Jack Dakin and Corbin Plays are two Northern California Bay boys who came to New York City to create lounges and restaurants that combine functional design with the cool factor. They ended up working for the likes of Serge Becker, Sean MacPherson, and Eric Goode and on venues such as: Joe's Pub, The Bowery Hotel, Jane Hotel Ballroom, The Park, Dirty Disco, and Duke & Duchess. The duo plans to soon branch out to New Orleans, Dallas, and Philadelphia. We caught up with them before their national invasion.

Rob McKinley -- part of the team responsible for hotspots GoldBar, Cain Luxe, and Surf Lodge -- began his design-oriented career behind the scenes at fashion house heavy-hitters Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan, and Giorgio Armani. After a shift into nightlife, the GoldBar concept stemmed from McKinley's fictional idea of a European count obsessed with anything and everything gold. The golden boy met with us to discuss keeping his bar alive, the fall of the Meatpacking District, and those guys across the street at Southside.

How did GoldBar come about?
My partner told me about the space, and I told him that I had a concept which would work really well. For me, creatively, the idea was to create a bar inspired by some of the grand hotels in Europe -- Paris and Rome -- but without the hotel. I wanted it to have the old-fashioned, traditional style of service and the formality of those bars and then almost poke fun at it and make it overly decadent. It came into being when we picked the space and we had gold leaf everything as soon as you walked through the door. The skulls were inspired by the catacombs in Paris. Little by little, it came together while working with all the different artisans, fellow workers, and artists.

Serge Becker is a partner in New York dining and nightlife staples like The Box, Joe's Pub, Café Select, and La Esquina. His stake in the nightlife industry began as art director at Area and continued with his involvement in some of the city’s most exclusive spots (MK and Bowery Bar). Currently, he's taking a break from nightlife and exercising his green thumb.

How did you start in this business?
I started as Eric Goode's art director at Area, doing art installations. There were six or seven of us that were the core group.

According to BlackBook's version of Charlie's Angels (our crack all-girl team of nightlife assassins), the somewhat informal back room of Cafe Select will open in the near future as a full-fledged, separate entity -- meaning we’re in for another Serge Becker-helmed, hush-hush hottie. Currently, the bi-level space has a La Esquina vibe with entrance only possible straight to the back of the restaurant and through the kitchen. Its hours of operation, for select (get it?) friends of the house, run from Thursday to Saturday, usually until 3 a.m., depending on the restaurant's closing time.

New York
● Café Select (Soho) - Swiss SoHo cafe marries Swiss Alpine and Downtown design for Next Brunch Place status.

Las Vegas
● BLT Burger (Strip: Central) - High-end burgers and spiked milkshakes in a former lion habitat.
● Yellowtail Sushi (Strip: Central) - Sushi-fusion menu is set into orbit by Rockwell Group-designed space.