New York nightlife blogs are abuzz with revelations that Noah Tepperberg is trying to turn Tenth Avenue eyesore Earth into a high-end restaurant-lounge. This is good news for those seeking a fashionable bite to eat far from the maddening crowds. It’s also great news for residents of Community Board 4, who will benefit from the loss off a promoter-driven, low-level club -- which Earth became from day one -- and the introduction of a savvy operator like Noah. This small, exclusive restaurant and lounge will anchor 1Oak, as well as the still amazingly beautiful Park, without Earth attracting the B, C, and D-listers. There will be no place for crowds to linger and annoy the neighbors; they will seek like-minded individuals in other neighborhoods, with no imminent return of Red Rock West or Roxy in sight. With a strong food element as well as a strong operator, CB4 members will get what they want, as the three remaining spaces will be run by three of the strongest hospitality operators out there: after Noah, it's Eric Goode, Scott Sartiano, and Richie Akiva. This 1-2-3 punch of operators will dominate the area and clean up the block. In fact, let's take an exclusive look at Noah's proposed menu for the new joint.

[See Part 1 of Steve Lewis' interview with Richie Notar.] We'll get out of this recession, and Richie Notar's Nobu will thrive through it. He believes, as I do, that the high-end joints will survive, while a lot of the wannabes will close their doors. People will eat at a Nobu, or have a cocktail at Rose Bar, even if they’re about to hock the Bentley, if only to show their peers that they’ve still got it. Sure, the cuffs may be shot out to hide the "stainless" Rolex, but those on top always know what time it is, anyway.

I sat with Richie Notar in his fabulous and famous restaurant Nobu 57, and as we talked, it felt like I was just catching up with an old friend from the neighborhood. The amazingly accessible Richie gave me an hour just before he set off to open more Nobu franchises in exotic places far away from his Queens roots. His partnership with Robert De Niro and his relationships with Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager may have kick-started his career, but success on this level is the result of someone who has given his heart, mind, and very soul in the pursuit of greatness. Working his way up from dishwasher -- and not ashamed to say it -- Richie is what this town is about; his hard work produced an empire. I am reminded of Caesars riding in triumphal chariots while a slave whispered mortality in their ears. Richie doesn’t need anyone to remind him from where he came from; he keeps his past real close, and despite triumphal success, remains humble and down to earth.

[UPDATE: Frank Own is not amused.]

Paper Magazine’s 4th Annual Nightlife Awards seemed to me to be a must-attend event. Still, it was a cold Sunday night, and Mansion is way over there, and it was hard for me to get going. My "dates" for the evening, my lovely girlfriend Nicole and the beautiful blogger Brittney Mendenhall of Chichi212 opted out, and so I tivo'd Entourage and went alone. Mansion was a madhouse, packed with nominees and their followings. It was a party like 1994. I ran into Guest of a Guest blogger Rachelle Hruskas' special friend, Olympian rower and all around good guy Cameron Winklevoss, as he smuggled a turkey sandwich into the joint. Rachelle’s table was packed with the beautiful Princeton types and fabulous funsters that have adopted my wonderful blogging buddy. Rachelle was all dressed up with a great place to go, as this event had everyone dancing on tables. It was one of those times when the potential of a new nightlife, of a new era in clubbing, seemed possible. I wrote a long time ago how this was possible, even inevitable, and I thought Mansion might be the club to do it. Mansion really hasn’t done that, but it has survived and thrived and is generating tons of loot, which is more than something in this day.

The liquor strike that's haunted the club/bar/restaurant industry since Halloween will probably come to an end sometime today. The Drivers Union at Empire Merchants, the last entity not to settle, will "most likely vote today to return to work," says a source familiar with negotiations. Southern Wine and Spirits workers never went on strike after a settlement was reached that included a "me too" agreement. Raises were given with the stipulation that if the Empire Drivers get a better deal, then Southern will match that deal.

Here's Part 2 of our interview with Matthew Isaacs and Jordan Harris of the Bloc Group. Read Part 1.

Here we have two guys with great educations and skill sets that chose to get into the club biz instead of pursuing traditional careers. They took the route of promoters, honed their skills, made relationships, made contacts and have taken the job to the next level, now working multiple clubs on multiple nights. Matthew Isaacs and Jordan Harris are part of an intelligent subset that doesn’t actually own a club but does own a marketing entity that isn’t limited by ownership. The Bloc Group is built for speed and versatility, and its ability to fill small or large rooms with a specific demographic makes them very valuable to clubs in need. The industry has evolved from a time when an owner and a couple of partners would throw on a DJ, hire hot staff, and open the doors. This partnering with promoters who bring in supermodels and celebrities, but not necessarily the masses, marks a development that will redefine club promotions. Danny A. has brought his bevy of beauties and movie stars to hot clubs for quite some time, but his pairing with savvy producers like Matthew and Jordan gives owners an opportunity to have a defining night delivered to them hook, line, and sinker. The fact that they are able to task multiple venues on a single night was unheard of just a year or two ago.

The beginning of the recession for most clubs was around six months ago, but many have seen an even steeper decline in business in the last couple of months. Clubs on the fringe are now starting to fall apart, one here, one there. Manor, Dirty Disco, and a half a dozen others are either done, almost done, or getting redone to be something new and of course, fabulous. As the recession deepens the clubs will be divided sharply into the Haves and the Haves-Nots. For 1Oak, nothing has changed; their smart, affluent crowd spends thousands like most spend dimes. For 1Oak, the economic downturn is dinner conversation or an inconvenience. Although they aren’t completely immune, the money they spend on the night is a relative pittance.

I started writing my humble blog over at JoonBug working with my friends Shane Neman and Ariana Gordon. I intended to write a paragraph or two a couple times a week, and well, it didn’t work out that way. A couple months ago, JoonBug was sold to another friend, Jon Gabel. I moved my blog over here to BlackBook with the intent of reaching a new and larger audience. The nightclub industry is not just owners, staff, and promoters -- there are so many things going on behind the scenes, so many people feeding at the trough. One of the things companies like JoonBug and Jon Gabel do is rent out virtually every club in New York for New Year's Eve and use the hundreds of thousands of names on their email lists to sell tickets. This works, as the clubs are very happy farming this action out so they can concentrate on Christmas business.

The blogs were agog over the loss off Brooklyn restaurant Paloma due to a fire which broke out in the ceiling of the upstairs office. Chef Camille Becerra had her first 15 minutes of fame on Top Chef a couple years ago. One of the rags got her up to a half hour of fame when they voted her New York’s sexiest chef. I gave her another minute and a half with my Good Night Mr. Lewis interview of her and Top Chef Nikki Cascone of 24 Prince, and then came the fire. I caught up with Camille and got her side of the burn out.