Amy Sacco

(CBS) This article was written for CBSNews.com by Muni S. Jaitly.
In the fast-paced world of Big Apple nightlife, where clubs and restaurants vanish in a New York minute, club owner Amy Sacco has remained hot for a long time.
Bungalow 8, the celebrity-studded center of Sacco's mini-empire, has been arguably the hottest and most exclusive club in Manhattan since 2001.

The club, modeled after the enclave of the same name at the Beverly Hills Hotel, is meant to resemble a sultry California bungalow. The interior is replete with palm trees and poolside murals.

The service is unique: Clients are provided with a portable phone and mini-bar at each table. A concierge service can book flights and order late-night pizza.

Since its opening in 2001, Bungalow 8 has turned into a celebrity playground of sorts.

Paris Hilton, a Bungalow regular, was rejected by doormen following this year's MTV Video Music Awards and reportedly reduced to tears. On a separate occasion, actors Jeremy Piven and Stephen Dorff scuffled while waiting for the men's room.

The long-lasting success of Bungalow 8 has transformed Sacco from Jersey girl to Manhattan "Scene Queen."

Sacco, a striking 6-foot-1 blonde, now wears stilettos and designer dresses from the likes of Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci. She can often be found at work mingling with clients such as former President Bill Clinton until the early hours of the morning.

But she grew up in Chatham, N.J., the youngest of eight children in a middle-class family. Her father was owner of Chatham Moving and Storage. Sacco's mother, Bette, whom she has named her Chelsea-based restaurant after, was a full-time mom and big-time influence.

"My mother raised eight kids on her own and was cooking 24/7. Our kitchen was like a diner," says Sacco, who learned to entertain at a very young age by helping her mother.

Bette, which has received fair reviews, "is the neighborhood cantina," says Sacco. The restaurant's staple dishes include pasta alla chitarra with caviar and smoked salmon, baked Alaska, and truffled fries.

"Everyone has a world spinning each way, [Bette] is a great place to share and listen. Slowing down the pace," says Sacco of her restaurant. "Bette loves Bette."

But it is the stars that keep Sacco and her empire going.

Ken Addington, 35, Bette's head chef, says entertaining is Sacco's passion. "She knows her clientele and keeps giving suggestions on how to treat them," he says.

The secrets to Sacco's success: cachet, word-of-mouth promotion and door policy. Only VIPs, prominent socialites, her close friends and select referrals are allowed entry.

Divya Narendra, a 24-year-old hedge fund analyst, has been to the club several times.

"For better or worse, Bungalow still maintains an air of exclusivity other nightclubs rarely achieve. Once you're in, you're in, but your friends are probably still waiting outside," he explains.

The door policy is contentious - it's something Sacco has lectured on at Yale.

"We try to be as fair as possible," she says - but it doesn't always seem that way to the people lined up outside. Sometimes Sacco, a former doorwoman herself, has to venture outside and personally turn people away.

"They don't believe you and just stand there," she says. "Out of a long list, it's hard to gauge who we let in."

Sacco's road to the gossip columns and blogs was not short or uneventful.

As a girl, Sacco dreamed of owning a restaurant. After high school classes, she would cut vegetables in restaurant kitchens. Because of her height, nobody questioned her age.

She graduated from Johnson and Wales culinary school in Providence, R.I., in 1990. Soon afterward Sacco took a job as a coat check girl and hostess at Manhattan's famed Bouley restaurant. This is where Sacco, 22 at the time, met Gilbert Le Coze, head chef at Le Bernardin.

The two fell in love and became engaged four years later. The relationship tragically ended the same year when Le Coze, 49, died from a heart condition he had kept secret.

Sacco says she has moved on since losing the love of her life. "It's important to realize nothing's been around forever�take the memories," she believes.

After a mourning period, Sacco moved on to restaurant management. During this time she cultivated her friendship with former Bouley hostess Yvonne Force Villareal, an art enthusiast. The two pledged to help each other.

Sacco raised $1.2 million from Villareal's contacts, enough to convert a former truck garage in Manhattan's then-unfashionable West Chelsea district into a restaurant/event space called Lot 61.
Despite a blizzard, the place was a hit from the first night - close to 600 guests, including Denzel Washington, showed up.