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Fusion Rules!

Chefs from diverse cultures create Mon Jin Lau's pan-Asian fare.

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OTPOURRI
Pan-Asian fusion dining may
best be described as a together-
ness of many Asian cuisines ... But it
takes a lot of true authentic know-how to
present and produce this style of feast-
ing, and nobody in this region does it
better than Mon Jin Lau, 15 Mile and
Stephenson, Troy.
Its ultra-clean kitchen, a most impor-
tant asset, is composed of chefs who pre-
pare the dishes distinctively representative
of their native country's culture ... Two
Thai, two Vietnamese, four Korean, five
Chinese from various regions.
Also, a very good Pan-Asian restaurant,
which Mon Jin Lau definitely is, should
not sit on its laurels and only serve the
same dishes, but be innovative enough
to offer food of these countries in clever,
uncomplicated ways ... Like the sea bass
in banana leaf, soft and tasty, yet with a
firm consistency ... delicious crab cakes
mixed with kimchi, the Korean cabbage
... shrimp covered with thin and crispy
fried coconut strips on a bed of excellent
premises-made taro sauce.
SURPRISE OF a recent Monday night
was the amount of youngsters with their
families at the recently opened second
Library Sports Pub & Grill (first one is in
Novi), on Haggerty Road in Commerce
Township ... It hardly would seem a fam-
ily spot, with 32 television sets naturally
mostly tuned to varied sporting events
... But it has a French onion soup that
borders on excellence, serves a lot of pizza
and has an interesting menu ... Not the
server's fault that our entree was brought
while still on our soups ... Another per-

son brought and pushed them
onto our crowded table ... This
the owners might look into,
since it is one of the restaurant
business' very big no-nos.
ONLY FOOD STATIONS at
Andiamo Italia's big New Year's
Eve bash, 14 Mile between
Mound and Van Dyke, Warren,
will be for the hors d'oeuvres
... The five-course filet dinner
will be complete sit-down ...
$100 per person includes open bar, din-
ner, dancing to Simone Vitale, champagne
toast, etc. ... Seldom Blues, Tower 400 of
Detroit's Renaissance Center, has reception
with imported and domestic cheeses, etc.,
open bar, champagne toast, four-course
gourmet dinner, dancing to Alexander
Zonjic and Motor City Horns, $375 per
couple.
Pi Restaurant, Franklin Road, southwest
corner Northwestern, Southfield, four-
course dinner, champagne toast, saxo-
phonist Duane Parham, $60 per person ...
Pi Banquet Hall back of restaurant, stroll-
ing hors d'oeuvres, open bar, impersonator
Mark Randisi, dancing to Johnny Trudell
big band, $100 per person ... Forte, S.
Woodward, Birmingham, four-course din-
ner, appetizer plate for table, champagne
toast, dancing to Hidden Agenda, $100 per
person.
RUMOR DEPT. ... Gathering words is
that one-half of the former Big Daddy's
Parthenon restaurant in West Bloomfield,
Tom Peristeris, may be returning to the
Greek dining circuit ... Talk has it that
Tom and partner may take over the former
Win Shuler's, E.G. Nick's and Bogart's, on

W. Maple, West Bloomfield.
GOOD WAITRESS
Dept. ... Be on your best
behavior when the warden
waits on you ... That's
Shayna Warden at Buddy's
Pizza, Northwestern Hwy.,
Farmington Hills ... Great
smile and laugh coupled
with dedicated efficiency ...
Plus being a fine, pleasant
waitperson, Shayna is also
a creative writing graduate from Eastern
Michigan University in Ypsilanti.
READER REVIEW Dept. ... "La
Gondola Ristorante on Wilshire Blvd., one
of the finest restaurants in Los Angeles,
is also glatt kosher. I've been going there
since moving out here in 1996, and
besides glancing at the menu occasion-
ally for a new appetizer or two, I always
know what I'll be ordering before I even
sit down.
"The Chai Steak, an 18-ounce rib-cut
steak marinated and served with a spicy
caramelized onion sauce. In fact, that
sauce is so popular, regulars request it
with chicken, duck, or any other dish they
want. And the potato-leek soup, made
with pureed potato and leek from home-
made vegetable stock is also great:'
Hershel Gouson, Los Angeles, (formerly of
Southfield).
I REMEMBER DEPT. ... From Larry
Raskin, Toledo, Ohio ... "When I tasted
my first pizza, it was called 'pizza pie.'
When I bit into it, I burned the roof of
my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung
down, plastered itself against my chin and
burned that, too. It's still the best pizza

Lunch or Brunch to go!

Choice of
25 Oz. of Turkey or Corned beef
1 /2 lb of sliced Swiss or American Cheese
1 lb of potato Salad or Cole Slaw
Jewish Baked Rye
Old & New Dills
Russian dressing
Coffee Cake

I ever had. A friend brought me an old
Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top
was a stopper with a bunch of holes in
it. I knew immediately what it was, but a
young friend of Lila's and mine had no
idea. She thought they had tried to make it
a saltshaker or something. I knew it as the
bottle that sat on the end of the ironing
board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we
didn't have steam irons then:'
PEOPLE DRIVE BY, see the name and
probably wonder how it stays in business
just selling batteries ... A good question
that would be difficult to answer if only
things like flashlight or other ordinary
batteries were sold ... But people like
Howard Wish took a chance and discov-
ered why ... The wheelchair his mother
Anne had for years wouldn't move, leaving
her desperate.
He then said he'd try that place over
on Orchard Lake Road, south of 14 Mile,
in Farmington Hills, that just sells bat-
teries ... Sure enough, they had a battery
for it, and now Anne is wheeling around
again at her usual daredevil pace ...
Seems like Batteries Plus isn't the kind
of battery store folks might have thought
it was, but a spot that carries every type
imaginable, even for cars, tools, radios,
alarms, etc.
CONGRATS ... To Donald Weingarden
on his 80th birthday ... To Johnny Katz on
his 75th birthday ... To Karen Crane on
her birthday ... To William Nosanchuck
on his 83rd birthday ... To Gertrude
Gilbert on her 100th birthday. I 1

Danny's e-mail address is

dannyraskin@sbcglobatnet.

Lox & Bagels Special

/2 lb of Acme Nova Lox
1 /2 lb Regular or Flavored Cream cheese
Sliced Tomatoes & Onions
1/2 Dozen Bagels

1

Serves 4-6

%15

Serves 4-6

%25

Lean meat add $3

orthwestern Hwy. • between Middlebelt & 14 Mile •

Iffiggrignar &DER ONLINE vvww.VineyardDeli.com

December 20

2007

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