Oh, for a restaurant with a view!...

Oh, for a restaurant with a view! Add the Sunset Strip and, in Los Angeles, it’s pure gold.

The Long brothers -- Bob and John -- who used to own Atlantic and have been involved in a number of our trendiest venues, have just opened a place in the Sunset Millennium complex, joining Norman’s and Rika. Instead of facing the Strip, though, Central faces the other way and takes in a panorama of city lights.

And not just from one window. The entire back wall of the restaurant is a 150-foot terrace with a retractable glass roof. The design, by Christopher Ciccone (Madonna’s brother), takes every advantage of that view.

Even if you don’t luck into a table by the windows, the booths along the wall don’t feel like Siberia at all. High-backed and upholstered in green and cream stripes, they’re really comfortable and offer a great view of the scene, which, in the end, could be more fascinating than those lights.

The people behind Central are connected to the max. When barely open, the place was already thronged with the young, the svelte and the beautiful. Hang around the bar long enough and you’ll spot some familiar faces. Putting a name to them may be tough, though. Groups move around the restaurant as if they were at a private party ... which, in a way, this place is, with most people seated at large tables, the better to play musical chairs and visit.

The food -- from Jamie DeRosa, who lists Gotham Bar & Grill and Wolfgang Puck restaurants in his credits -- is contemporary American. He puts not one but three soups on the menu every day, including, recently, a calico corn soup and another made with early winter mushrooms. His steamed mussels are lovely. He batters oysters and shimeji mushrooms, fries them “calamari style” and serves them with marinated Japanese cucumbers.

Not to worry. He’s put half a dozen salads on the menu too, and they’re not the same ones you see everywhere.

As for main courses, the seafood crowd can choose between Tasmanian sea trout with asparagus and chanterelle mushrooms, or oven-roasted black sea bass with bacon, braised escarole and littleneck clams. Red meat lovers should like DeRosa’s slow-cooked beef short ribs with coarse-ground polenta and spinach sauteed with garlic, or with the domestic Kobe bone-in rib-eye steak with caramelized sweet onions and braised Chinese long beans. He’s even included some vegetarian or vegan items too, so everybody will be happy.

I know some people who wouldn’t venture onto the Strip on a Saturday night for anything. It’s not so bad, really. Just turn south on Alta Loma; the entrance to Sunset Millennium’s parking structure is right there. There’s also valet parking on Sunset Boulevard.

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Central

Where: Sunset Millennium, 8590 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood

When: Dinner 6 to 10:30 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays (bar opens at 5:30 p.m.). Valet and lot parking. Full bar.

Cost: Appetizers, $8 to $14; main courses, $19 to $38; desserts, $7

Info: (310) 659-0092