of MuEr's
41111313111111EIVIIIIII
presents
Ambiance Wasn't Expensive
In The Old-Time Detroit Delis
M
We are pleased to welcome
DAVID SYME
to his exclusive Michigan
home while not on tour.
Join us beginning
January 31, 1996 and every
Wednesday thereafter from
7:00 until 11:00 p.m.
Southfield Road at 13 Mile
Reservations
(810) 644-5330
Aliat
FAMILY DINING
27167 Greenfield, Just North of 11 Mile
559-8222
FREE DESSERT
WITH
DAILY DINNER SPECIALS
AND
EARLY BIRD DINNERS
HOMEMADE RICE PUDDING,
HOMEMADE TAPIOCA PUDDING OR JELLO
I
• Daily Specials • Early Bird Specials
• 10% Senior Citizen Discount 3 p.m. to Closing (Not Good On Early Bird)
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6646 Telegraph Rd
Phone: (810) 932.0800
Fax: (810) 932.1465
At Maple
Bloomfield Plaza
90.00
OFF
PARTY TRAYS
"A Little Bit Of New Ycck Right Here In Bloomfield Hills"
or CARRY-OUTS
• 10 person minimum on Trays,$10 off carry-outs on $100 or more.
Present coupon before ordering. Offer expires 3/28/96.
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aking the rounds of lo-
cal delicatessens some
years ago was not quite
the same awesome task
as touring those of New York
City.
In fact, the diner in search of
the consummate corned beef
sandwich or pastrami perfection
may have found more similarities
than differences in the Detroit
area eateries purveying this par-
ticular brand of cuisine.
The problem was that the Jew-
ish community of Detroit, once
firmly defined by such streets as
Hastings (way back when), Dex-
ter and Linwood, and Nine Mile
and Coolidge, became scattered
into a sort of diaspora that ex-
tended from the Detroit riverfront
out to Troy and even further.
Equally scattered, unfortu-
nately, were the traditions that
once were the cornerstone of any
delicatessen's menu ... With a
community that no longer de-
manded adherence to custom, a
delicatessen was more or less
compelled to reach out and pull
in eaters of non-delicatessen fare
in order to survive.
This is why we saw such items
as seafood, hamburgers, cheese
sandwiches, etc., on menus where
formerly they dared not rear their
heads.
There was still one area that
had a high concentration of deli-
catessens, and that consisted of
the intersections of Nine Mile and
Coolidge, and Ten Mile and
Coolidge ... Oak Park remained
a community with a large Jewish
population, and continued to sup-
ply the clientele of such spots as
Katz's, Stage, Esquire II, North-
gate, Joey's, Sabra, Benny's,
Liberman's, Hy Horenstein's, etc.
Each of these delicatessens ap-
peared to have its regular cus-
tomers, who based their decision
to eat there more on force of habit
and familiarity with the staff
than gustatory considerations.
Katz's was a throbbing
lunchtime spot, where ex-De-
troiters could meet people they
hadn't seen in years over a bowl
of homemade chicken soup or a
corned beef sandwich.
Stage had a slightly glitzier,
more restauranty atmosphere,
and more of a business lunch
clientele.
At Hy Horenstein's, in the Dex-
ter-Davison Shopping Center, you
could watch whatever sporting
event was on the tube and eat in
relative peace and quiet.
Esquire II was more modern
in decor, and catered to family
dining, offering a child's menu,
but also featuring a strolling vio- selves as delis, may have gotten
linist on Friday nights,-when a a larger dinner crowd ... In fact,
traditional Sabbath dinner was these delis-that-weren't may have
dished up.
been more financially successful
Venture within the city limits than their old-time counterparts
of Detroit and you would en- ... This was due at least in part to
counter a few remnants of the old- the growing popularity of the
style Detroit delis.
heavily decorated, manufactured-
Right down from the old Madi- atmosphere type of restaurant
son Theater was a branch of that began springing up every-
Lefkofsky's Deli ... It was only a where.
standup, carryout lunch counter,
The old-established deli-
but still served up a pret-
catessens tended to de-
ty good corned beef sand-
rive their atmosphere
wich.
from their manage-
Moving uptown to
ment (usually found
Fenkell, near Wyoming,
working behind the
was the granddaddy of
counter, swapping
them all in the old neigh-
family gossip with a
borhood, Modern Deli ...
customer buying sala-
Here, it was relatively DANNY RASKIN
mi to take home), and
possible to order your
LO CAL
their patrons (for
corned beef sliced by
COLU MNIST
whom shouting was a
hand, and taste real hon-
normal tone of voice
est-to-goodness homemade Ro- and kibitzing ran rampant),
manian-style pastrami, which rather than expensive decor and
made one wonder how folks could scientifically planned layouts ...
have eaten anything else for all There one did not get the im-
the years ... However, it may very pression so frequently given by
well be that the temper of the the newer eateries ... with so
times had forced this landmark much capital invested in gener-
to limit its hours to only a 9 to 5 ating ambiance that little was
stretch, Mondays through
Saturdays, eliminating it
from consideration for the
traditional Sunday evening
deli feast.
Slightly farther north-
west, one ran across a sort
of deli-gone-cross-cultural,
Lou's Finer Deli ... Here, the
only thing that resembled a
New York-style restaurant
of this nature was the sauci-
ness of the waitresses, who
tended to tell you, rather
than ask you, what you
were going to eat.
And the list goes on ...
But the lover of the type of
cholesterol-count-be-darned
cuisine particular to any
fine delicatessen would have
had to tour the Detroit-area
delis with a different set of
standards than they might
have used in New York.
Midwestern delis were
usually little more than in-
formal lunch counters, with
a few booths and tables
thrown in for good measure,
and atmosphere did not ex-
actly drip from the light fix-
tures ... Noon hour was
generally the high time,
with a smaller crowd
around dinnertime.
The franchise operations
and mainstream restau-
rants that featured deli-
catessen, but did not
necessarily portray them-