Arts & Entertainment
THE BEST OF EVERYTHING
You Say Tomato, I Say APizza
Gourmet chef fulfills dream at Farmington Hill pizzeria.
H
catered about 19 years ago.
He is a workaholic and calls his
wife, Dori, a "Pizza Widow"
because of her playing second
fiddle to the pies ... but she is also
a second hand to him in so many
ways, taking over the marketing,
etc:
Mike's excellent, very thin-
crusted pizzas are requested in
numerous styles ... and, although
Danny Raskin
Senior Columnist originally a peasant food in Italy,
they have reached a status where
he also makes exotic pizzas for
$299, with live five-pound lobster, etc.; $1,749 with foie
gras, black truffles, etc.; and $3,999 with Beluga Caviar,
bottle of Dom Perignon, four gold-rimmed engraved
champagne glasses, etc.... all 18 inches, 15 slices, avail-
able only at the 14 Mile location and with 48-hour
notice.
But the best seller on his menu is $9.99 small and
$15.99 large, called a White APizza with buffalo moz-
zarella cheese, tomato slices, fresh basil, crushed garlic,
spices and parmesan cheese ... Same prices for his
Crab APizza seafood pizza, Fresh Mozzarella APizza
and Green APizza.... Mike's Classic APizza is $7.99 and
$11.99, and a Red APizza is $6.99 and $10.99... All
made the traditional brick-oven way.
Probably the most popular not-on-the-menu item is
the Neapolitan Sampler with four quarters of different
pizzas, $9.99 and $14.99 ... The Pizza Maker Challenge
is when someone says, "Make me whatever you think
I'll enjoy" or has a special request, same prices as the
sampler.
Tomatoes APizza is open Monday-Thursday 11-10;
Friday-Saturday 11-11: Sunday 1-10 ... An all-you-can-
eat Pizza Buffet is Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.,
$7.99.
Yes, little kids have big dreams ... But most of them
eventually just turn into billowed clouds of memories
... Mike Weinstein's Tomatoes APizza is his childhood
reverie come true in a big way.
IT MAY BE ONE of the smallest delis around, but
e never followed recipes ... felt that they were
too conforming ... He'd rather make his own
concoctions as he went along ... And so was
born a different innovation with his own style of cook-
ing presentations.
After all, being a graduate of the prestigious
Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.,
acclaimed as one of the world's finest culinary institu-
tions, certainly deserved added merit.
But Mike Weinstein wasn't satisfied ... He wanted his
own dining business ... The first thought by those who
didn't know him was that it would be a fine dining
establishment ... His Culinary Institute of America
(C.I.A.) honors deemed as such.
However, the truth be known, it was the farthest pos-
sible from Mike's dream ...Years ago, while attending
Orchard Lake Middle School and West Bloomfield
High, Mike lived in the neighborhood of Romano's
Pizza on 14 Mile and Middlebelt in Farmington Hills,
which he often visited ... and who catered Mike's bar
mitzvah reception at the Potomac Club, given by his
parents Robert and Bonnie Weinstein ... This is when
Mike made the wish that if he could make pizza for a
living it would be his heaven ... plus a second one he
thought was surely out of the question ... to_someday
make them as an owner at that same location.
After-graduating from the C.I.A. and Ithaca College
in New York, Mike worked at pizza spots here and in
Europe to learn the true ways of making pizza ... This
to be the basis for his own real gourmet .style of inno-
vative pizza making and preparation.
Mike's first Tomatoes APizza, a name that stems
from the original Neapolitan pronunciation of pizza
(ah-beats) opened in July 1998, on Halsted, north of
Grand River, Farmington Hills, with no seating ...
Today it seats 75.
Mike's second Tomatoes APizza, where he spends
all his time these days, on the east side of the Warren
Mall shopping center, 14 Mile and Middlebelt,
Farmington Hills, around the bend from Nino
Salvaggio Market ... opened in 2003, seating 50 in a
separate dining room ... at the exact same Romano's
Pizza site from where his bar mitzvah reception was
OPEN MON
—
FRI 7 8 • SAT 8 8 • SUN 8 3
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DELI AND GOURMET
RESTAURANT
All Seniors get an additional
$1" OFF any Dinner Entr6e from 4 pm - 8 pm
(Extra discount is in addition to the Senior Discount)
21754 W. 11 MILE RD. • HARVARD ROW • 248-352-4940 FAX: 352-9393
Danny's e-mail address is
dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net.
Free Bottle of Champagne on Valentine's Day, February 14!
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MONDAY NIGHT SPECIAL
Stan's Deli on Woodward, a block south of 14 Mile,
Royal Oak, is big on the kind of quality that comes
with much experience.
Stan Snitz, popular counterman and manager, whose
popularity garnered oodles of friends, was with Jack
and Harriet Goldberg at the original Stage Deli in Oak
Park, and with them when they moved to Stage & Co.
at the Boardwalk, West Bloomfield ... Also with Steve
and Joannie Hurwitz at Steve's Deli in Bloomfield Hills.
Partner Bob Fenkell originally opened Fisher
Packing in 1980, taking Sy Ginsberg as a partner in
1985 and changing the name to United Meat & Deli,
adding corned beef and other deli meats ... Scott
Mendelson became a partner in 1994 ... Sy and Scott,
its present owners, bought out Bob in 2000.
Stan's Deli seats about 20, with 600 of its,1,700
square feet being the open kitchen folks look in from
both the inside and outside ... It is the only deli-
catessen around using a rotisserie to primarily cook
most of the turkeys prepared:
No other deli has the popular yesteryear sandwich
gaining much popularity again, the great Bar Le-Duc,
grape or strawberry jam and regular pr low-fat cream
cheese on challah, toasted white, rye or whatever.
SO MUCH HIGH response that those singalongs by
Yosssi's Israeli Cuisine, north side of Robin's Nest,
Orchard Lake Road north of 14 Mile, in West
Bloomfield, will be twice monthly ... Next one is
Saturday, Feb. 18 ... Because of limited seating, reser-
vations are requested, (248) 626-0160.
CONGRATS ... To three generations on their birth-
days ... Kathy Hack, 40; her grandmother, Zelda Bean,
87; and mother Eleanor Hack, 66.
READER MINI CRITIQUE ..."We .had an excellent
dinner at Zanzibar restaurant on S. Main in Ann Arbor.
The food and service were superlative, upscale and not
pricey. The house chardonnay wine was excellent and
my seafood stew outstanding. My wife Gloria's seared
tuna was wonderful." ... Robert Moreillan.
.
■
BBQ Grill on the Table
■
Best Sushi Bar in Town
■ *Traditional
Floor
Sitting Rooms Available
ew S
10% off
your TOTAL food bill
0, ANY TIME
Dine in only • Not good with any other offer expires 02128106
I G arden
Authentic Korean & Japanese Cuisine
Phone (248) 827-1600
Open Daily Catering Available
www.newseoulgarden.com
newseoul@hotmail.com
27566 Northwestern Hw .
January 26 • 2006
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