Since 1939

Best of Everything/listening Post

INN

7618 Woodward Ave.

Staff Makes Eatery
More Than A Link

871 1 590

-

OPEN SUNDAYS
12 noon to 9 p.m.

Our Daily Hours ... Mon. 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Tues. Thru Thurs. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Sun. 12 noon-9 p.m.

SPECIAL QUALITY PARTIES
UP TO 200

Specializing In: Bar Mitzvahs, Sweet 16s,
Showers, Anniversaries, Retirement
Parties, Birthdays, Weddings, Etc.

Special Appetizer Parties Available

LOW BANQUET RATES FOR ALL OCCASIONS

Classic Mid Eastern Cuisine
In An Elegant Setting

SUNDAY BRUNCH

ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT

11 am - 3:00 pm

$ 5.95
•

BUFFET LUNCH

ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT
Monday-Friday
11 am - 3:00 pm

$ 5.95

•

DINNER BUFFET

ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT
Monday Only
5
$9.95 $ 5.95*

•Children 12 and under
•

Reservations 737-0160

CATERING FOR ALL OCCASIONS

7295 Orchard lake Rd., West Bloomfield

(In The Robin's Nest Shopping Center)

THE DETRO

Tunnel. 13131Z•Q
Home of World-Famous
Spare Ribs

84

44'04,
°flier Ham

Fabulous Quality
Homemade Desserts

Succulent Seafoods, Great Steaks
•
Fully Licensed by LLBO
•
Excellent Party Facilities

58 PARK ST. E.

3067 DOUGALL AVE.

DETROIT 4313) 961-3663
Windsor ....(519) 258-3663
(519) 258-2923
Fax

DETROIT...(313) 963-8944
Windsor (519) 969-6011
(519) 969-2402
Fax

(Off the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Exit)

(Ouellette Becomes Dougall After Tecumseh)

DANNY RASKIN

here is a chain restaurnt
that is more like a fine
dining operation . . . with
so many features one
would normally expect from
such a venture.
Mountain Jack's on Green-
field Road, just south of 11 Mile
Road, a free-standing building
built from the ground up in
1976, is in this class . . . It was
one of four original eating spots
by the San Diego-based Para-
gon Steak House chain that has
grown to 10 in the metropolitan
Detroit area and 40 regional
restaurants covering all sectors
east of the Mississippi.
In all, Mountain Jack's Para-
gon Steak House, which start-
ed in 1967, with four
restaurants in the Illinois quad-
city spheres of activity, is today
an 84-unit chain nationwide.
The Southfield Mountain
Jack's general manager, Joe
Peltaire, says this is his baby to
run . . . And in the three months
he has been here, Joe has
shown a good ability to handle
people . . . which is a top prior-
ity on the Mountain Jack's
management preferential list.
He came here with wife,
Joan, from Carver's, part of the
Paragon Steak House chain, in
Bloomington, Ill. . . . Joe had
worked his way through West-
ern Michigan, where he met
Joan, as a bartender . . . and has
never left the restaurant scene
since . . . Joe started as a bar-
tender in the Paragon chain
and six months later was part
of its management team.
Although a chain restaurant,
Southfield Mountain Jack's is
pretty much its own entity.
It seats 180 in five rooms
with nine booths and the rest
tables; wicker-backed captain
chairs, wooden tables, bur-
gundy cloth linen napkins, a
quiet and casual, traditional
early American-like setting, etc.
. . . This decor is about the same
in most Mountain Jack's restau-
rants . . . A full-service bar has
seven stools and five two-top
tables.
Although it is somewhat like
a fine dining spot, the prices at
Southfield Mountain Jack's are
quite reasonable . . . Unlike
most of them, their prices are
not a la carte ... All dinners are
presented with a cup of home-
made soup, salad prepared at
the table by a waitperson who
serves selections from 10 choic-
es in a Lazy Susan brought on
a cart; the pick of baked or red

skin potatoes, rice pilaf or baked
parmesan-topped tomatoes.
Its menu includes almost 30
entrees . . . with one of the best
sellers, broiled or baked white
fish ($13.95), not on the menu
but available daily . . . Moun-
tain Jack's is known for its
prime rib and the Southfield lo-
cation goes through 1,500
pounds a week . . . Eight-ounce
petite ($12.95); 15- to 16-ounce
standard ($14.95); and 19- to
20-ounce house cut ($17.95).
Mountain Jack's is big on
steak, too . . . Eight-ounce flame-
broiled filet ($14.95); top sirloin,
center cut ($12.95) which is also
availbale, for a dollar extra,
marinated in teriyaki and
topped with fresh pineapple;
New York strip ($15.95); and
a 20-ounce porterhouse
($17.95).
Along with the almost 30 en-
trees and seven appetizers are
desserts that include one not
likely to be seen at too many

Mountain Jack's Joe Peltaire

places . . . It looks like a flower
pot but is plastic filled with a
layer of crumbled Oreo cookies
topped with vanilla pudding
and then another layer of Oreo
cookies . . . Don't eat the
"plant's" flower . . . it's for real.
Each Mountain Jack's is
geared to its community ... and
concentration is very keen for
community involvement.
All this is good, fine food,
cleanliness and an airy atmos-
phere of pleasant dining con-
duciveness.
But probably the biggest
thing of them all is the training
of waitpersons at Southfield
Mountain Jack's . . . Each server
takes home no fewer than six
manuals to study . . . focus on

service, wine service, computer
knowledge, alcohol awareness
that tells how to calculate how
much a person has by the num-
ber of drinks and when he has
had enough; the Art of a Pro-
fessional Server, and dinner
menu with description of items
and what they contain.
You can't buy this kind of
training . . . which is why a
Mountain Jack's waitperson is
such a valuable asset . . .
Servers must wait on other
waitpersons and management,
including the general manager,
serving drinks also, before they
are permitted to serve their first
customer.
Meetings are held monthly
. each time on various services
. . . or whenever Joe feels a
meeting is required, with menu
changes, etc.
An excellent training progam
like this makes general man-
agers like Joe Peltaire at the
Southfield Mountain Jack's

mighty proud and rightfully
confident . . . He knows how his
waitpersons will conduct them-
selves with customers and can
rest assured of quality presen-
tation . . . Joe has 20 servers at
dinner, eight during lunch, and
two bartenders, plus three who
work both the bar and wait on
tables.
The management team at
Southfield Mountain Jack's is
a good one . . . Assistant Man-
ager Scott Racow and Kitchen
Manager Rich Garret . . . Day
and evening hostess, smiling
Kay Manser, has been at South-
field Mountain Jack's 11 years
. . . Cheryl Cusumano-Gadson,
who brought me a tasteful char-
coal-grilled Norwegian salmon,
is one of Joe's waitperson prides
. . . Especially when she serves