I must have read this thread 10 times and didn't understand it until spensergig posted. OP was apparently referring to the "Hold Menu" selection in the buttons control panel. That named function does refer to the wireless manager key, the lower right key on the keyboard with the little antenna icon. "Menu" is not the most descriptive name, and OP wasn't super clear in where the "menu key" term originated.
As for part 2 of the question, I don't believe you can add specific icons/photos with links to contacts directly to the start menu, but in terms of getting to your contacts you can just start typing the letters of their name using the hardware keyboard at the home screen and it will bring up matching contacts, filtering the list as you go. And of course voice command can be used to dial contacts by name.