Arts & Entertainment
BEST OF EVERYTHING
A Sure Bet
Affordably priced Longshots Bar & Grill is a wining and dining winner.
H
e had attained all that
could be gotten in the
dining game ... There
were hardly more restaurant
worlds for him to conquer ...
And so in 1985, his constant
vision became a reality.
No more being known as one
of this region's more astute wine
connoisseurs, with fine vinos
like the 1929 jeroboam (six
bottle-size) of Chateau Mouton
Rothschild that went for $18,000
in 1975 and today would bring
around $200,000 ... No more
classic food dishes at pocket-
emptying upscale prices.
When Don Vargo celebrated the
10th anniversary of his Longshots
Bar & Grill on Grand River, a
couple of blocks east of Inkster,
Redford, it was the dream he had
finally brought to fruition ... One
destined to flourish as his greatest
gateway into dining and drinking
happiness.
Gone are the lush bottles of
Chateau Lafitte Rothschild and
elegant cognacs, or lavish wine
cellars with their rare Burgundies
and Bordeaux ... Instead, what
he now has is very much a part
of that vision to serve wine by
the glass affordable for everyone
... Wines like California Merlot,
chardonnay, white zinfandel, etc.
... Six-ounce pours for $4.50
instead of the four or five-ounce
glasses people get at $6.50 and
higher.
As his own executive chef, Don
is still able to feature good food
at prices much within reach ...
Examples include his wonderful
a live band will take over every
lamb chops, 16-ounce New York
Wednesday evening.
strip steak, 18-ounce rib-eye
In the 10 years, Don estimates
steak ... all $13.95, including
that his staff has served over a
salad and potato.
quarter-million glasses
There's noth-
of wine to the three-
ing fancy about
quarter of a million
Longshots Bar &
people who have come
Grill, far from it, but
to Longshots ... Over
so importantly very
30,000 soft-shell crabs,
clean ... Don's days of
more than 50,000 lamb
beautiful restaurants
chops, which he cuts
are gone ... He always
daily from the rack, sep-
Abaft
did have the feeling
arating the meaty bone
Danny Raskin
about not being able
and lamb tenderloin
Senior Co lumnist center ... over 50,000
to eat or drink the
decor.
New York steaks, etc.
No more linen napkins and
Don is a happy camper ... He
white tablecloths ... Gone is the
now has what he always dreamed
need to wear a jacket ... The
of owning.
informality includes fun stuff,
THE DINING SPOT slated
too, like three billiard tables and
to take over the former Hakata
a dart game ... One of the best
Japanese restaurant spot on
hamburgers around is Longshots'
Northwestern Highway, will
eight-ounce true chopped sir-
not open, according to Rosie
loin, 90 percent or more meat,
Gliner at Armada Real Estate in
10 percent or less fat, cooked on
Farmington Hills.
a standup broiler so that the fat
MARIO'S RESTAURANT
drips down rather than on a flat
was chosen to hold the cast party
grill, $3.50, including, if desired,
and cake cutting celebrating
cheese without charge.
the 500th performance by the
Among Don's biggest food
national tour of Wicked, now at
presentations are the large soft-
Masonic Temple, Detroit.
shell crabs he serves all year
RESIDENTS LIKE
round, a tremendous favorite, and Harold Finegood are even
delicious Ahi tuna ... Also the
happier ... Detroit's Riverfront
eight-ounce fresh salmon with
Towers' enlarged and
salad and veggie, baked, broiled
remodeled restaurant, Signature
or teriyaki, $7.95.
Grille and Bar, has been opened
Longshots Bar & Grill's kitchen by Chuckie Sugayan with her
is open Monday-Saturday, 11:30-
co-owner sons, Steve and Bert
9, with dancing to a disc jockey
... She was the likeable boss-gal
every night ... Starting June 14,
of former Encore and Virtuoso
restaurants.
READER CRITIQUE ...
"A group of us have been eat-
ing at a wonderful restaurant in
downtown Windsor, La Cuisine
on Rue Pelissier. The food is
cooked in a front open alcove by
owner-chef Harvey Cross, and
his wife, Marlou, is a server. Our
group, Joyce and Howard Pasman,
Marilyn and John Nathan, Leslie
and Bob Craig, Cookie and Vic
Koblin, myself and husband,
Steward Frank, have frequented
the restaurant many times and
always found the experience
entertaining and the food delight-
ful. The cuisine is French or
French-style and perfectly pre-
pared." ... Rochelle Imber.
LAST YEAR'S FIRST event
was a booming success with
5,000 people cramming into the
Spirit Airlines' hangar at Detroit
Metropolitan Airport ... This
year, the second annual pres-
tigious black-tie Aviators' Ball,
Saturday, June 24, will be at the
Ritz-Carlton, Dearborn.
With proceeds again benefit-
ing the Detroit and Ann Arbor
Ronald McDonald Houses, this
year's shindig will be themed
"McDonald's Salutes the Golden
Age of Aviation" honoring strides
made in aviation from the 1920s
and 1930s ... The Ritz-Carlton
ballroom will be decorated in the
air theme, and some of the hotel
staff will be in authentic flight
attendant garb.
Hors d'oeuvres, cocktails, din-
ner, entertainment by Notorious,
live and silent auctions including
restaurant packages, jewelry, four
trips, with Spirit, one of the spon-
sors, supplying the air, etc.
General tickets are $200, and
benefactor ducats that include
an early 5:30 hors d'oeuvres and
cocktail reception preceding the
6:30 door opening, $400 ... Call
Leslie Pardo, (248) 855-6777,
extension 134, or visit
aviatorsball.com.
CONGRATS ... To Bill
R. Katz on his 70th birthday,
celebrated with table for 20 at
Sposita's ... To Nettie Newman
on her birthday ... To Leonard
and Beverly Mitz on their 50th
anniversary.
ERRATA, TYPO, ETC. Dept.
Hoa Hoa for the tilapia fish,
is on Novi Road, just south of 14
Mile, not 12 Mile.
REUNION DEPT. ...
70th anniversary togetherness
by former Gamma Kappa Cha
at previously named Wayne
University in Detroit (now
Wayne State University), is
Sunday, Aug. 27, noon-5 p.m., at
Glen Oaks Country Club, 13 Mile,
Farmington Hills ... Contact
Al Halper, (248) 682-4986, or
Harvey Miller, (248) 626-4144.
Detroit Mumford High class of
1966's 40th is Saturday, Nov. 4, at
Somerset Inn, Troy ... Contact
Margi Fridson Weinhaus at (248)
553-6687, or
gofeuchre@sbcglobal.net . E
Danny's e-mail address is
dannyraskin®sbcglobal.net.
Deliciously Intoxicating,
Great Priced Authentic
Northern Italian Cuisine
•The perfect dinner spot before or
after the theater, or just because...
THE GALLERY RESTAURANT
Enjoy gracious dining amid a beautiful
atmosphere of casual elegance
•
BREAKFAST • LUNCH • DINNER
OPEN 7 DAYS:
•Restaurant & Bar
Available for Private Parties
MON.- SAT. 7 a.m.- 9:30 p.m. SUN. 8 a.m.- 9 p.m.
Bloomfield Plaza • 6638 Telegraph Road and Maple • 248-851-0313
-"°1.11111L
1 124 08 0
2203 Woodward Ave.
across from Comerica Park I Detroit I (313) 471-3500
June 8 • 2006 51