The Best Of Everything five top pizza places, will be Saturday, March 27, 5 p.m. and Sunday, March 28, 4 p.m. GET WELL WISHES ... To Molly Yagoda, living in Las Vegas with hus- band, Herman ... former owners of McVee's restaurant. FARMINGTON HILLS powers are thrilled at the new look and con- among the few dining spots in this cept to be undergone by Vineyards region that hardly ever seem to devi- on Northwestern Highway ... It will ate from their daily consistency ... be a striking complement to the city, Always good from food to service to they say ... and the new image a great ambience to reasonable prices. This fine dining eatery never ceases addition. Name change will be to Vineyards to amaze ... Regular consistency of Marketplace this year ... with all- goodness is not the easiest thing to encompassing interior services avail- maintain in the restaurant game ... able. Problems almost always rear their Vineyards, by the way, now also ugly head ... Not to say that has Maggie's choColate-covered straw- Rochester Chop House doesn't have berries for Passover. its tribulations ... Wouldn't be nor- MAIL DEPT. ... From former mal if it didn't ... But very obviously Detroiter Frankie Paul Potestio, living Bill Kruse, Vince Clark and their in Naples, Fla., with wife, Rose ... "I staff must know how to handle them ran into one of my buddies, Udo Salk without miss- and his wife, Gertrude. He's a mem- ing a step in the satisfactory ber of the Southfield Rotary Club of presentation of which I was president. "I was surprised as I walked in to their opera- play my accordion as usual on Friday- tion. evenings in the Chablis Restaurant in While there the Registry Resort of Naples, to find again recently, them waiting to hear me entertain. relaxing amid "With them was another couple. the white They asked if I recalled who they tablecloth with were. They told me I played their white butcher . wedding with my orchestra 35 years block paper ago and also both of their sons' bar overlay and mitzvahs. Their names are Bill and crayons for Audrey Fine, Temple Israel members doodling, and residents of West Bloomfield." white linen KORN KORNER ... A man napkins, com- fortable and relaxing atmosphere, etc. arrives at the breakfast room in the hotel at which he is staying and calls ... result was another enjoyable visit. over the headwaiter. I had a chargrilled Salmon "I believe that this- morning, I Lawrence that was served with a would like two boiled eggs, one of sauce seldom seen in these parts of the country ... large chunks of Maine them so undercooked it's runny, and the other so overcooked it's tough lobster, gulf shrimp, asparagus, diced and hard to eat. Also, grilled bacon tomatoes and saffron cream. that has been left out so it's a bit And here is a restaurant that does- cold, burnt toast that crumbles away n't just serve key lime pie ... but as soon as you touch it with a knife, makes it with a lot of authenticity ... butter straight from the deep freeze Such as 10 gallon jugs of pure lime so that it's impossible to spread, and juice brought in regularly from Key a pot of very weak, lukewarm cof- West, Fla. fee. One of the desserts Rochester That's a complicated order sir," Chop House puts together is so huge that people can have it one-half order said the bewildered waiter. "It might be quite difficult." or whole order ... A mammoth The guest replied, "Oh? I don't creampuff with whipped cream, understand. That's what I got here Sanders fudge sauce and chunks of yesterday!" ❑ Mackinaw Island fudge in the ice cream. Danny Raskin's e-mail address is SEGMENTS OF THE TV Food Network's Best Of series with .Buddy's dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net Pizza, chosen as one of the nation's Paris In Ann Arbor Chef-owner's Cordon Bleu training shines at Eve restaurant. creme fraiche, cod poached hy, you may ask, in cream, pan-fried trout go to a restau- topped with a sunny-side- rant in Ann up egg, etc. Arbor when These hours will change there are so many other good in early spring when the ones around? nearby Ann Arbor Farmer's Chances are that this might market opens ... New be a question by someone spring menus will also be who has never enjoyed the DANNY unveiled. expertise of a Cordon Bleu . RASKIN White linen tablecloth culinary school of Paris grad- Senior Columnist seating at Eve is only for uate. about 75 ... small but gra- Not many times, if ever, in ciously appointed with a romantic a lifetime does one get the opportu- feeling. nity to dine on cuisine prepared by a Her culinary techniques are evi- chef who earned his or her sheepskin denced in a dish from the legendary Le Cordon Bleu like the grilled flank Academy in Paris. steak salad which is Eve restaurant in Ann Arbor's marinated and thin- Kerrytown Market & Shops, Fifth ly sliced over baby and Kingsley, is owned by its chef, Le arugula, tossed with Cordon Bleu grad Eve Aronoff, whose distinctive style of food prepa- triple blue cheese ration has become quite well noted. • and accompanied by a fricassee of This is her first venture into a wild mushrooms dream of having her own restaurant and balsamic-mac- ... a five-year culmination of that erated cipolline vision ... Some place of her own onions ... where Eve could ply her skills as she Macadamia-encrust- wished and was trained. ed salmon served "I believe in the philosophy of with coconut rice French cooking," she says. "To me that and citrus-sour means making almost everything from cream and scratch, following the seasons and Moroccan chicken in phyllo, slow savoring and caring about the food." cooked chicken wrapped in phyllo With this, Eve also imbues her own style to much satisfaction ... "We real- and served with candied limes and toasted almonds. ly enjoy cooking for people and get- Moroccan chicken, by the way, was ting excited about the food. We don't the dish she made for graduation mind special requests at all." from Le Cordon Bleu. She is the daughter of retired Eve's servings of duck are exquisite Michigan State University professors ... like the breast brushed with fig Drs. Joel and Marilyn Aronoff Eve conserve and stuffed with smoked attended Brandeis University and duck, duxelles of cultivated mush- began cooking while there ... contin- rooms and dried figs. uing on in restaurants from line cook Her love for food shows in Eve's to sous chef de cuisine to executive styling ... She follows a prestigious chef in Boston, Ann Arbor and Paris. line 'of culinary goodness ... but is Presently, Eve restaurant is open possessed, too, with an innovative for dinner Tuesday through sense that brings out Eve's fine culi- Thursday, 5:30-1.0; Friday and nary talents. Saturday, 5-11; Sunday, 5-9 ... No Eve restaurant in Ann Arbor is a lunch, but brunch on Saturday and polished jewel. Sunday 11,2 that includes lox and NOT TOO DIFFICULT to know eggs, cured hot- and cold- smoked why Rochester Chop House on Main salmon, bagels, black bread and Street in Downtown Rochester, was farmer's cheese (for two), potato rated as one of America's best restau- latkes with hot smoked salmon and rants by Gourmet magazine ... It is W 3/26 2004 60 3)