n online
The Best Of Everything
JN Digest
)
Selected news and feature stories
from the Detroit Jewish News.
wwvv.detroitjevvishnews.cominevvs
) Back In Time
Look for Alexis P. Rubin's
"This Month in Jewish History"
for July.
wwwdetroitjewishnews.com
) What's Eating
Harry Kirsbaum?
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) New Column from
Brian Blum: Freedom
and Responsibility
at the Zoo
Brian tells of a memorable trip
to The Jerusalem Zoo, and offers
his insight on spending July 4th
as an Israeli citizen. From the
perspective of someone who
celebrated Independence Day in
his childhood, Brian remarks on
shared ideas about freedom and
responsibility. Read more online
at w-w-w.jewish.com .
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PARTIES
Patti's Parties
7/1
2003
66
... www.pattisparties.invitations.com
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248-354-6060
Serving Up A Song
Legends Diner chef will give you
an aria with your appetizer.
r
downtown Athens, Greece ...
first he'll cook your
order ... Then, after
He weighed 130 pounds then
... Today, Ted is 61 and weighs
your food has been
250.
prepared, he'll come
Legends Diner is a true fam-
out and sing you a few bars (or
ily-operated restaurant ...
more) from an opera.
owned by Lon Lleshaj ... with
Just say the word, and Ted
wife, Agee, its evening manag-
Mitropoulos will have the
er ... their son Mike, cook and
entire place looking up ... and
DAN NY
busboy; daughter Tricia,
then applauding as he holds
RAS KIN
evening hostess and cashier;
the last note until the veins in
Local Columnist niece Suzy, head waitperson;
his neck start popping out.
and nephew Nick, busboy.
Ted is executive chef at
Lon's dad, Pashk Lleshaj, helps out
Legends Diner, the family eatery on
Nine Mile east of Gratiot in Eastpointe.
wherever needed ... and a brother, Luke,
It's a former small Coney Island opera- operates and manages the Legends
Coney Island operation on Mt. Elliot
don that was remodeled into a full-
fledged Greek restaurant in 2000 ... after and Grand Boulevard.
receiving a beer-and-wine license.
The usual traditional Greek fare is
among the dishes prepared on the exten-
When it comes to cooking interna-
tional dishes, Ted is among the tops
sive menu ... plus 32 specials daily.
Ted's lamb chops are a big pride ...
around ... gathering continual knowl-
succulent and tender ... and his salmon,
edge from the former Lelli's on
prepared in his own special way, is a
Woodward and Grand Boulevard,
Golden Lion on 7 Mile and Mack,
Raleigh House catering and
Piccadilly for Sammy Lieberman at
the Raleigh House on Telegraph.
Then came Chef Theodore's on
Orchard Lake Road, where Shalimar
is now located in Farmington Hills ...
and on to Philadelphia for nine years
as a big favorite ... While in Philly, he
also taught cooking at the
Philadelphia Restaurant School.
Legends Diner is a 130-seater ...
plus six stools at a counter ... with a
menu whose outer rim is lined with
a decor of movie-star photos.
Ted blends in nicely with them ...
He is showbiz in a big way ... and
the customers love it.
No slouch in the kitchen ... or out
front warbling at the top of his lungs
Legends Diner owner Lon Lleshaj with Chef
... On the night I was there, out he
Ted Mitropoulos.
strolled into a packed restaurant
singing "0 Sole Mio" to the stunned
tasty standout.
audience ... And they were shocked even
However, as large as the menu is ...
more when he sang "Pagliacci" in Greek
with more specials daily than many
... At one of the nearby tables, a gent
places have in a week ... it still doesn't
opened his eyes wide and exclaimed,
touch Ted's knowledge of food prepa-
"Hey! That ain't no Italian!"
Before his restaurant journeys, Ted
ration.
Which is why many customers also
was a professional opera singer ...
come to Legends Diner for dishes that it
appearing three times at the La Scala
doesn't even have.
Opera House in Milan, Italy ... and in
All the folks need to do is say, "Tell
Greece was noted for his Greek opera
Ted to make so and so for me" and if
styling ... Ted was only 18 when singing
the ingredients are in the place, the dish
at the Lyrike Skini Opera House in
will be made.
This is the sign of a good chef ... and
this Ted Mitropolous certainly is.
Legends Diner is open seven days a
week ... Monday-Saturday 8 a.m.-9
p.m.; Sunday 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
If you want Ted to sing for your sup-
per, just ask if he's in the mood ... which
very few people have ever seen him not
to be.
But please tell Ted not to sing the
opera Madame Butterfly in Greek ...
unless he wants to cause an international
incident.
NEVER SAID I could make a pie ...
Even Little Johnny at the old Cream of
Michigan restaurant on 12th Street
knew that the only thing I was interest-
ed in was eating his finished product.
Now if Little Johnny was still around
and had helped me, I might have made
that banana cream pie of his and stood a
chance at the recent Bavarian Inn Pie
Contest in Frankenmuth.
Plenty of stiff competition from
restaurant reviewers Sylvia Rector,
Detroit Free Press; Jane Rayburn, Detroit
News; Ron Krueger, Flint Journah. Ric
Bohy, Hour magazine; and Beverly
Hatcher, Royal Oak Thibune.
Sylvia won with her luscious good:
looking Michigan blueberry sour-cream
tart ... Jane's pie was sent with someone
else ... She couldn't get to Frankenmuth
because 1-75 out by her was water-
logged.
If my chocolate strawberry mousse
pie were a horse, it would still be run-
ning.
Little Johnny's banana cream pie,
though, might have gotten the votes of
judges Brian Polcyn, Five Lakes Grill;
Steve Allen, Steve & Rocky's; Dorothy
Zehnder, Bavarian Inn; Marcus Haight,
Lark; and Charles "Rocky" Rachwitz,
Rocky's of Northville and Brighton.
Little Johnny's friends would have
made sure that they did ... The Purple
Gang boys who hung out at the
"Cream" loved his banana cream pie.
WHEN MORTON'S, THE
Steakhouse in Southfield, does some-
thing, it is top-notch all the way ... As in
its tradition of "only the best."
Morton's recent cocktail party was
just a "thank you" for continued sup-
port and sort of a summer kickoff ...
for regular guests, special friends and
select media folks.
General Manager Steve Salmon and
Catering Sales Manager Andrea
Aretakis welcomed about 100 folks the
entire evening as a variety of cocktails
and wine flowed with much regularity
... Also, an array of hors d'oeuvres was
one of the best seen.
Mini crab cakes, oysters-on-the-half-