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