The Honolulu Design Center's modern, sleekly designed Amuse offers a new and tres-trendy twist on the wine bar concept: self-service.

AMUSE

Where: Honolulu Design Center, second floor, 1250 Kapi'olani Blvd.

Hours: 4:30-10:30 p.m. daily

Got parking? Yes. Free, in design center parking lot.

The appeal? Access to 80 wines in portions you choose.

Here we are now, entertain us: Have a seat. A server scans your credit card and hands it back with an Amuse debit card and a glass for reds or whites. Start dispensing. Damage is charged to your credit card at evening's end.

Eno-tech: Amuse has seven Italian-made Enomatic wine machines — proffering room-temperature reds and refrigerated whites. Just insert your debit card, push the button for your selection and a one-ounce serving squirts into your glass. Push again for another ounce. Price per ounce is shown on a readout above each selection.

Always as good as the first time: With each serving, lost liquid in the bottle is replaced by argon — a flavorless, odorless gas that keeps each pour as fresh as a just-opened bottle.

Pros: You'll never get stuck with a full serving of a wine you hate; more sampling of a variety of wines for your buck.

Cons: Many wines run in the $3- to $7-an-ounce range, meaning a standard five-ounce pour might cost you less elsewhere.

The crowd: Twenty- to fifty-something — most in their 20s and 30s — both evening- and just-off-work-dressy.

Interiors: Lengthy, rectangular bar-style tables and chairs. Warm gold walls lit by mod orange art-glass spots snaking vinelike across black ceilings.

Food: A smallish pupu and dessert menu by neighboring Stage restaurant executive chef Jon Matsubara.

The soundtrack: Modern classic pop and dance music (Fatboy Slim, The Verve, U2, Marvin Gaye), and flamenco and classical guitar (Gipsy Kings).

THE NIGHT SHIFT ...

Happy 10th, QuadMag!

Before MySpace. Before Facebook. Heck, before Flash and Matty Boy were "Flash and Matty Boy," there was www.QuadMag.com.

Wanted to know where the underground MC and scratch competition was after dark, before NextDoor, thirtyninehotel, wine bars and the crowds clean-cut folks like you and me set up downtown? You went to the QuadMag boards. The district park, warehouse or cane-haul road where a rave was going down? www.QuadMag.com, kids.

It's still where you left it. Still a bulletin board for local promoters. Still a darn good source for what's up in our town after dark. Still feisty. Still relevant.

And it's throwing itself a 10th anniversary fundraiser Saturday to help keep it up and running for another decade.

Thirtyninehotel hosts the party from 9 p.m. Much of QuadMag's still-appreciative progeny will show to perform. A full list of 'em and all details are, of course, at www.QuadMag.com.

Happy birthday, friends.

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.