Bill Gilroy is one of the industry’s real players. Known as a hardass no-nonsense operator at places like Nell's, Lucky Strike, and Match, he was one of those people always at the heart of well- run, successful places. His word has always been respected and good -- a rarity in a world know for characters who try to get away with anything. Today, Employees Only and the new Macao Trading Co. are predictably making waves, and Bill Gilroy is behind them bringing experience, savvy, and that good word. I caught up to Bill at the Pod Hotel. We sat in his Pod Cafe and enjoyed food from his son Devon, the executive chef.

When did Billy become Bill? I’ve always known you as Billy Gilroy.
If somebody asks my name, I say Bill.

“I’m a product of the city. I learned this business and hopefully I’m going to stay here until I retire,” says Murat Akninci, manager and maître d’ of Keith McNally's Pastis and Morandi restaurants. The hospitality pro has worked in venues all around New York, starting when he arrived from Istanbul in his college years. With this experience under his belt, he has high expectations for the forecast of the business. “There was an inflation of restaurants that just opened up without smart planning. We’re seeing them actually disappear from the scene, opening up space and opportunities. In the next year and a half to two years, there’s going to be a new generation of restaurateurs in New York City.”

Larry Poston officially opened the West Village resto Hotel Griffou with business partner Johnny Swet on July 1. Poston made his name in New York restaurant circles as a manager at Pastis and the Waverly Inn, and Swet gained his hospitality know-how at Balthazar and Freemans. Most recently occupying the 9th Street space was notorious speakeasy Marylou’s, but the name of the new joint is after the original, French 1870s occupants. The modern dining rooms are themed as a salon, library, and artist's studio with a French-inspired classic cuisine menu. Poston gives us an inside look at the new spot.

I think it was sometime on the cab ride home from Minetta Tavern that the question hit me, like a velvet rope's brass clasp to the face: are restaurants the new nightlife? Are clubs -- once a standard for much of what simultaneously cultivated, codified, and confirmed what could be considered "culture" in New York -- incapable of doing that anymore? And are restaurants doing it in their place?

Dagny Mendelsohn is the front woman representing the 11 total owners at Macao Trading Company. She hails from the other serious foodie city, San Francisco, once she set foot in New York, she learned the heart of the restaurant business from one of the best, Keith McNally. She embraced the underground hipster scene from being part of APT, as well as gaining an education from the fashionistas (a.k.a. Richie Rich). At Macau, she brings it all together under one roof with dinners for people like Perry Farrell, Mick Rock and Morimoto.

The man who makes up the other half of Tenjune, on the opening of the Chandelier Room at the W Hotel in Hoboken tonight, his icons, and why New York's Meatpacking District is still the center of clubdom.

What's the story with the opening event for the Chandelier Room?
It’s tonight, 7 till midnight. The full facility will be open for all to see, even though the W has been open and operational for about a month. There will be a full red carpet outside and several live performances. There's a piano bar in the lobby -- very Frank Sinatra. There will be a lounge singer and a woman singing on the piano, like in The Fabulous Baker Boys. DJ Cassidy will be spinning. The Chandelier Room will be open inside, including the ballroom and outside. The Living Room Bar will host our surprise performer.

Jeffrey Beers, the creative mind behind Bostonian restaurant tour de force Bond, on his many passions, pacing department stores, and the differences between New York and Dubai.

How would you describe yourself? I’m a passionate and intense artist. I’m an architect by training, but I’m also a glassblower. My interest is in the arts and painting in general. When I was in architecture school at RISD, I met Dale Chihuly, the glass blower. I became a glass blower under him as I was studying architecture. I had exposure to the world of glass art and all sorts of very talented artisans which made a huge difference in my perceptions as an architect. Glass blowing is all about form and balance -- being able to balance volumes and explore forms from a strict architectural sense to a fluid sense. So glass blowing allowed me to really explore form and color and things that were impossible to study on paper. The only way to physically draw these things was on paper. It taught me so much.

Keith McNally once said that Morandi would be his last restaurant ever. Well, he lied. And leave it to restaurant monarch McNally to defy the masticated innards of inebriated Brooklyn punks by launching a new business in their midst. The New York Observer sat down with the owner of Balthazar and Pastis to ask him about his forthcoming restaurant Minetta Tavern. He mentions its less-than-ideal location on Macdougal Street between Bleecker and West 3rd, and then elaborates, "It’s the Village of the ’50s and ’60s that’s been out of fashion since Dylan went electric. Weekend nights it’s packed with kids from Bensonhurst throwing up on the sidewalk." Hey man, as long as your daughter is there, then so are we.

Dushan Zaric, partner to Jason Kosmas in Employees Only and Macao Trading Company, on his interplanetary aspirations, love of some quality futbol, and the bad kind of mixology.

How would you describe yourself? I like to believe that I am a fully developed, grown-up professional bartender, keeper of the trade.

Where do you go out? I like Blue Ribbon on Sullivan Street in SoHo for cooking and serving with the heart for all these years. I visit Ali's Kebab Cafe in Astoria, because Ali is a genius and a true culinary giant. I eat anything he puts in front of me. Smith & Mills in TriBeCa for a humble reminder about what authentic New York places should be about.

Heather Tierney, apothecary-at-large for Chinatown destination Apothéke on comparisons to Amy Sacco, being the bad twin, and dealing with Chinese landlords.

Have people compared you to Amy Sacco? Admittedly yes, and I am honored. She is giant in this business. I might know 1% of the people she knows, so it is flattering for someone to say I am like her.

Where have you been going out? I like small places that have an identity. I like La Esquina ... I think that place is brilliant. It's completely original, and it still holds up. It will be there a long time and the food is excellent. I like this place in Williamsburg called Moto. It's in this old check-cashing shop. It’s a random location in the middle of nowhere. They made a great Parisian bistro/bar with great details. It's just so charming. Sometimes they have a band, and you have to walk through the band to enter.