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WANTED The Jew t Co`r CommunityCenter's 49th An ual J ewish B ook Fair is looking participate in the LOCAL AUTHOR FAIR Sunday, November 5 • 11 a.m.-4 p.m. D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building Eugene & Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus IN 7/2 1 2000 76 Books must be published between November 1999 and November 2000 and be written by a Jewish author or have Jewish content. Deadline for submission is Thursday, August 31. Send or fax submissions to: Jewish Community Center • Attn. Book Fair 6600 West Maple Road • West Bloomfield, MI 48322 • FAX: (248) 661-7711 For additional information, call (248) 661-7648. three months on the road. For the sec- ond set of tapings, the network decid- ed to change scheduling and make it nightly, so 56 shows would be shot instead of 26. The second set is airing now, and the crew still is in the process of shooting for presentation in the next two to six months. • "I work out of my home to write most of my stuff," Silverstein explains. "I'll fax it off, and it will be edited in Philadelphia, Cincinnati or Los Angeles. They put the show together in Philadelphia, and it's broadcast out of Knoxville, Tenn. I write it, and the next time I see it, it's on the air." Silverstein believes that almost all the places he describes have made for really good stories: the trendy West Coast Brazilian steakhouses, where people can eat all they want for one price; a hot dog stand in Los Angeles, where the atten- tion to personalities rivaled the food; and a small eatery at the Key West Airport, where people have enjoyed the fare so much they missed their flights. The show has spotlighted four Michigan restaurants to go along with different themes - The Whitney and MGM Grand in Detroit, Turkeyville USA in Marshall and Rosie's -Diner in Rockford. "I really like the dives," Silverstein confesses. "I'm just more comfortable at casual places." Certainly casual are some of the Jewish-style restaurants the show has profiled, including Miami's Rascal House with its home-like tastes and Los Angeles' Art's Deli with snowball-size matza balls. He's also liked the more formal Abigael's in New York, where every kind of entree is just done kosher. "We went to the Parkway Deli in Washington, D.C., which is a place I'd been to a million times," Silverstein recalls. "I didn't even know it was on the list, and then all of a sudden, I'm yelling, 'Yea, it's Parkway!'" Silverstein and Cordes did not meet until being hired for the show, but have developed a close friendship. "We met in Philadelphia at a pro- duction meeting and totally hit it off," Silverstein says. "We call each other and use e-mail as our water cooler. "I think what works in our case is that we're two different personalities. Jill is „extremely bubbly, happy and personable. I'm like an old news guy and bring that newsy edge to a-story Over the course of a half hour, viewers get a good mix." Silverstein, who grew up in Wilmington, Del., and now lives in Baltimore, liked watching news as a child and considered the anchors his heroes. He worked on his high school newspaper and announced the school football games. While attending Tulane University in New Orleans, the newsman worked on a radio station and did freelance assignments for ABC Sports. After transferring to the American University in Washington, D.C., where he earned a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism, Silverstein won internships and worked on Capitol Hill interviewing congressmen. "I took any job I could get — working for money or free," says Silverstein, who did political and gen- eral reporting in Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio and Maryland before moving on to D.C. As a consumer advocate in Baltimore, he received several Emmy nominations and won an Emmy for specialty reporting. His continuing series on problems with child safety seats earned him the Public Service Award from the National Highway The show has spotlighted our Michigan restaurants. Traffic Safety Administration. Silverstein is married to Kathy Fowler, a reporter for the CBS affiliate in Baltimore, where the two live with their infant son, Spencer. "This is a very hectic time for us," says Silverstein, who can still relax at a restaurant that's not being profiled for his show, even when recognized and approached by fellow diners. "Going to Friday's is a big night out for us. We like regular food." Since doing his series, Silverstein has acquired a taste for fish and does- n't take long to decide what would be on his dream buffet table — sesame- crusted tuna, sushi, hot dog burritos, pastrami with chopped liver on rye and a dessert medley. "The biggest change [since doing this show] is that I will never in my life put salt on food in a restaurant," Silverstein says. "The No. 1 ingredient of all the great chefs I watch is salt." The Best Of airs 1:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. and midnight Mondays- Fridays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays on the Food Network. Check your local cable listings.