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Hong Hua lives up to its stellar reputation.

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se of the word
"gourmet" by
numerous Chinese
restaurants is one of the
big misnomers in the din-
ing out business ... Few
really mean it and even
fewer deserve it.
Celebrating its fifth
Danny Raskin
anniversary, Hong Hua on
Senior Columnist
Orchard Lake Road, north
of 12 Mile, Farmington
Hills, is one of those who can certainly point to its
innovative goodness as a true gourmet Chinese
restaurant ... Very much haute cuisine in the realm
of Cantonese and Szechuan cooking ... with its
beautifully prepared and choicely seasoned
delights.
Many of Hong Hua's exotic dishes are on the
diversified menu ... but those not are in the heads
of its owners, who transmit distinctive desires to
another owner in the kitchen.
Customers wanting something special not on the
menu have only to ask one of the partners ...
Danny Yu, Gary Yau or Shetwai Seto, who will tell
partner-chef Peter Chan, and "voila!" the requested
dish from fertile minds is prepared with amazing
originality.
It is difficult to believe what these gents can
come up with ... or when just telling Peter that the
customer wants something different in the way of
say, a plain fillet ... What may be served would be
something exotically dissimilar and with much
good taste ... Like the fillet sliced into pieces of
sheer tenderness amid mushrooms, carrots and
asparagus in a rich, specially-created sauce for this
dish ... Or an ordinary shrimps and scallops dish
that comes together with a spinach that even those
who dislike spinach devour with zest ... The scal-
lops are unlike those at many other Chinese restau-
rants ... extremely tasty with a firm consistency but
a tenderly elegant touch.
Hong Hua is in a very select class of Chinese
restaurants ... of which only a few exist in Michigan
... It is extremely far from your ordinary Chinese
eatery, with a reputation that in the five years since
opening has grown with . continuous high recogni-
tion.
It is a true gourmet Chinese destination restau-
rant ... both for its never-seen-before preparations
of unusually ordinary Chinese dishes and so many
remarkable approaches ... all Hong Hua's very own.
Its owners are big on service ... with the firm
belief that good food tastes even better when effi-
ciently served by cordial and personable waitper-
sons ... This is a reason why there are never fewer
than six or seven tuxedoed servers during the week
and 10 or 11 on the weekends ... even though seat-
ing is only around 150 ... Cleanliness plays a big

TN

September 29 . 2005

role, too, with white linen tablecloths and bur-
gundy linen napkins surrounded by the look of
immaculate class.
Five years of ultra goodness ... exceeded only by
its ultra-distinctive styles of gourmet Chinese food
preparation that takes it to an entirely new level ...
The sometimes mixture of Chinese and American
styles is nothing short of amazing ... Hong Hua has
its own signature flavor individuality ... and it
shows with much prominence.
A PIANIST IN ONE ROOM played "As Time
Goes By" beneath a screen that continuously
showed the movie Casablanca, and a jazz singer
warbled in the bar lounge ... The new Bogarts had
its recent grand opening.
Bogarts is at the former E.G. Nick's site on Maple,
east of Farmington Road, West Bloomfield ... with a
different look (a lot of Humphrey Bogart, of course),
a menu unlike the previous one and new owners.
CONGRATS ... To Terri Himelson and Beverly
Kahan on their birthdays ... To Sam Perlman on his
90th birthday.
IN THE VERY EARLY MORN, it looked like,
"Oh no, not again!" ... But what seemed like more
rain turned into beautiful 70-degree perfect weath-
er for the third annual Walk of Ages at the Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield ... Quite a
contrast to last year's dismal drizzly morning ...
and it showed with all the attendees including
dogs, children and buggy riders.
Another wonderful job by hard-working chairgal
Geri Margolis and her fine group of some 35 vol-
unteers, who went all out again to make this event
such an excellent one ... And a special big thanks to
Sharon Levine, coordinator of the Holocaust
Program for Survivors and Families, volunteer
assigned as my grand marshal's assistant, who
never left my side the entire event, including our
three-mile walk together.
So nice to see the crowd of more than 300 ...
Murray Feldman, WJBK Fox 2, and Shari Zingle,
Jewish.com , discovering that both lived in the same
subdivision back in Cherry Hill, N.J., and Murray
quick to add, "Different eras" ... Sherry Margolis,
WJBK Fox 2, sweet and smiling as usual ... Rich
Luterman, WJBK Fox 2, giving a weathercast, "No
snow today! No snow today!" ... Dell Warner,
WDIV-TV, never looking better ... Don Shane,
WXYZ-TV, and wife, Mona, a handsome couple ...
Cheryl Chodun celebrating her 17th year with
WXYZ-TV ... George Cantor so knowledgeable and
personable ... Judge Susan Moiseev in a walking
shirt almost down to her knees ... Carole
Rosenberg, executive director of Jewish Home &
Aging Services, her always graciously exuberant
self ... Laser, the Fleischman Residence live-in dog
loved by everyone there, with a big tail wag for all
... So many thanks to so many wonderful folks who
came out to exercise and help raise funds. ❑

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