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A Detroit Piano Legend
Tickles The Ivories Downtown

LOBSTER FESTIVAL

7 DAYS A WEEK

1'/2 LB. LIVE MAINE LOBSTER

COMPLE DINNER INCLUDES:

•SOUP OR PASTA
• SALAD
• POTATO OR VEGETABLE

$ 1

5 9 5

Live Piano Entertainment Mon. Thru Sat.
Tableside Cooking at Dinners . . . • Steak Diane
• Caesar Salad • Seafood Fettucini • Fettucini
• Veal • Dover Sole • Flaming Desserts

Catering For All Occasions

• Lunch Served Mon.-Fri. • Pastries Made On The Premises
Res: 399.5960;
935 W. 11 MILE, S.E. CORNER 11 & 1-75
Bruno
Ferguson
& Tim Kowalec
Your Hosts:
Chef: Peter Lieber

Hat

FAMILY DINING

Homemade From Natural Ingredients
Dania and Ed Farah Invite You To Enjoy
American and Lebanese Cuisine

12 FOR 1 SPECIALSI

CITIZENS
O DISCOUNT TO SENIOR
CLOSING
to
FROM
3
p.m.
10 %

(Not Good On 2 For 1 or Early Bird)

I CARRY-OUT & CATERING AVAILABLE
559.8222
27167 Greenfield, Just N. of 11 Mile

Beau jacks

Food & Spirits

EARLY DINNERS
NOW 7 DAYS

Monday Thru Sunday
4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Entrees priced from

$5.75

4108 W. Maple • Birminaham. MI •

1 block W cl Telearach •

626.2630

ANYTHING
1 % OFF

ON OUR MENU

• With This Coupon

•1 Coupon Per Person

KABOB
GRILL
Authentic Lebanese Cuisine

29702 SOUTHFIELD AT 12/ MILE (In Southfield Plaza)

MON.-THURS. 11-9, FRI. & SAT. 11-10 55

Closed Sunday

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1991

7-599Q

DANNY RASKIN

Local Columnist

T

hey don't call him
"Mr. Downtown" for
nothing. He's as much
a part of downtown Detroit as
a lot of the one-time dining
fixtures . . . Ernie Swan,
however, is still in business,
taking requests and fulfilling
even the most difficult "try
and stump me" sort of tunes.
He was a big favorite about
23 years while at the
Salamandre Bar of Hotel
Pontchartrain . . . and is now
in what would seem like a
"new career" at the Omni In-
ternational Hotel on Jeffer
son Avenue.
Ernie plays a strong,
rhythmic piano as his fingers
nimbly float over the keys in
what is so far a 39-year career
. . . Now 72 years old, he is
one of Detroit's musical
legends.
His solo career as a musi-
cian began in 1952 and Ernie
has since become a downtown
Detroit institution with a
large and loyal following .. .
Before the Pontchartrain
Hotel, he was at Little
Harry's on Jefferson.
Playing a mixture of
classical, jazz and popular
show tunes, Ernie is highly
entertaining, doing requests
like Mike Layne's favorite,
"Where Or When," with eyes
closed and open, or smiling
and shaking his head on
"Solitude" and Fats Waller's
"Jitterbug Waltz!"
He gets much enjoyment in
performing requests, whether
it be Cole Porter, Duke Ell-
ington, Rodgers and Hart, or
Bach, Mozart or Beethoven
. . . blues, rock and roll, jazz,
ragtime or classical . . . Ernie
doesn't structure his music
around any one idiom but in-
stead likes to be able to per-
form a variety of music.
333 East restaurant at the
Omni seats over 100 in two
rooms with a highly relaxing
atmosphere of much intimacy
. . . There's the "greenhouse"
sector overlooking Brush
Street and an open sector also
reflecting casual, relaxed din-
ing . . . Waitpersons like John
Folkertsma, four years at 333
East, make for much satisfac-
tory enjoyment with a lot of
know-how efficiency . . . Din-
ing room manager Tim
Haugh is the kind who likes
to make people comfortable
and contented.
Ernie Swan plays and
vocalizes at his piano in a lob-
by bar area that has become

