Arts & Entertainment
THE BEST OF EVERYTHING
MBA Chef
Food presentation, business acumen make Bentley's a winner.
A
rare combination in the restau-
rant business is responsible for
the right buttons being pushed
on this dining spot's first anniversary.
You won't find too many fine chefs who
are also good businessmen ... The kind
who can prepare good food and also be
responsible for cost control, customer
satisfaction, fine service, knowledge of
how to prepare menus with fair prices,
etc.
At Bentley's, which opened November
2006 in the Drake-Summit Shopping
Plaza, on Drake Road, corner of Walnut
Lake Road, West Bloomfield, owner/chef
Ghasem Besh is celebrating a very suc-
cessful year because of his dual abilities.
Since opening, Bentley's has had more
than 15,000 people come through its
front door, ordering almost 5,000 pounds
of seafood, about 7,500 pounds of meat,
almost 2,000 pounds of poultry, etc. ...
These include top-sellers like an excellent
sea bass fillet, delicate yet with tight con-
sistency to go with a tantalizingly wonder-
ful taste, and an in-bone house specialty,
glazed veal chop ... Also highly ordered
is a signature item that few, if any, restau-
rants feature, Chef Besh's Steak Fukume,
a fillet of beef tenderloin with soy sauce,
garlic and ginger root served together
with dark sherry glaze caramelized mush-
rooms, $30.
Bentley's is more than just another
upscale restaurant ... Entrees are not a
la carte ... The above and other dinners
include soup or salad, vegetables and
potatoes ... On a light entrees segment
of the menu is another highly ordered
signature dish, grilled eggplant with basil
frittata on saffron vegetable sauce, $14;
baked whitefish with an herb-lemon-olive
sauce and orange blossom dressing, $14;
sweet crab cakes, $19; chicken
tequila, $15; braised lamb shank
with sautéed spinach, $18 ... All
entrees on the light menu are
with soup or salad.
When Chef Bash came
to America in 1978, he had
already gotten a bachelor of
arts business degree in Italy,
but furthered his education
by attending the University of
Colorado and graduating from
the University of Mexico with a master's
degree in business administration ...
This wonderful education, together with
the gourmet styling of food learned
from attending the Culinary Institute of
America in Hyde Park, N.Y., gave him
a decided edge in proper gastronomic
presentations and restaurant background
procedures ... At the Culinary Institute, he
was in the same class as three gents who
went on to become certified master chefs:
Michael Russell, Dan Hugelier and Jeff
Gabriel.
Chef Besh's knowledge was apparent
immediately after being hired in his first
job here, at the popular Keystone Resort
in the Colorado mountains, where he
soon further ingratiated himself with
the owners by lowering the food cost,
a huge trait that undoubtedly enabled
them to keep down menu prices ... Chef
Besh had by now been highly touted as
a cuisine artist ... Being executive chef
for Hilton International Hotel & Resort
in Africa, Asia and Europe is nothing to
sneeze at!
The two rooms at Bentley's seat about
330 ... 80 in the warm, comfortable and
cozy Walnut Room, 250 in the Marble
Room where bar mitzvah receptions,
banquets, etc., are also held ... Chef Besh
owns a catering company,
too (Accent International
Inc.), but that's another suc-
cess story ... Along with
the two rooms seating at
Bentley's are an additional 12
at a beautiful bar in a center,
open room.
And I didn't tell you yet
that Chef Besh was former
executive chef and food and
beverage director for Robert
Redford's annual month-long Sundance
Film Festival held at Redford's Sundance
Resort in Park City, Utah, where Redford
lives ... Chef Besh had been brought from
his position at Park City's nearby, presti-
gious Village Resort and Hotel.
The graceful and continental feel of
Bentley's, with its elegant dishes and
silverware, wooden floors, potted palms,
museum-style paintings and murals,
mahogany servers with drawers for din-
nerware, etc., is conducive to much culi-
nary pleasure ... It is a five-day weekly
operation, Tuesdays-Thursdays, 4 to 10;
Frith' •s and Saturdays, 4-11.
Fine dining without price upping is a
restaurant dimension that deserves much
praise ... These economic times call for
this in a big way and it is noteworthy that
someone like Chef Besh should be among
those to present it.
FLORIDA STONE crabs, now in sea-
son, are in three sizes, small, medium
and large, at Dan Dunsky's O'Brien's
Crabhouse, Opdyke Road, Auburn Hills.
NEW DATES for Don Rickle's post-
poned engagement at Andiamo's Celebrity
Room, Warren are Friday-Saturday, April
11-12.
FOUR OF THE five inductees at the
23rd Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
Dinner, Monday, Nov. 9, at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek Southfield, attended Detroit
Central High ... Frankie Faudem, former
Detroit Tiger's minor league outfield
prospect, killed during World War II, Roy
Clark, minor league catcher, Allan Freund,
Eastern Michigan basketball coach, and
William Serman, developer of basketball
in Israel ... Non-Centralite Josh Mondry
is one of Michigan's finest amateur golf-
ers ... Willie Horton, former Tiger star,
will receive the Alvin Foon Humanitarian
Award ... 6 p.m. cocktails, 7:30-9 sit-down
dinner and awards ... $180 for adults,
$36 for ages to 13 ... Call Elayne Wolfson,
MJSHF community relations director,
(248) 788-0810.
BIG THRILL for Don Rochlen was on
the greens with Michael and David Grant
when Don shot a hole-in-one on the 112-
yard, par three fifth hole at Pine Trace Golf
Club, using a nine-iron.
SINCE THE FIRST local Jewish Book
Fair in 1951, at the old Jewish Community
Center on Davison in Detroit, photogra-
pher Bob Benyas has taken the picture of
every author appearing there ... He con-
tinues his camera clicks at this year's 56th
Annual Jewish Book Fair, through Nov.
18, at the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit.
CONGRATS ... To Sandra Cameron
on her birthday ... To Faye Weinstock
on her 73rd birthday ... To Irving Cohen
on his 80th birthday ... To Rose Kent
on her birthday ... To Melissa Wolf-
Litwin on her 39th birthday ... To Harry
Ehrlich on his 86th birthday ... To Julie
and Ernie Backalar on their 11th anni-
versary.
Danny's e-mail address is
dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net.
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* Potato Latices
* Handcut Lox
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Tuna & Fat-
Free Tuna
Can't Be Beat!
* Vegetarian
Chopped
Liver
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& Coleslaw
COMPARE OUR
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MEAT TRAY
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$7.50 ars on
SALAD TRAY W/
LOX & CREAM CHEESE
*10.50 per
person
DAIRY TRAY
5
14.9'9 Per
person
STAR'S TRAYS CAN'T BE BEAT FOR QUALITY & PRICE!
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ON STAR'S BEAUTIFUL
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** 30* *** *AallafiragrEaMMERV444Z
24555 W. 12 MILE ROAD
Just west of Telegraph Road • Southfield
**** 74 4(
248•352•7377
November 1 • 2007
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