Katie Lee Joel, sans her Piano Man husband, had some tips for eating well despite the lean times. "It's the only thing we've been talking about at our house lately," she said. "I think recession food's kind of my specialty. At the Burger Bash Friday night I made my ‘Recession Burgers'...it's a very thin burger with American cheese on grilled white bread. Wonder Bread is fine...any white bread, just as long as you put a lot of butter on it...it's good." A friend of Ms. Joel nodded emphatically as a trickle of drool threatened to escape down his chin.

Becki Newton, who looked tiny and chic in a shiny black dress with gathered ribbon pleating on the back, reminisced about her days at our mutual alma mater. "I did costumes for the musicals because I was actually too nervous to be an actress at Penn! I had to wait until I was 22 and in New York to try to be an actress."  

Upstairs, Lindsay Lohan—clad in vinyl leggings, an embroidered tunic, and sky-high pink suede booties—and Charlotte Ronson held court near Samantha Ronson in the DJ booth (her laptop featured a large Obama sticker). Meanwhile, each balcony was occupied by fashion designers and industry insiders, including Rachel Roy and Christian Siriano. The Project Runway winner shared that the "fierce" gray patent leather jazz shoes he was sporting had only cost $80, and he's "never gotten more compliments on a pair of shoes in my life. Fashion doesn't have to cost a ton."

Kelly Rutherford, a.k.a. Lily van der Woodsen, spent the evening running after her son Hermès, but managed to answer our pressing question: Serena's college interview outfits. Appropriate or not? "That's what makes Gossip Girl so great. That's what these girls do...Look at Paris Hilton; do you think her interview outfit would have been any different?"

Real Housewives of New York City Bethenny Frankel and LuAnn de Lessups-pardon us, Countess Luann de Lessups-gossiped with Zani Gugelmann, Shoshanna Lonstein Gross, and Dori Cooperman near the bar, and Olympic fencers Jason Rogers and Tim Morehouse, who wore their silver medals, worked the pink-lit room and handed out business cards. "We had so much support at the games that we like to come home and give back," said Mr. Morehouse, before grinning like the Cheshire cat and admitting the pair was most excited about taking a picture with Ms. Lohan and meeting 30 Rock star Jane Krakowski. "I don't know why you guys are so excited to meet me," Ms. Krakowski purred. "You won Olympic medals!"