The Best Of Everything

Memorable Times

Remembering great prime rib, Benny's Deli and Queenie's big night.

T

ANDIAMO

What Italian
was meant to be!

Andiamo Italia

East Fourteen Mile Road in Warren

810 268-3200

Trattoria Andiamo

Mack

Avenue in Grosse Pointe Woods
313 886-9933

Andiamo Lakefront Bistro

Jefferson Avenue in St.Clair Shores

810 773-7770

Andiamo Italia West

Telegraph in Bloomfield Hills

248 865-9300

Andiamo Osteria

Main Street in Rochester

248 601-9300

Andiamo Osteria

Main Street in Royal Oak

248 582-9300

Private dining accommodations
and off-site catering

Selected "Best Italian Restaurant"
by Gourmet Magazine '96, '97 and '98

7/2
1999

visit us at www.andiamoitalia.com

90 Detroit Jewish News

HE PRIME RIB Room at

The Other Place in
Windsor served nothing
but that ... prime rib only
... It was the brainchild of owner
Thom Racovitis, who today is co-
owner of Tunnel Bar-B-Q in Windsor.
PEOPLE FLOCKED TO Benny's
Delicatessen in Oak Park for a lot of
goodies served there ... But one of the
more noted ones was for people who
were undecided about which way to
have their eggs ... That's when Benny
Kandel's chef came up with his egg
combination of one up and one
scrambled.
IF PEOPLE EVER wanted to see a
wild, wooly, out-of-sight scene, they
should have been at the opening of
the Elephant Entertainment Complex
on Long Lake Road and Livernois ...
probably the only one of its kind in
the country.
It had formerly been a two-sided
operation ... Elephant Disco on one
side ... Banyan Tree and then
Sundown restaurants on the other.
It was one big, frenzied night of
excitement ... Even Queenie, the
7,000-pound elephant that stood out-
side greeting people with friendly
offerings of hay, got into the act ...
Queenie didn't get to disco, but she
was brought in and did get to do
some tricks ... Co-owner Norm
LePage made sure there was a fellow
following Queenie around with a
huge pooper-scooper.
With the Detroit Playboy Club
closed, many of the local bunnies were
hostesses at the complex ... introduced
on stage by radio's Dick Purtan and
Tom Ryan.
The Elephant waitresses wore plat-
inum wigs, silver shoes and white tube
'20s dresses with hanging fringes ... The
male employees wore white jumpsuits
with black trim and huge, multi-col-
ored Afro wigs .. Their faces were paint-
ed slightly like witch doctors ...The
bus-persons were dressed as Mexican
peasants with multi-colored wigs.
There was even a caged parrot ...
with the sign, "This bird guaranteed
to bite" ... He took it all in stride, and
didn't even flinch when they brought
in the live elephant ... It would have
been fun seeing the parrot on
Queenie's back, even with that sign of
it guaranteeing to bite ... If it had bit

Greenfield ... as part of a nationwide
her, that parrot probably would have
energy conservation program.
wound up screaming from Queenie's
You ask, "What's one glass of
stomach.
water?"
... The table tents at Irving's
CHAMBERTIN, in front of the
asked
this
and gave the answers ... "1. L
Holiday Inn of Livonia, was noted for
Each eight-ounce glass of water served
its continental and American cuisine
takes another 16 ounces for
... but gained a reputation for
washina — a total of 24
the creation of new recipes ...
ounces b for each glass served.
Like baked shrimp on chemise
Besides, it takes energy to
Belle Helene ... jumbo shrimp
make the ice for the water
marinated in a special blend of
and to heat the water for
seasoning, wrapped in buttered
washing. 2. One glass of
paper-thin pastry and accom-
water times many is a lot. <
panied with Bernaise sauce ...
Each day, almost 70 million
and Medallions de Boef Vasili,
restaurant meals are served in
named after one of owner Gus
America.
By not automatical-
NNY
DA
Kokas' sons, Bill Vasili Kokas
ly
serving
a glass of water for
SKIN
RA
... three slices from the heart of
each
meal,
more than 7 mil-
Columnist
Local
beef tenderloin, topped with
lion
gallons
of water could be
crabmeat and mushrooms and
saved each day. That's over
Bernaise sauce ... Continuing
2.5 billion gallons saved per year. 3.
the gourmet ways of his father today,
Savings in energy to transport and treat/
is Gus' other son, Jim Kokas, co-
that water, heat it for washing, freeze it
owner with Ed Mandziara of the fine
for ice, and to treat the wastes, is also a
Opus One restaurant in downtown
huge amount." ... Rose Guttman,
Detroit.
Irving's widow, is today at
Bagel Deli, working for
Harvey Cohen.
IT WAS dimly-lit out-
side and hard to find ...
The only sign you could see
was Aliette's Bakery painteL\
on the window at Porter
and 24th, an old Latin-
American neighborhood
near downtown Detroit.
But inside was a tiny
French restaurant with
about 24 seats that you
would enter through an
arch from the bakery,
where a few tables for
overflow "crowds" were
usually filled.
In fact, going to
Aliette's without a reserva-
Barbra Streisand lasted only a couple of days singing
tion was quite ridiculous
at the old Menjo's in Detroit.
because there was no place
to put you ... even if your
plea was a drive in from Kokomo.
AFTER IT WAS bought by
If people were looking for atmos-
Mildred Hund in 1948, Club Berkley
phere,
Aliette's didn't have it ... No
on Woodward became known as the
tablecloths
either, just paper doilies, a
best spot in the Midwest for frog's legs
very
small
kitchen
and the prices were
... But it also had a great turtle soup
not cheap.
that people from one end of town to
But if you wanted some good food,
another used to come there for ...
Aliette's had it .. The menu was a
especially when laced with sherry.
small blackboard hung on the wall ...
WATER WAS SERVED only on
that was it.
request at Irving's Deli, 11 Mile and