-41.111111111111111111111111111111111.1111111111•.•

A

4

DANNY RASKIN LOCAL COLUMNIST

W

hat greater health con-
fidence in dining can
there be than having
lunch or dinner at a
place whose owner is also an en-
vironmental chemist?
Kevin O'Mara, bossman at
O'Mara's, who took over the for-
mer Chuck Joseph's Place For
Steak building March 1 and re-
opened March 10, on the corner
of 12 Mile and Coolidge, has
checked out products that say
"95% fat free" for the Food And
Drug Administration(FDA), plus
making certain products meet
grades according to FDA stan-
dards.
He has also checked olive oil to
see if solder was seeping from the
seams of can joints ... and did
bacterial swabs at the Eastern
Market to make sure meat
grinders being used were clean.
A chemical analysis company
he now also owns does work for

Savory 16 oz. Prime Rib,
Maryland Soft Shell Crabs
or 11b. (16 oz.) Live Maine Lobster

Your Choice for $16.00

Includes soup, salad and vegetable
Available Monday - Friday

Live Music and Dancing Tuesday - Saturday

28875 Franklin Rd. • Southfield • 358-3355

• •

•••;.,.*•••,:::-..;,:e.3:•••:. • •:••.,••

•

25938 Middlebelt Rd. at 11 Mile Rd.
in the Mid-11 Plaza Farmington Hills

SPRING SLENDOR SPECIAL!

OFF
ANY

(Expires 5/31/94)
INCLUDES:
• ANY TWO ENTREES
• SOUP, SALAD OR COLE SLAW
• BREAD BASKET
• AND A BOTTLE OF WHITE, ROSE
OR RED WINE!

476-1750

0

WITH PURCHASE
OR ANOTHER ENTREE
EQUAL OR GREATER VALUE

• Expires 5/31/94
• Not good With Any
Other Coupons
• 1 Coupon Per Table

1 9.95

Per Couple!

-

IN= MIN

$200

Est. 1936

ek
alidSaWlaitdh.
N
Gortev

NEW FOR LUNCH

10 Locations To Serve You, Including ...

Carry Out Only

FARMINGTON HILLS WATERFORD

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL OAK

645.0300 549-8000

CALL FOR LARGE GROUP RESERVATIONS

L

NOTHING LIKE IT ANYWHERE!

INCLUDES:

SIZZLING RICE SOUP, POT SirKER, CRAB RAGOON,
GLAZED DEEP-FRIED CHICKEN, GEE MA MEIN BEEF,
SPICY SHRIMP. VEGETABLE FRIED RICE, PEANUT
BUTTER SUNDAE, FORTUNE COOKIES.

$ 1975 FOR TWO!

LUNCHEON
BUFFET

MON. - FRI. 11

a.m. - 2 p.m.

ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT

ITEMS GALORE INCLUDING 4 ENTREES!

$

5

Cn

.."F

$3 CHILDREN
& UNDER
ADULTS

•EXOTIC DRINKS • CHOICE COCKTAILS • PRIVATE DINING ROOM • CATERING • LUNCHES

78

THE GREAT WALE

35135 Grand River (Drakeshire Shopping Center)

I
I
I

Al I

NMI NMI MEI MIMI

GOURMET DINNER
FOR 2

I

1

Try our BBQ Chicken & Marinated
Dijon Chicken Sandwiches and Great
New Soup selections!

683.3636

1\

1• ■
Off Any Large
Pizza Or Large'
Or I

Any Other Offer.

