The famous Hard Rock, and Planet Hollywood themed restaurants have perhaps lost their luster, but several innovative concepts are energizing the restaurant and bar businesses. Ice Bars (not a new concept, but so cool, I wanted to post), for example, which are maintained at a negative 5 degrees Celsius year-round, are a popular escape from the mundane. Everything inside is made of ice, including the stools, glasses, and tables! Upon entering, patrons are given a super warm, insulated jacket, which not only serves to keep you warm, but also to ensure that the ice furnishings don’t melt via body heat. The original Ice Bar, which opened five years ago, is located in Stockholm, Sweden, and is a venture of Absolut Vodka. Ice themed bars are also located in Milan, London and Aukland.

The world’s first underwater restaurant, Ithaa, which means ”pearl” in Maldivian, is located at the Hilton Maldives Resort. The restaurant cost $5 million to build, seats just 14 people, and is surrounded by a coral reef. The cuisine is Maldivian-Western. [Thanks, Josh Spear]

In Vegas, a town notorious for over-the-top themes, the Wynn Las Vegas nightclub, Tryst, opened on New Year’s Eve. The Club features a 90 foot waterfall that cascades into a lagoon. (If anybody has been there and has a picture, please email it to me, so I can post. Thanks!)

I think there’s a big opportunity for bars that feel like a tropical resort inside, especially in cold climates, during the winter, though I would go year-round. There would be realistic looking, plastic palm trees, colored Christmas lights (they’re festive anytime of the year), lounge chairs, thatch roof cabanas, a painted beach and ocean scene on the walls, a bright, blue sky ceiling, a golf driving range video game like they have on cruise ships, waitresses serving drinks in sassy bikinis, incredible Mai Tais and Margaritas, an occasional steel drum band, and lots of Jimmy Buffett!