Alan Peppard

Jessica Simpson was pretty hard to miss Saturday night at Tony Romo's 28th birthday party at the Travis Avenue nightclub Suite. The photos of them sharing blue birthday cake and saliva have traveled around the world on the Internet.

But earlier in the day, she was much more subdued as she quietly followed his round at the newly redesigned TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas golf course.

The TPC, where this week's EDS Byron Nelson Championship will be played, has been closed since last May for a $10 million redesign by D.A. Weibring and architect Steve Wolfard.

On Saturday, the honor of the first round on the new course was given to Tony, a new member at the Sports Club at Four Seasons. He and golfer Trip Kuehne teed off against pros Harrison Frazar and J.J. Henry. Club members were invited to follow along and watch the round.

One of the crowd of about 300 was Ms. Simpson. While Tony and his foursome walked the full 18 holes (5 ½ miles), Jessica followed for six holes before retiring to the Four Seasons pool.

(BTW, Tony's partner Trip Kuehne is unfazed by famous girlfriends. His brother, Dallas-raised pro golfer Hank Kuehne, is engaged to tennis star Venus Williams.)

Seeing the line of hipsters waiting to crush into Suite for the Simpson-Romo party, one must doff his cap to restaurateur Shannon Wynne, who nearly 30 years ago first saw the potential in the Travis building that houses Suite and its sibling, Trece.

In 1981, Shannon opened a restaurant in the Trece space called Nostromo, named after the ore-hauling spaceship in the Ridley Scott film Alien. For decades, the building had housed a Persian rug cleaner. "The high ceilings were so the oil-rich tycoons could get their oversized rugs cleaned," Shannon explains. "We were the first non-rug users of the building."

In 1982, Shannon opened the private club in the back, the Rio Room (now Suite). "Membership was $1,000, and I had no clue what I was doing," he says. "I had the attention span of a gnat."

Maybe so, but the concept has endured. When Rob Lowe was dating Princess Stephanie of Monaco, the couple showed up at Rio while in Dallas to attend the Princess Grace Foundation Gala. There were also visits from Mick Fleetwood, Rod Stewart, Julio Iglesias, Janet Jackson, Oliver Stone and Gary Busey.

At last week's opening at Lone Star Park, the horse track gave away bobble-head dolls of trainer Steve Asmussen. Perhaps that accounts for the 29 percent jump in attendance from last year.

Last Thursday, an American Diabetes Association fundraiser at the track brought in a host of famous faces, such as Fox color commentator Troy Aikman and his former Cowboys teammates Michael Irvin and Daryl Johnston, as well as Mavs coach Avery Johnson and Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan.