitan.

It's a dynamic and complete entertainment complex, an extraordinarily ambitious project that would have made sense five years ago but seems daft today.

Don't, however, underestimate the business acumen of the producers – restaurateurs Randy Paragary and Kurt Spataro, theatrical impresario Richard Lewis, nightclub sire Bob Simpson and developer David Taylor.

Together, they've taken the old Woolworth's department store at 10th and K streets and given the site something bright and moving besides the light-rail trains.

You push the button, jump off and do what we did one recent night – drinks, dinner or both in the bar of Cosmo Café, followed by a performance of the sweet musical revue "Forever Plaid" in the adjoining Cosmopolitan Cabaret, followed by a cocktail or beer in the upstairs Social nightclub, where the Spazmatics were performing a raucous brand of rock not likely to be mistaken for the mellow tunes of the cabaret.

The whole evening wasn't so much culture shock as delight that Sacramento's appreciation for fine dining and diversified theater shoulders on, even along the beleaguered K Street Mall during lean economic times.

While we enjoyed both the cabaret and the nightclub, I'll leave further comment on them to the theater and pop-culture critics, other than to note that the women's restroom in Social has a camera whereby exhibitionists can mug, then see their photos along a bank of plasma screens out front; pretty tame stuff, actually, but we were there relatively early.

Because the Cosmo Café is closely affiliated with the Cosmopolitan Cabaret, owners Paragary and Spataro drew inspiration from the delicatessens of New York's theater district.

The restaurant is more spacious and more finely appointed than either "café" or "deli" suggest. The floor is intricately tiled in black and white, the woodwork is stylish, and the light fixtures hang from the ceiling like arachnid sculptures from the moderne era. Booths are lined up where Woolworth's lunch counter once stood.

Understated art is the restaurant's most arresting feature, however. One wall is given over to large photos of downtown architectural landmarks, some of them long gone. Another is a gallery of Petaluma artist Marc Schmid's caricatures of local celebrities.

And the dining room in the back will delight patrons of Paragary's and Spataro's former Capitol Grill at 28th and N. When the two phased it out several years ago, they moved into storage a vast collection of political memorabilia that had the place looking like a convention hall where a presidential candidate was about to be nominated. At Cosmo, they've brought out the placards and posters and revived that mood.

Spataro and Cosmo's chef-de-cuisine, Scott Rose, who has returned to the Paragary stable after a stint with Paul Martin's American Bistro in Roseville, oversee a menu that while inspired by the traditions of the New York deli reinvents dishes to give them the freshness, lightness and energy of California cuisine.

The rich corned beef not only is juicier and more tender than usual, its accompanying cabbage was upgraded to savoy cabbage ($19).

The roast chicken was treated as if it were some rare and valuable bird, seasoned with black pepper, coriander, cinnamon and cumin to bring to the moist meat a suggestion of the Middle East, an impression reinforced by its fruity pomegranate glaze ($18).

Luscious slices of salmon on rye toast not only had been cured but smoked with coriander and black pepper, thus the descriptive "pastrami" on the menu ($9).

Beyond the clearly deli- inspired dishes, the Cosmo menu marks a departure for Spataro in that it is stylistically more personal and daring than his earlier works. His creativity is understated, even sly, and he brings a thoughtfulness to dishes that make them inviting even if they are out of the mainstream.