CELEBRITY SHOWROOM The Best Of Everything Frolic Or Food? As entertainment became king at nightclubs, much fine dining was shown the door. GARY PUCKETT WITH JOHNNY MAESTRO Et THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE Gary's signature voice and hit songs like "Young Girr have sold out venues around the world. Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge cover all your favorites. FIGHT NIGHT — PRO BOXING Tickets include a six-course gourmet dinner "Andiamo Style" featuring filet mignon and a premium open bar. TONY DANZA One of America's most popular performers. A star of television (Taxi, Who's the Boss, Family Law), stage (The Ic6man Cometh), and movies (Angels in the Outfield) Danza wows audience and critics with his song and dance stage show. ELVIS TO THE MAX 25 Years ago Elvis left the building. Now he returns, or so you will think, to play for you at Andiamo. It's Elvis to the Max with Max Pellicano, his Las Vegas Dancers and special guest comedian Paul Locrichio. Come sing along with all of your favorite Elvis hits. 0 L--1 rALIA ** ■ Tickets & Information (586) 268 3200 - andiamoitalia.com 1/ 3 2003 62 East 14 Mile Road. West of Van Dyke. Warren, Michigan 626790) Good food faded out of or nostalgia buffs night spots because there was- who want to take a n't any real demand for it ... long stroll down There were heavy eaters like memory lane, The Diamond Jim Brady, however, Night Club by Jimmy Durante who wouldn't agree ... Only a and Joe Kofoed, published by few scattered places were left Alfred A. Knopf in 1931, is a where the preparation of food treasure ... if you can find it. was still a solemn and mystic I was lucky to have someone DAN NY rite. loan it to me. RAS KIN But in the early days, a man In some ways, it can be lumnist had vermouth with the hors Local Co applied to modern-day dining d'oeuvres, Chablis with the out and being entertained ... In oysters, sherry with the soup, the early 1900s, according to the book, sauterne with the fish, burgundy with eating out was something of an art in the roast, champagne with the partridge places like New York ... People didn't go to restaurants to dance and see half-nude and brandy with his coffee. People took two or three hours for girls kicking their heels in a floor show dinner ... No one was in a hurry ... They ... They went to eat and drink first of all would have thought it silly to fox trot and then to be entertained. Dancing during dinner hadn't become while the pate de foie gras waited. If you looked over an old menu, you'd in vogue ... About 1914, the average see hors d'oeuvres for 60 cents ... There American began to feel an urge to be was a stalk of celery stuffed with part of what was going on and not Roquefort cheese, a segment of sardine, merely a spectator ... He wanted to put two slices of head cheese, half a boiled some physical effort into his evening egg sprinkled with caviar and half a baby when he frequented cabarets. tomato stuffed with spiced apple and At first, the cabaret keepers were more mayonnaise ... The dish cost less than 20 concerned with the fame of their filet cents to prepare. mignon aux champignons than they Lynnhaven oysters, which wholesaled were about how Irene and Vernon Castle for a dime, cost customers 40 cents ... danced ... or the way Sophie Tucker The chicken soup a la Creole was 30 peddled a song ... Cabaret operators cents a portion ... Fried smelts Versailles knew how a duck should be prepared were listed on the menu for 50 cents and roasted but couldn't tell an adagio including the tartar sauce ... It could be performance from trained elephants. written off the books for 12 cents ... A No one had ever dreamed of a cover $5 dinner was prepared for no more charge ... Restaurateurs believed people than $1.25. would make them rich by eating ... and Waiters didn't they didn't have to charge them $4 cost a penny ... apiece just to park their feet under a Headwaiters table. paid for their But in the 1930s, the book says, peo- jobs and tray- ple didn't go to nightclubs to eat ... If carriers were they did, they'd starve to death ... paid $1 a day ... Chicken sandwiches the size of postage and fined $1 a stamps, chop suey and egg foo yung day for break- would scale customers down to the size age ... Chefs of midgets ... The main idea wasn't to earned $5,000 make good food but the cheapest stuff a year. that could be turned out at the highest People who prices the traffic would bear. stuck up their There were some places left that fea- noses at eggs tured the chef over the comics ... but with grated they were scarce ... Most of the joy-seek- cheese for a ers were-so blotto by 1 a.m. they could- quarter in little n't tell a crepe Suzette from a hamburger restaurants, smothered in onions. were tickled to lay out a dollar in the lobster palaces for oeufs a la reine which are exactly the same thing. People ate in famous restaurants and paid high prices because it was the thing to do ... just as it is today ... When good food became scare in New York, it was the fault of the customers who were sat- isfied with chop suey and tough steak sandwiches. In some cafes, owners piled on extra charges for bread and butter and a bowl of cracked ice ... They figured when you're in the job of feeding and amusing people, you're expected to sink the hooks into them ... If you don't, they'll go somewhere else where the proprietor has less conscience. Customers like to spend, but they don't want to believe they're being taken for a ride. People became tired of eating as a form of entertainment no matter how fine the food might be ... And so dinner entertainment was pioneered and night- clubs were born. In any club, the book says, the most important person is the headwaiter ... He's the front man, the contact man and the salesman for the house ... In most of the modern restaurants, hostesses have replaced headwaiters and its not the same. In the old days, if the headwaiter was grumpy and showed no interest, the cus- tomer was less enthusiastic and his money stayed right down in the bottom of his pocket. Today, hostesses may be grumpy or far from charming, but they seldom get a tip ... It's the waiters and waitresses who are most important. MAKING ROUNDS OF yesteryears ... To Huck's Redford Inn on Grand River, for the roadhouse style diners and to hear Don Miller at the Hammond organ ... To Gurney's Chop House on E. Congress, for steak ... To Coffee Dan's .