Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo returned to their original romping grounds -- Manhattan -- and joined the ever-exclusive Monday night party at Butter.

The couple had been in Mexico and out Tinseltown-way for a spell, but they clinked glasses and otherwise chillaxed with the likes of rap mogul Russell Simmons at the Lafayette Street celeb-boite. The couple then scurried into the night, hopping into a yellow cab with a friend and a bodyguard the size of most Manhattan studio apartments.

Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo returned to their original romping grounds -- Manhattan -- and joined the ever-exclusive Monday night party at Butter.

The couple had been in Mexico and out Tinseltown-way for a spell, but they clinked glasses and otherwise chillaxed with the likes of rap mogul Russell Simmons at the Lafayette Street celeb-boite. The couple then scurried into the night, hopping into a yellow cab with a friend and a bodyguard the size of most Manhattan studio apartments.