855.4604

grilled yellow fin tuna with Ca-
jun cream sauce or blackened,
Mango chicken, chicken teriya-
ki, etc. ... All in all, a menu with
seven seafoods, four salads, five
poultry dishes, steaks, lamb, ribs,
a mixed grill, exclusive items, hot
and cold appetizers, soups, a wide
range of daily specials, etc.
His executive chef, Harry
Sawyer, was chef at the Blind
Fish in St. Clair Shores where
Kevin worked for him from 1981
to 1987 ... starting out as a prep
chef ... In two months, Kevin had
moved up the ladder next to his
boss.
O'Mara's general manager,
Louis Sawyer (Harry's brother)
and Kdvin worked together at the
former Boston Fish Market
restaurant on Eight Mile Road
... Lou was chef and Kevin its
baker ... Being the latter is where
he received the experience that
enabled him to now make the

ENTREE

ALL FOR JUST

4

k

O'Mara's Is Delicious
And More Than Spotless

Chef Marty Wilk invites you to help celebrate
the Excalibur's 16th Anniversary and the new
co-ownership of the 4th Street Bakery
with a few sweet dinner offers

r .

V

41111111111111111111118111111111=1.1111111.011111N111101 111111.1111mulmniosommail

vf

476-9181

Kevin O'Mara:
Customer pleasing.

food processors as well ... And
Kevin even checks the water
monthly for lead at his own
restaurant in maintaining a strict
purifying program.
O'Mara's is very far from what
some people who have never been
there may think ... an Irish tav-
ern ... It is a place for fine, re-
laxed dining with a menu that
exceeds the restaurant norm ...
including dishes like filet stuffed
with wild mushroom duxelle,
medallions of veal sauteed with
morel mushrooms and brandy,
Norwegian salmon nicoise
sauteed or grilled, bouillabaisse,

dough for those excellent sour-
dough breads at O'Mara's ... with
garlic, onion and poppy seed ...
Give him a day's notice and
Kevin will create his favorite pas-
try dessert ... Habsburg torte ...
a three-layer cake with orange
marmalade in between each lay-
er and a topping of finely-diced
pistachio.
O'Mara's is the first restaurant
Kevin has owned...He was also
an assistant chef at Dante's in
Fraser and at the former
Stephenson Haus in Royal Oak
... But it was after a year at the
Blind Fish when Kevin was

pulling shrimp out of the deep
fryer, looked up and said, "Har-
ry, someday I'm going to own my
own restaurant" ... Harry just
smiled ... never dreaming that
he would someday become
Kevin's executive chef.
Why did Kevin want to own
his own place? ... Why would he
want the headaches of restaurant
ownership when working in one
could bring him almost as much
satisfaction, the leisure of set
hours and without so many oth-
er tribulations that come with be-
ing a restaurant owner...not the
least of which is hoping that cus-
tomers come back?
Kevin wanted a menu that
was just a suggestion ... nothing
that tied people down to set items
... Something where customers
could substitute at will without
being told it was against policy or
that there would be an extra
charge ... Also a lot of teamwork
... he's big on this ... which Kevin
feels was missing in restaurants
where he has worked ... This
teamwork is upon what he hopes
to someday build a restaurant
empire like Chuck Muer, Jimmy
Schmidt and Matt Prentice.
There are little things too, that
Kevin has always wanted to do
but couldn't unless it was his own
place ... Such as defeating a pet
peeve of going places where peo-
ple could only converse when the
music stopped ... He has speak-
ers set up in a way at O'Mara's
that are each individually con-
trolled to be turned down when
necessary.
Kevin is surrounded by friends
he calls his team ... Other than
Harry and Louis, there's girl-
friend Beth Ramirez, who is host-
ess Fridays and stocks the food
for Sunday brunch; two of his
floor managers worked with him
at Blind Fish ... Barbara Zanet-
ti, days; and head waitress
evenings, Chris Pinchero, also
trainer of the other waitpersons.
Kevin's mother, Carol O'Mara,
a physics teacher at Berkley High
and chairwoman of its science de-
partment, made the green cur-
tain divider that separates the
main dining room and bar lounge
... Jack O'Mara, his dad, re-up-
holstered all the leather chairs
that needed doing.
The former Chuck Joseph's
Place For Steak has more than a
new neon sign high on the side of
the building's 12 Mile entrance
that now says, "O'Mara's" plus
another one on the Coolidge side
... Seating 150 people, it is di-
vided into two rooms (a wall sep-
arator can be closed for private

