An unassuming tourist type at an unassuming football bar tells me this: "New York restaurants are crazy! There's a club in every basement!" I nod my head. He means RdV, the bass-thumping club below Bagatelle. "No," says the unassuming tourist, "We were in some East Village pizza restaurant or something!" Jesus, it can be tough keeping up with the NYC Jones. There seems to be tons of hidden gems that try to stay away from the people like me who can write about them, Twitter about them, Facebook about them, and ultimately ruin them. Some things are worth keeping a secret, but when the party is in the basement of Coffee Shop or some media lunch spot that regularly gets off on decent press, it's easy to broadcast. Some other things will remain a mystery, until I can fully understand if it's an actual basement party or simply a couple of bus boys getting high between shifts.

As the holidays near, it's fun to roll the dice on what former hotspot will have a revival, or what invitees may finally get a glimpse of the most exclusive space by way of special event invitation. This week alone the The Bowery Hotel had a major resurgence, proving it's a party player by hosting the annual Humane Society’s Cool vs. Cruel benefit, back-to-back with tonight's Art Rocks! event. Same with the six-thousand-foot "local hang'" -- The Ainsworth -- which was ground zero for Stylecaster's Short Films Premiere Party. Sienna and Savannah Miller hosted a dinner to celebrate their spring 2010 collection at the Royalton (not exactly the downtown scene we'd imagined for them). Party palaces also revive with extreme makeovers' the closed 105 Rivington space -- a splinter off of the Rivington Hotel -- is getting a redux. It will be called CV, and it had a little show-and-tell this past Tuesday. All in all, the holiday times bring a little nightlife cheer in the form of new beginnings at old places, reminding people how awesome some of our nighttime landmarks can be.

Once again, the landscape of nightlife is a'changing. Sometimes, you have to stir up the water to catch a few fish, which is exactly what happened to us. East Village Monday-night favorite Le Souk lost its liquor license, forcing patrons to take their business to Le Souk Harem, but it's the neighborhood that's the real loser. Wandering aimlessly in search of something new and good on Sunday night, we found a new party at White Slab Palace. Places we'd long since wrote off somehow hit the spot if not filled the void. An object lesson on wandering outside your comfort zone.

Being a partier used to be as simple as throwing on a clean tee and getting out the door. Now, it's work. The Jane was once our last great hope; it's now all but shuttered. Just when we feel we've found our new home, a place where -- if not everyone knows our name, at least they know our label -- it loses its license, lease, or cool. If we were lazy, we'd advise you to try the Boom Boom Room every single night of the week, but if on top of the world isn't really your scene, here's what's been moving and shaking amongst the movers and shakers this week. We'll be trying them out one by one, consumed with the determination to find our Beatrice Inn incarnate.

Just heard a very realistic rumor that East Village hipster standby The Annex has been sold and will become, of all things, a sports bar. In honor of the decline of yet another club kid landmark, the infamous electro-nu-rave Ruff Club party will be throwing a final hurrah for the sweat den it made popular on September 11, bringing out some underground all-stars: the Misshapes, Spencer Product, and the Ruff Kids. Another fond farewell to a Friday night hotspot that many called home.

Only once every decade, at best, does an artist come around who epitomizes the age-old adage, “too cool for school.” Just try and take your eyes off the edgy and alluring front-woman at a Lissy Trullie concert, we dare you. Bringing fans her rock-that-is-not-so-much-rock sound and her new stint touring the States and Europe, audiences around the world will be wiping drool from their gaping mouths once they get a glimpse at this young, waify performer. Here she is taking our pop quiz.

About damn time.

Friday
1. 1Oak (Chelsea) - Cool rules the door at this lavish new hot spot.
2. Ella (East Village) - Deco blacks and whites glamming up lower Avenue A.
3. GoldBar (Nolita) - Gold is the new black.

Dominick D'Alleva, owner of Home and the still-hot Sway, on trading in the Law for the industry, not getting a table at his own joint, and plotting power moves in this economy.

Favorite Hangs: One of my old friends from Yale Law School and I still meet weekly at Da Silvano. We also like other, more quaint restaurants. When we go out, we go to Cipriani, Giorgione, but, since Little Italy has been eaten by Chinatown, you have to look for places [further away].

Point of Origin: I was born in Italy -- in Abruzzi on the Adriatic; that had a tremendous influence as I grew up. At four, I stole eggs from my grandmother and traded them for pastries. I started early. I grew up in my uncle's restaurant in Orsogna; now my cousin has it.

Rose Bar partner and creative director Nur Khan rocks out with Metallica in his living room, trains with Shaolin monks, holds court at his drinkery, and caps off the night at the Beatrice Inn. Just don’t ask him to sing karaoke.

Point of Origin: I actually converted a decrepit old movie theater in Connecticut (my home state). It was one of those old balcony movie theaters. I rebuilt that and turned it into a live music venue, a rock venue. I did that while Diana Ross’ husband was my partner, and we brought in Ron Delsner. Delsner was promoting Roseland and the Academy Theater at the time. This was probably 1990-91. I was commuting to Wall Street. We had this great music venue, and we took all the acts that came to Roseland and the Academy and rerouted them up to Connecticut. It was like a smaller version of the Ritz. Back then, there was such huge talent coming out of this venue: Radiohead, Nirvana, Pearl Jam. We called it the Marquee Theater.