Fifty is the new 40—or even the new 30, depending on who you to talk to! So when a good friend of mine wanted to have a lavish 50th birthday celebration for 300 of his nearest and dearest, I went to work on a very glamorous and elegant party in New York City. Since I personally know the guest of honor, I wanted to center the party’s motif around one of his passions, and since this man happens to love Japanese food, I knew the venue had to be Nobu 57. World-acclaimed Japanese fusion chef Nobu Matsuhisa is the man behind this gastronomical Mecca, and his unique background has transformed his restaurants into dining destinations the world over. After leaving Japan, Nobu went to live in Peru, and the ingredients he found there led to the invention of this new fusion cuisine that’s a favorite among foodies, gourmets, celebrities, and basically anyone with impeccable taste! And since famed architect David Rockwell designed the interior of Nobu 57, it’s a great space to work in.

Upon entering, guests decended the restaurant’s long staircase, which we lined with candles from top to bottom for a warm welcome. Since the restaurant’s seating plan only accommodates 200 and our guest list far surpassed that number, I thought it would be fun to turn the space into more of a club feel. I covered all of the existing tables with gold mirror for instant glamour and worked with orange flowers and gold votive candles that added a punch of color and a sleek, sexy glow. I also took away all of the usual chairs that took up a lot of room—and reminded us of sit-down dining—and replaced them with pods covered in orange Dupioni silk to create a much more “loungey” environment. The pods allow more guests to sit at each table and are easy to move around to accommodate groups of any size.

For the décor I created a beautiful candle sculpture along one wall that bathed the room in a soft golden glow. Since our guest of honor is a big player in the music industry, the room was packed with countless names you know. And since entertainment was a big part of the agenda for the evening, we constructed a stage where the phenomenal DJ Cassidy could spin up a storm. The backdrop was made of mirrored Plexi cut into circle and squares shapes attached with hinges - very Paco Roban - so the light danced around the room as the individual pieces of Plexi moved. Once the party reached a fevered pitch, Lionel Richie hopped on stage for an impromptu performance, much to the delight of the birthday boy—and all the other guests as well!

As you can imagine, the food at Nobu 57 is phenomenal. Guests enjoyed an endless stream of his signature dishes for the entire duration of the party. Tray-passed appetizers included Nobu’s signature black cod with miso in a lettuce cup with spicy char and spicy cilantro, scallops with sour cream on wasabi rice crackers, oyster filo in lettuce cups, and chicken and beef skewers. The sushi bar featured never-ending rolls, sushi and sashimi, as well as Kumamoto oysters smothered in Nobu’s secret sauce, yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño, new-style whitefish sashimi, and washu tataki. To satisfy even the most discerning tastes, there was also a hot food station that offered edamame, shishito peppers, Chilean sea bass with black bean sauce, scallops with spicy garlic sauce, mushrooms in ponzu, and chicken and beef teriyaki. As if that wasn’t enough, there was also table service offering Nobu’s famous sashimi salad with tuna tataki, soft-shell crab with Nobu salsa, rock shrimp tempura with creamy spicy sauce, and wagu steak with assorted mushrooms and yuzu dressing. And for the late-night revelers, snacks of egg and cheese croissants were passed around the room starting at 2 a.m. Of course the drinks menu was as diverse as the food offerings with a variety of cocktails, Champagnes, red and white wines, Japanese beers, sake, and port.

The biggest surprise of the evening came along with the birthday cake. Not only was this my friend’s 50th birthday, it was also the anniversary of the wedding extravaganza I planned for him and his wife in Capri five years earlier. After he had blown out the candles on the birthday cake, another confection was brought out in honor of the anniversary. With his wife by his side, and surrounded by friends and family, it was a sweet ending for not one, but two momentous occasions.