Kerry Simon, owner of Simon (Palms Place at the Palms Hotel and Casino), Cat House (Luxor), and Simon LA (Sofitel Hotel in LA). He dishes on rock star aspirations, rock star labels, and the food in between.

Point of Origin: I thought I was going to be a guitar player and got a job at a pizza place to earn money to buy equipment. I eventually found out that I really enjoyed cooking. I really didn’t know where to go, so I started learning about culinary institutes and going to cooking school. Even when I was doing that, I didn’t know exactly where it would take me.

Derek and Daniel Koch are 26-year-old brothers and purveyors of one of New York's hottest day parties: Saturday brunches at Merkato 55. They explain the logic behind a day party, the transition from college wrestling to nightlife artistry, and the ubiquitous nature of French toast.

Point of Origin: We were born in West Virginia and raised in the Ohio Valley area, about sixty miles west of Pittsburgh. There were a couple thousand people, it was a very small town. It was a village. We were at Ohio State University for two years, we were on the wrestling team, and we didn’t want to wrestle anymore. We wanted to move to a bigger city, try to reposition ourselves.

Giacomino Drago, youngest member of a Los Angeles culinary dynasty and the man behind Via Alloro, speaks about growing up in a Sicilian kitchen, tending to his restaurants like babies, and the difficulties of dating complicated, beautiful women.

Favorite Hangs: As soon as I hit one place, I think, why did I go here? What can I tell you, Skybar? Skybar isn’t a bar, it’s a scene.

Point of Origin: I come from a family of eight. Six brothers and two sisters. I’m number seven. Five are in the US now. Being younger, I was always in the kitchen, my hands helping. We couldn’t just stand around, we had to help. Cooking at my house was always 8, 10, 12, 16 people. In my house in Sicily, everything comes from mom and dad’s farm. And I came here at 15, and started working for my oldest brother at Celestino.

Italian Stallion: Jason Denton, co-owner of Italian eateries ‘ino, Lupa Osteria Romana, Otto Enoteca Pizzeria, ‘inoteca and Bar Milano, speaks on still being giddy after 20 years in the game, getting deported to New York, living off canned fish, growing up in a culinary wasteland, and being Italian at heart.

Charlie Palmer, celeb chef extraordinaire, is about to move his Upper East Side flagship Aureole to fancy new digs on Bryant Park. Here's Charlie on being a Giuliani guy, trading blue collar for haute cuisine, and getting shaken down by shifty garbage men.

Point of Origin: I started cooking when I was in junior high school in upstate New York. I grew up in a little town called Smyrna, near Colgate University. I was a football player, I was a jock ... hunting and fishing, and stuff like that. ... I thought, “God, this cooking thing appeals to me a lot more than what my brothers were doing or what my dad was doing. Maybe this is something I could really get into.” That’s when I realized that I really loved doing this. From that point on it kind of took off. I went to Culinary Institute of America and then right to New York City, with the intention of working in New York for three years or so in 1979.

Martini Park and Marquee co-owner Chris Barish on underage promoting, the power of the water-sipping celeb, bringing club culture to suburbia, and growing up with the Governator.

Point of Origin: I’m from New York. I started throwing parties at my parents’ home when I was young. We’re talking really young, like 15, 16 years old. You know, there used to be fun clubs in New York. They would have an off night, and I would come in and make a deal with whomever the owner was, because either they were failing a bit or they wanted to make a little extra money. I’d promote to the various people I had met in grade school who had then graduated to high school. When you think about it, we were really young, and I can’t believe these clubs would let us do it. It was New York, and it was a different time, different era, different laws, and a different mayor.

New York Nightlife Association prez and Los Dados owner David Rabin on re-opening the legendary Lotus, commuting to Moscow, and suckering his partner into doing his other job.

What are you up to these days? We are re-doing the Lotus space, though we don’t know what to call it yet. We’re doing it with Mark [Birnbaum] from Tenjune. Just yesterday we got the plans for Double Seven in New York, which we’re trying to re-open on Gansevoort Street near Los Dados by the end of the year. I don’t know if I believe it myself ...

Greg Brier is the man behind Highbar, Amalia, Aspen, and the soon-to-open Aspen Social Club in Times Square, designed by yours truly. Greg is a very dear friend of mine. Of course, he hires me once in a while to design his spaces. I’ve done two and half spaces for him so far. I did Aspen initially, then Amalia. Now we're sitting in the Aspen Social Club at 47th Street and 7th Avenue.

First of all, Amalia and Aspen Social Club are in this Times Square/Midtown area, and Aspen is really in the Chelsea thing. And instead of being downtown or in the Meatpacking District where everyone else is, you’re in Midtown. Explain what you like about it.
Well, I mean in addition to that, we just opened Highbar in Midtown as well.

That’s right. I forgot about it because I didn’t design it.
[Laughing] You’re right, it’s not as beautiful as all the other places, but it’s successful, and it is in Midtown.

David Burke builds a foodie empire, parties in Vegas, drinks up a new name, and pours some out for Jerz.

Point of Origin: I was born in Brooklyn, and left there as a one year old, and went to the Jersey Shore. Although I trained at the Culinary Institute of America, I traveled to France where I spent several stages with notable chefs such as Pierre Troisgros, Georges Blanc, and Gaston Lenôtre, but eventually returned to the US as a sous chef for Waldy Malouf at La Cremaillere, and then worked for Charlie Palmer at River Café. Charlie hired me as [his] number two, which is how I got back to Brooklyn where I lived for ten years. Two years under Charlie, then five years as a chef.

The hottest young chef in the city of lights, with a pocket-sized restaurant and a waiting list months long, has nothing Gallic about him. The raffish, good-looking Daniel Rose, who doesn’t even consider himself a real chef, hails from the Windy City. Chicago-raised Rose has trained in some of the greatest kitchens in the world (Bocuse, Meurice) and been surrounded by a media storm since opening his 16-seater, menu unique modern Spring in a gentrifying part of Paris’ ninth arrondissement. He recently came back from a research trip to Japan for inspiration.

Point of Origin: A hungry student in Paris turned hungry cook. Gourmandise is a powerful motivator.

What's a typical day? Dinner preparation starts at 8:30 AM each morning. As we make a new menu every day we basically start all over again from scratch. There is also no refrigerator space to store anything for more than a few hours. While we are trying to cook, we also have to navigate our way through a steady stream of phone calls and visitors. Everyone from our friendly neighbors to lost vignerons.