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Steve Lewis has it right: these are the good ol' days. They're good because there's something for everyone, and you can change your something on any given night. Take Kristina Marino. Her blog, The Downtown Diaries, chronicles all things nocturnal in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn—her own weekly imbiberies are chameleon-like, but they're also true to herself. She likes a nice local bar where everyone knows her name, she takes chances with new parties, and she doesn't judge a restaurant by its dress code. Here, her weekly spots to be scene and be sceney.

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At David Barton Gym annual toy drive: ● MARC JACOBS - "In Paris, there's a small club called Montana, and there's a restaurant called Thiou. Bars I really don't hang out in. Oh, there's this great club that happens once a month in Paris called Club Sandwich. And it's at the Espace Cardin. And everyone gets super dressed-up, so it's really, really fun. I try to go whenever I'm in Paris, if it's going on. And we stay out all night and just dance like crazy. And in New York, my favorite restaurants have always been the same. I love to eat at Pastis. I love the Standard. I love Da Silvano. I eat in the lobby of the Mercer a lot, the hotel. I usually go to Pastis for lunch, and there's a sandwich that was on the menu, but they don't make it anymore, but I always insist that they make it for me. And it's really fattening, so I shouldn't eat it, but it's chicken paillard and gruyere cheese and bacon. And it's so delicious. It's really good. And it's my weakness. It's just like the most perfect sandwich."

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Formerly executive chef at the decadent GILT restaurant, chef Christopher Lee recently re-opened Charlie Palmer's legendary at its new location in the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park (that's him in the photo above at right, Palmer smiling paternally at left). The Top Chef Masters competitor talks about manning the kitchen as executive chef at Aureole, his modest perspectives, and having a green thumb. Aureole will beoffering a 15% discount on all menus until the grand opening benefit gala for Citymeals-on-Wheels on September 15.

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You had a streetball / Hip Hop show on an Ivy league jazz radio station. That's not really a question, more of an observation. And a good one. I had the world’s first-ever talk radio program discussing playground basketball on WKCR 89.9FM. It was called On the Fence, and came on earlier in the evening every Thursday before me and Stretch Armstrong’s hip hop show. I also wrote the first article on sneaker culture in media history, titled "Confessions of a Sneaker Addict.” It ran in Source magazine in 1991. I also hosted the first TV series ever dedicated to sneaker culture, called It’s the Shoes, which ran for two seasons on ESPN. I could go on but I’ll stop there!

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