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.

Maurizio “Irko” Sera calls himself an audio nutritionist—a man who devotes every ounce of his hustle to each piece of sound that comes across his mixing board. As a music fanatic and DJ from Venice, Irko has become one of the most sought-after audio engineers in the world of music. Having put his signature touch on mixes he’s done for Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Kanye West, and Dilated Peoples, one of Irko’s latest projects has been his work on the 88-Keys album, The Death of Adam, that was acclaimed for it’s musical innovation as well as its sonic qualities. After starting the year as Sean “Diddy” Combs’ in-house engineer at Daddy’s House Studios, Irko’s latest musical conquest will be featured on EA Sports NBA Live 2010 and Ox of Soul One Inc. for Mad World on Wii game systems. It looks like the game has been good to Maurizio Sera.

As president and co-founder of Paul Frank Industries, Ryan Heuser has been with the brand since day one. In 1995, Heuser befriended the brand’s namesake while working as the head of public relations for Mossimo men. The California native knew a good thing when he saw it, and he immediately invested his efforts in Frank’s project—now worth well over $40 million. The brand recently made a split with Paul Frank the man, leaving the enterprise in the hands of Heuser and CEO John Oswald. Heuser opens up about the split, business these days, and going green.

Laurent Tourondel has passed a gastronomically reputable torch to Chef Ed Cotton to run BLT Market, Tourondel’s kitchen of the Upper West Side’s Ritz-Carlton-based restaurant. A fresh blend of market-inspired delights is what this Boston-bred chef brings to the table. After years creating delectable dishes at Daniel and Veritas, as well as working the ovens of the lightening fast-paced Kitchen Stadium on Iron Chef America, Chef Ed’s dishes brings new meaning to your average food shopping at the market.

The man who takes care of the day-to-day at LA’s hottest nightclubs (Hyde, Area, Foxtail) under SBE’s Sam Nazarian claims he’s a dedicated family man well before he’s a nightlife guru. “I’m family guy, I have two little boys. I have one side—the cool factor, being ahead of the game and in the nightlife scene—but at the same time I have another side that people don’t normally get to see.” Nonetheless, he’s running some of the biggest celeb magnets in LA and is constantly surrounded by bottles and models. Can he really turn out to be a normal guy?

From his perch in the Rooftop Bar high above Kittichai, Robert d’Arcangelo—general manager of the Thom Bar and A60—calls the shots at 60 Thompson (and sometimes pours them).

What are your favorite places?
My favorite restaurant is La Siesta in Sperlonga, in a small beach town at the beginning of the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Not cheap, but the food and style of service is basically perfect. Stresa in Paris is another. In the city, really, there’s a small Argentinian restaurant on the Lower East side called Azul Bistro. The food is always consistent, the service is very casual, but if it’s any type of date or business meeting, I can always count on things going the right way there. If you pay attention to the ceiling, it’s plastered in old Argentinian pin-up centerfolds, but a lot of people don’t notice.

UPDATE: Joao has actually moved on from Le Royale—see here for details on his new gig.

Upon his arrival in New York, Joao Daniel started working in restaurant kitchens hoping to become fluent in English, but he ended up picking up more Spanish than he anticipated. Like most newcomers, he eventually started hitting the club scene, and surprisingly, this was where he honed his language skills. His nightly activities quickly snowballed into a profession. Now the charming Brazilian has his weekly schedule consistently booked with hosting gigs on Monday nights at Le Royale,Wednesdays at 60 Thompson, Thursday through Saturday at Pink Elephant, and Sunday nights at The Eldridge. He’s also in on the Saturday and Sunday pool parties at Hotel Gansevoort. Joao gives us the scoop on where we should be going out.

President and CEO of Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater Foundation, Jonelle Procope will celebrate the Apollo’s 75th anniversary on June 8. At the event, the Apollo will induct Quincy Jones and Patti LaBelle into their Legends Hall of Fame, with Jamie Foxx and Mariah Carey presenting. Bill and Camille Cosby will also receive the Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis Arts and Humanitarian Award at the celeb-studded gala. Jonelle spoke with us about standing on the same stage as so many legends before her, why Steve Harvey represents the Apollo man, and a few cues about Amateur Night.

Patrick Grant is the dapper proprietor of bespoke tailors, Norton & Sons on Savile Row in London. In 2008 alone, he landed on both the UK Esquire and GQ magazines’ best dressed lists. Suffice to say he knows what looks smart, not only on himself, but to his legion of natty clientele at Norton & Sons who seek perfectly tailored suits. Since 1821, the shop has created garments for likes of royalty and beyond, with Grant taking over the reigns in 2005 and also spearheading a resurgence of E. Tauz & Sons, a cousin-label, yet for the ready-to-wear set. E. Tauz & Sons is set to debut this autumn within stores in London and Japan. Blackbook caught up with Grant over morning coffee in New York City at the Thompson LES Hotel.

Why are you in New York City right now? Three times a year we do this trip with Norton & Sons where we take appointments with our private clients based in the United States. We take the top floor suite at Lafayette House on East 4th Street.

At the tastefully burnished 1Oak, four vastly different drivers are at the wheel. Richie Akiva, Jeffrey Jah, Ronnie Madra, and Scott Sartiano, partners in the timeless, game-changing venue. “You have a southern boy here, a bred New Yorker, a Canadian and an Indian” says Akiva, one quarter of the 1Oak braintrust. The diversity of its management has proven to be key in building 1Oak’s wide-ranging clientele. “We wanted 1Oak to bring nightlife back to what was fun about New York” he says. “An eclectic mix of people—gay, straight, artists, celebrities, yuppies, blacks, whites.” The result? A $3 million lounge filled with everyone from Jay-Z to Giorgio Armani to Union Square skateboarders, and happily turning a huge profit. “The fact is,” says Sartiano, “we’ve paid back 110% of our investments in one year.” Avowing that culture could never be wiped out by a weakened Wall Street, Akiva harkens back to the disco era: “I sometimes refer to myself as the new Steve Rubell.” Here, the gentlemen talk the talk to shed light on how they walk the walk.

How did you guys all come together?
Scott Sartiano: I think we all met and we all came together working at the same place—called Life—years ago. It was maybe the last great nightclub. We all just sort of kept tabs on each other for years. Then Richie decided to open up Butter, and he asked me to get involved with him. Then we asked Ronnie to get involved, and it just kind of grew from there.
Richie Akiva: It was a good working relationship that we had together. I had asked him to start something on a Monday night, because that was our slow restaurant night. I told them, “I think should really start a party,” different from all of this stuff that was going on in New York City that was just like, way commercial.