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Haute Detroit

Jewish media executives are teaming with a Detroit chef

orced to reinvent his 20-
year career in the news
media, Mort Meisner is
returning to his roots in

Detroit.
A chance meeting between
Meisner and Harlequin Cafe owner
Sherman Sharpe has produced a deep
friendship and budding business rela-
tionship.
Plans to produce and market a,
television cooking program featuring
harpe, 41, have forged bonds
between the Detroit restaurateur and
the former director of the WJBK-TV
Channel 2 news department.
Their common ground includes
personal commitments to helping
rebuild the city.
Their chance introduction
occurred two years ago. A friend sug-
gested a brief stop at Harlequin Cafe
n the way to a media event. The
unusual charm of the former drug-
store and Harlequin's host compelled
Meisner to cancel his plans and have
dinner with Sharpe.
Taken with the chef's custom of
presenting the menu through stories
describing the entrees, Meisner began
to book Sharpe for cooking segments
on "Fox 2 News Morning." Favorable
esponses prompted WJBK to invite
Sharpe back for subsequent appear-
ances, the most recent taped in early
August.
As Sharpe strengthened his rela-
tionship with the station, Meisner's
came to an end on March 23.
"I'm not bitter," says Meisner. "I
think they made a mistake in firing
me, but I wish them well."
The following month he started
Mort Meisner Associates, offering
media training and management for
corporate clientele, including hospi-
tals, local universities, medical corn-
panies and, lately, urban restaurants.
Harlequin Cafe strives for a total
effect: atmosphere, food, theater and
music. Sharpe's restaurant occupies
the southeast corner of the Parkstone
Hotel on Agnes Street, two blocks
north of Jefferson Avenue.
The original druggist's mahogany

shelving and 1925 marble soda bar
weave an atmosphere for Sharpe's
interpretation of traditional French
cuisine.
Meisner kept coming back to savor
Sharpe's carefully crafted dishes and
philosophies on cooking and art. The
symbolism of a French culinary
theme, "cuisine de marche," pervades
many aspects of Sharpe's life.
Cuisine de marche, literally "cui-
sine on the move," applies traditional
French cooking guidelines to indige-
nous ingredients. New offerings
maintain the unique character of the
parent recipes.
"When Sherman is describing the
food, you can taste it the way a great

radio announcer's voice describes a
story and helps you see it," says
Meisner. "In this guy you've got it all.
He's a great chef and host who isn't
pretentious and I thought he
deserved a TV show. His only gift to
me was the opportunity to be his
patron."
Operating Harlequin Cafe utilizes
all of Sharpe's abilities. Sharpe
attended the Etruscan Institute in
Sienna in 1974-75, studying
medieval and European history and a
culinary arts curriculum emphasizing
northern Italian and French haute
and provincial cuisine.
Returning home, he earned a
bachelor's degree from Wayne State

Photo by Daniel Lippitt

ERIC BAUM
Special to The Jewish News

Sherman Sharpe and Mort Meisner are working together.

University, attended the University of
Toronto's medieval studies program,
and then earned his law degree from
Wayne. He has practiced as an inde-
pendent attorney, as a corporate
counselor for Detroit Edison and as a
U.S. bankruptcy trustee.
Although Sharpe enjoyed the law,
his first impulse after earning some
money was to buy a restaurant.
Between 1987-1992, Sharpe simulta-
neously practiced law and operated
Sharpe's Seven Flags on Woodward in
the Cultural Center. In his own
words, returning to cooking "was like
coming home.
"Sometimes when we're a little
younger, we're expected to do things
that are financially and socially
respectable," says Sharpe. "We experi-
ence cravings for something. For me,
cooking is that something. Just look-
ing at a sauce coming to fruition —
the transformation seems almost
magical in that pan."
Sharpe chose Harlequin Cafe
because he felt the carefully preserved
features of the historic building sup-
ported his vision of a world-class din-
ing experience.
Combining his medieval history
lessons and contemporary Detroit
lore, Sharpe creates and performs
original narratives with his entrees.
Harlequin Cafe averages 35 diners
per day and features live classical
piano, a champagne list topping 100
selections and a new coffee and desert
bar, the Columbine Champagne
Cellar.
Local restaurant authorities
acclaim Harlequin's authentic sauces
and atmosphere. In April, Sharpe was
featured in the New York Times.
The pilot episode. of Sharpe's cook-
ing show will determine how well
Harlequin Cafe's star personality
translates into television. Producer
Mindy Soble is working with Sharpe
to define a theme for a marketable
series.
Ms. Soble envisions a format for
Sharpe's show featuring music and art
from Vietnam, Thailand, Morocco
and other countries contributing to
cuisine de marche.
Meisner is approaching syndicators
about the forthcoming pilot. CI

10 / 10
1997

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