•• • MOM'S ARE SPECIAL AT BAR & GRILL Subtle Tastes Of Japan Brought To Farmington Hills In The Halsted Village Plaza 37610 W. 12 MILE RD. AT HALSTED • (810) 848-9009 LET US HELP YOU CELEBRATE BRING MOM MOTHER'S DAY, SUN., MAY 12 And She'll Enjoy A Complimentary Glass of House Wine With Her Meal or DANNY RASKIN LOCAL COLUMNIST kre:5 OUR DINNER FOR 2 • 2 Glasses Of Our House Wine • Choice of 2 Entrees From Our Special Menu For Mom • 2 Dinner Salads For 2 Make Mom Feel Good Call For Your Reservation Now Open Sunday 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. ff"4.fy tWe4tffetyzeffrkt Enjoy gracious dining amid a beautiful of casual elegance Open 7 Days • Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Sunday 8 a.m. - 9 p.m. West Bloomfield Plaza 6638 Telegraph Road and Maple 851-0313 • / ■ lk ■ W I ■ IN ■ ffziel 6e•ce/R,e,v, -. *OUR SOUTHFIELD COUNTRY FRENCH RESTAURANT Is Now OPEN FOR DINNER. MODERATE PRICED, SMOKE FREE ENVIRONMENT. CHILDRENS MENU AVAILABLE. Enjoy The Music Of Robert Dempster Saturday Evening From 8 p.m. (96,- d°-‘7°‘/6 108 e ,,,x—a—ae,x,gz, • .‘ 9 clWicill; Adeo€44,,,,, ;4 • Za!•••.g.jejliTle fec9// wamped as we are by the vinegar ... Octopus with rice on electronic and mechanical the bottom is a big selection. Cooked items include sukiya- artifacts of industrial Japan, the culture once ki, Japanese stew made with epitomized as sublime restraint thinly sliced beef, an assortment can seem as remote as its tea cer- of vegetables, tofu and yam noo- emony, its flower arrangements dle from yam potato; favorites of swept away on a tide of Sonys, steaks, chicken, salmon, etc. Toyotas, etc. ... Of course, the ex- made with teriyaki; yasai tem- quisite, serene Japan still exists, pura, deep-fried vegetables; seafood curry over rice; not least in a cuisine sushi moriawase, an as- that is the antithesis of sortment of fresh seafood mass production. on top of seasoned rice; Have a meal and see sashimi moriawase, an ... at Hakata, for exam- assortment of sliced ple, on Northwestern fresh seafood; battera, Highway between Mid- marinated mackerel dlebelt and 14 Mile pressed with sushi rice, Road. DANNY RASKIN etc. The discipline and LOCAL Diners at Hakata are eye for detail that made COLUMNIST big on the California roll, the country a commer- avocado, cucumber and cial colossus are ex- pressed differently in the kitchen crabmeat rolled in rice ... as well ... This time the product is per- as other items of culinary inter- sonal ... the chefs edible commu- est. It is open seven days ... Lunch nication with his honored guest ... and presented so beautifully it Monday through Friday, 11:30 to can seem almost criminal to con- 2; dinner Saturday, 5:30 to 10:30; sume it ... No wonder it is the cus- and Sunday, 5 to 9. Japanese food is healthy ... low- tom to observe an admiring pause before plunging in with both cholesterol fish, soybean cakes, etc. ... And Rocky is also proud of chopsticks or fork. Hakata is a city in Japan ... the way his items are prepared ... The restaurant is the former Nip- solely in vegetable oil. Many people think it is an of- pon Kai, now owned by Takashi "Rocky" Simazu ... His wife, fice building, but Hakata is strict- Keiko, has the Noodle House ly a restaurant ... and much larger than it looks, with wide- Japanese restaurant in Novi. Seating is for 140, including open space, sushi bar, separate two private rooms ... One for six rooms and an eight-seater bev- and another four ... Either may erage bar that serves the won- be had only by reservation ... A derful sake rice wine among Hakata's 12 Japanese wines, four sushi bar seats 15. People using the private rooms Japanese beers and choice cock- may only enter without their tails. Hakata makes its own miso shoes, and are given slippers to put on instead, in traditional Japanese style ... In the beauti- ful Tatami Mat rooms, customers sit on cushions with feet dangling in the "well." There is a 15 percent service charge to use the rooms, but this is more or less a gratuity ... In Japan, tipping is strictly forbid- den except at top restaurants and hotels ... If people leave no tip at Hakata, it is very graciously ex- plained to them that this is the custom in Japan, but not in the United States. Rocky was the former head chef at Akasaki in Livonia, and took over the new Hakata on Feb. 12 of this year. Contrary to much belief, sushi is not strictly raw fish ... Only half the items are raw, says Rocky ... The other half cooked ... Raw fa- vorites at Hakata include shrimp, eel or mackerel marinated with Hakata's "Rocky" Simazu soup, a Japanese favorite, deli- ciously concocted with soybean and fish base. Japanese people too, like to come because of its authenticity ... for lunch or dinner, with spe- cials changed daily ... plus a well- diversified menu, from appetizers to complete meals. Hakata takes a step forward by taking a step back ... to the na- tive Japanese custom in many in- stances of specializing. AFTER ALL the commotion, it's a done deal as itemed in this column a number of months ago ... The exciting Star-Loeks The- ater, with its 20 screens and four restaurants, will open on 12 Mile between Telegraph and North- western ... 1997 isn't out of the question. THE OPENING of Tribute Restaurant, 12 Mile west of Or- chard Lake Road, April 23, had been one of the major look-fors in the fine dining realm ... and guests weren't disappointed ... It was everything, and more than people could imagine. Five days prior, at a pre-open- ing togetherness, restaurateurs Mark Larco, Larco's of Troy; Johnny and Peter Ginopolis, Gi- nopolis'; Robert Jacobs and Wes Pikula, Buddy's Pizza; Mark Pap- pazian, Hunter House; and many more enjoyed the elegance with eye-opening look around ... espe- cially downstairs at the massive, elegant kitchen which brought much oohs and aahs from them. Tribute is an all-out effort by the fine Wisne family and its Epoch Enterprises ... The array of talent, Mickey Bakst, maitre d'; Takashi Yagihashi, executive chef, <11: