[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.

Scott Weiland’s Snitch is now Citrine, Tim Robbins is no longer behind the Back Room, De Niro’s Ago was critically panned, cholesterol problems await at Justin Timberlake’s Southern Hospitality, and Arnold Schwarzenegger & co.’s Planet Hollywood is a tourist trap, all’s not lost -- here’s a list of celeb-owned spots worth looking into.

Capitale’s Seth Greenberg on the origins of bottle service, taking over Boston, why Parisians bite New York style, and who really invented bottle service.

Point of Origin: The Paradise Club and Stitches [were my first properties, both in Boston]. Both needed pre-function, so we moved Stitches to an independent location. Then we expanded Paradise by opening M-80 in the old Stitches site. So we moved Stitches to a new location, about a mile away, so now Stitches had a big space. A comedy club in the back, and a little restaurant bar/lounge up front. And now M-80 was connected to the Paradise Club. After about a year, we expanded, then eventually gutted the entire facility so M-80 had both buildings. Then we expanded M-80 to New York, opened Conscience Point in Southampton, and created M-80 in the summer.

Considering this town's recent construction calamities, logic (and Providence) dictates that a construction site might not be the best place to hold a party. An Olsen severed in two wouldn't be good for business. But do you think hotelier Andre Balazs and Interview magazine care about people's safety?! F*ck no! Which is why the penthouse bar in the unfinished Standard Hotel was the site of the mag's "A New Look" party, whatever that means.

He's literally run the gamut from shirtless busboy at Studio 54 (identified in Anthony Haden-Guest's book on the disco as "Pecker 54") to white-tie hotelier to the stars. Richie Notar is a hometown boy made good.

Point of Origin: I was born in Jamaica, Queens. I used to play ball on the Trumps' lawn, and now I know all of them socially. When I was about 15, the owners of Studio 54 -- Ian Schraeger and Steve Rubell -- had a place called Enchanted Garden in Queens, their foray into the club business ... a little-known fact. They wanted to upgrade from guidos to celebrities. A friend asked if I wanted to hang out there with him for, like, $2 an hour, so we were washing dishes! This little guy comes in and says, “What are you doing?” and I said “I'm washing dishes.” And he said, “I like your style, so you should come out and meet the people.” It was Steve Rubell.

Drew Nieporent of Nobu, Tribeca Grill, Montrachet, and countless other iconic endeavors gives us a glimpse inside as he conquers the known world.

Point of Origin: I was born and bred in New York City, an original New Yorker. I went to Stuyvesant High School, then known as Sty Hi, before going to Cornell Hotel School in Ithaca, NY, pretty much my first time away from home, not counting sleepaway camp.

Occupations: After I graduated, I was the chef de rang (a.k.a. foodie honcho) aboard the Sagafjord and Vistafjord cruise ships, then worked at some of the most prestigious restaurants in Manhattan -- La Grenouille and Le Perigord -- and was the captain (in a tux!) at La Reserve, before the Plaza Athénée's Le Regence French restaurant between 83rd and 85th streets. We earned three stars from the New York Times only seven weeks after we opened -- a little like winning the lottery in those days.

The Atlantis, or more properly "Atlantis The Palm," officially opens September 24. Set on the Palm Jumeirah -- one of Dubai's artificial sand atolls -- it has a few things going for it.

● 1,539 rooms
● 27,000 square feet of designer shopping
● 100 feet vertical dive at the Ziggurat water-park ride
● 28 bottle-nose dolphins on the "grounds"

Stephanie Izard might be bragging to all her friends that she's some kind of a top chef, but everyone knows the real top chefs are the top-earning ones. Forbes, pathological ranker of wealth, has listed the top ten best-paid chefs. It used to be that Wolfgang Puck was the only celeb chef around (Spago is the tits), but with the rise of the Food Network and shows like Iron Chef, what you do with duck confit can get you just as noticed as the famous mouths you feed.

Travis Bickle, Jake La Motta, Vito Corleone, Max Cady, and Frankenstein, are all getting into the Japanese-themed condo-hotel business. That’s right, some of the most memorable film characters of the last four decades are uniting under the guise of Robert De Niro to build a Nobu Hotel in the financial district. De Niro was selected by the characters because not only do they share his likeness, but he’s already a partner in the upscale Japanese restaurant chain. “It seemed like the perfect fit,” Frankenstein said as he hid from the townspeople.