a downtown Detroit hot spot
. . . Tuesday through Friday
from 5:30-7:30 p.m. and 9
p.m.-1 a.m. . . . Also Saturdays
9 p.m.-1 a.m.
Entertaining an audience is
not easy work . . . especially
when they expect a lot .. .
which they do with Ernie
Swan . . . But the battle is
half won when he sits down
and ripples the ivories
because of a salient factor .. .
This isn't a chore for Ernie .. .
he really enjoys what he is do-
ing . . . and it shows.
CONGRATS ... to George
Winger . . . on his 80th
birthday.
FIRST EVER Lichtens-
tein family reunion is on tap
for this Sunday at the Clarion
Hotel, Orchard Lake Road
and 12 Mile . . . Members will
be coming here from the
world over, as far away as
Australia and Hawaii, with
about 150 of the over 300 who
have not seen each other in
50 years . . . Abraham and
Celia Lichtenstein had six
children, Jake, Henry, Ben
Stone, Edna Smilo, Ann
Wohlman and Belle Ravid .. .
The son and daughter-in-law
of Belle and Seymour Ravid
are responsible for thinking
about and putting together
the big Lichtenstein family
reunion.

.

BELATED CONGRATS
... to Lorraine and Marty
Blanck . . . on their 45th
anniversary.
SAN ANTONIO wasn't a
very good guest . . . beating
its host at the recent third an-
nual Southfield Gold Cup
Competition at Duns Scotus
. . . But as one of the players
said, "We're glad we were
even able to play!' . . . And if
the ponies could talk, they'd
probably have said, "What do
they think this is, show
business? I'm not here to
break a leg!'
The grounds were mighty
mushy after a lot of rain that
morning and throughout the
day with the sun peek-a-
booing every so often to go
along with some nice cool
breezes that kept humidity
away.
Les Goldstein, Council Prez
Susan Goldstein's hubby, was
on schedule dresswise a la
polo in England . . . The der-
by he wore was at least 35
years old and had begun to
show some wear . . . How
many garments, men's or
women's, can you think of
made today that last this
long? . . . Name one and Les
will let you have the hat for
$1,000 . . . City Treasurer

Roman Gronkowski minus 75
pounds from daily milk
shakes on a Providence
Hospital diet . . . and County
Commissioner Larry Pernick
from a size 54 to 42 on a
similar one by Beaumont
Hospital.
San Antonio versus South-
field polo match was seen by
a record 3,000 people . . .
Tents were set up by the city
and various corporate en-
deavors within its confines
. . . Good thing they were
there . . . made no difference
which tent folks were visitors
at — when the rains came all
tents looked alike in keeping
from getting wet.
Everything was well-organ-
ized and should be even bet-
ter next year . . . without the

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After 23 years at
the Pontch, Ernie
Swan holds court
at the Omni.

rain . . . "I'll play," said one of
the horses, "but remember, I
don't swim."
HERE'S A restaurateur
who doesn't want too much
business . . . Honest injun .. .
There'll be no grand openings
for quite a while, if ever, at
the restaurants Chuck Muer
has taken back from the
troubled Charley's Corp. to
whom he originally sold
them.
Chuck isn't looking for any
onslaught of business . . . He's
smart . . . much rather wan-
ting to do it right . . . Like the
good restaurateur he is,
Chuck knows that customers
who come back are a strong
lifeblood of a good restaurant
operation . . . This is why he'll
wait rather than ring the
cash register and take a
chance.
When Bloomfield Charley's
reopens some time in
September, possibility looms
that it may be patterned after
one of Chuck's successful
Florida operations.

DISA 'N DATA ... Two
more local restaurant opera-
tions have homemade special-
ties served at their eateries
now also available in super-
markets hereabouts . . . Mike
and Al Bsharah's Sila
Pizzeria on 12 Mile, east of
Greenfield, , with cheese
bread; and Joan Orlando's
Maria's on Grand River, with
its garlic bread . . . Don't
knock the weather . . . most
people couldn't start a conver-

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