Michigan's finest upscale, yet casual American bistro Savor the taste that is the talk of the town The Best Of Everything The surprising Marvin's Bistro is fun, and Marv's still funny. ip "Oakland Grill gets wows for class act." — Observer & Eccentric .67 • ,s,. 4%Matk,; , "Our meal at Oakland Grill was exceptional and it left us talking about our food all weekend long." — Oakland Press Buy One Entree At Regular Price Get Second Entree Equal or Lesser Value • Dine In Only • With Coupon • One Coupon Per Couple • Not Valid With Other Offers L Expires 7/31/98 JN SERVING LUNCH & DINNER TUESDAY - SUNDAY 32832 *odward ► Royal Oak (lust south of 14 Mile Rd.) 7/10 1998 86 stuffed with mushrooms and spinach He also comes in sometimes during ast years have had numerous and wrapped in a pastry puff; salmon the week table hopping and telling restaurants named after marinated in a soy, ginger, garlic and those jokes of his. celebrities and personalities Teriyaki sauce, grilled with green As you can tell, Marvin's Bistro is a ... Most have been national- onions; grilled tuna filet with a citrus fun place, too ... Would you expect ly known folks, rarely native person- sauce of grapefruit, orange anything else from a restaurant ages. and lime juices and served that bears Mary Welch's name? So when a noted local standup with plantains (South Seating is 120, plus another comic of large popularity has a restau- American sauteed banana 22 at the Wixie piano bar rant named after him it brings much fritters). (named after Mary's one-time attention. Also the pan-fried lightly WXYZ-TV character, Wixie). But this isn't why Marvin's Bistro, sautéed baby perch and Pictures galore are on the named after former night club comic pan-fried pickerel with a walls ... plus framed articles Mary Welch, on Middlebelt between light lemon sauce. about Man, doing his fun stuff Five and Six Mile, has been drawing Bassam "Sam" Sawalha, around town. come-back notoriety. in the kitchen, is responsi- Being a good family-owned D ANNY His daughter, Susan Anastasiou, ble for the delicious potato neighborhood restaurant RA SKIN molded together a team that assures dumpling soup and cabbage deserves credit ... Susan's hus- Local Columnist soup among other choice customers of a good dining experi- band, Angelus Anastasiou, is ence. presentations ... He was at like the bistro's backbone, serv- Dinners are American to continen- Kingsley Inn 22 years ... and a prima- ing as adviser for his wife. tal with regional touches that include ry reason for those excellent brunches Susan is not without experience ... salmon marinated with light dill they used to have ... along with a lot She worked as a banquet and regular sauce, roast duck breast in a black cur- of the fine Kingsley's dishes. waitress at Country Club of Detroit; rant and apple liqueur sauce, duck Especially the wonderful baby was banquet manager at Dimitri's of confetti stew, etc. perch which, on request, Sam will Southfield, where Susan met Angelus, The good, slow-roasted prime rib skin as he did at Kingsley. and ran Dimitri's of Farmington, served Fridays and Saturdays is hand- James Peterson also puts out many owned by the two. rubbed with kosher salt, cracked black Marvin's Bistro items, including the Top requested items are the broiled pepper and Dijon mustard. Pear On A Nest dessert ... poached whitefish, stuffed breast of chicken One of the big appetizer favorites is pear with squeezed orange and lemon, roulade, breast of chicken nouvelle a .portobella mushroom white wine, and shallots ... in a stuffed with ground chicken mesh of hard pasta sitting in two breast, carrots, celery, shal- sauces, honeydew lime and rasp- , lots, pine nuts, fresh dill, berry pear ... Hours are Monday fresh parsley, salt and pepper through Thursday, 11 to 10; Fri- ... then a layer of crabmeat day, 11 to 12; Saturday, 4 to 12. ... and covered with puffed Sunday buffet, lorded over by pastry ... Served on a lobster Sam, is served 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. sauce with shrimps ... Sound ... $9.95 adults; children 10 and delicious? ... It tastes even under $4.95 ... Sunday dinner is better. served from a special menu 4 When Marvin's Bistro p.m. to 8 p.m. ... There is a sep- opened January 15, 1998, arate kids menu, and desserts are people thought it might be homemade ... Floating island like the former American pudding is a classic French Inn at the site and have dessert made with an English been astounded ... The cui- custard and French vanilla ice sine is far beyond that seen cream. before in its Livonia loca- The swan on a pond dessert tion. has become a big favorite ... At the piano bar is filled with dark and white Chuck Shelby, Wednesday chocolate mousse swimming on through Saturday ... Mary is a fresh raspberry sauce. there every Friday and Sat- At lunch, businesspersons are urday and sings at the piano finding the heart-healthy chick- bar plus telling jokes into en burger from ground breast of the mike ... If he gets "off- chicken, a delicious sandwich Susan Anastasiou and Mary Welch. color," Susan's instructions just enough to tide them over are to "pull the plug." (248) 549-7700