Arts & Entertainment
THE BEST OF EVERYTHING
A Keego Keeper
Harbor Steak House has been a dining beacon for 47 years.
B
ack in 1961, it was a little bar
serving just hamburgers and
maybe another sandwich or
two ... Today, as the Harbor Steak House,
renamed in 1996, on Orchard Lake Road
between Keego Harbor and Commerce
Road, Keego Harbor, it has become one of
the area's fastest growing restaurants in
popularity.
Forty-seven years ago in August, origi-
nal owner Angelo Giordano and his sons
Louie and Donald opened the then named
Harbor Bar ... It was taken over in 1996
by Donald's son, Jeff, and Louie's son, Tony,
who made improved interior appoint-
ments.
But food and service became the more
important things to go along with price
... And Harbor Steak House has made
certain not to be lacking in either of these
... Back in 1972, its best seller, prime rib,
was sold only on Friday and Saturday
evenings, and usually ran out ... Today,
the 16-ounce USDA Choice piece is 22.95,
and an extra-thick 24-ouncer, $27.95, are
daily menu items ... Since the restaurant's
opening, almost 2 million pounds of
prime rib have been sold ... The popular
5-9 Friday Night Fish Fry, still remains.
Both Jeff and Tony were in the kitchen
when it was owned by their dads ... Jeff
was executive chef, and Tony sous chef
... 12 years ago, Jesus Ramirez came on
board as executive chef ... Salo Bako,
two years after, is their sous chef ...
The cousins still keep their hand in the
food preparation on Friday and Saturday
nights, helping out where needed ... But
Ramirez and Bako need little assistance
for the roasted rack of lamb that Harbor
Steak House has four times a week, or the
usual eight-fish daily specials
(over 200,000 pounds sold since
opening) ... Sunday, Monday
and Tuesday are much all-you-
can-eat crab legs, with more
than 100 pounds usually sold in
the three days, and over 300,000
pounds chowed down by lovers
of the tasty mollusk.
Ramirez and Bako pride
themselves on a couple of dishes
they say cannot be found else-
where ... The amaretto shrimps
sauteed with almonds and amaretto, and
orange roughy Rockefeller with a crab and
spinach mixture, topped with cheese ...
Popular items like the eight-ounce filet
with sauteed mushrooms, baby back spare
ribs and frog legs, broiled or deep fried,
are large favorites.
One of the Harbor House employees,
Nancy Deacon, has been behind the bar
27 years, and waitperson Diana Stutsman,
has served folks more than 22 years ...
Jeff's wife, Tina Giordano, has been a ser-
vice favorite more than 16 years.
Seven-day restaurant hours are Monday-
Friday, 11-11; Saturday, 1-11; Sunday, 1-10
... Seating is 190 in two rooms ... Dinners
include soup or salad, about four potato
choices or rice pilaf or vegetable.
On seeing the Harbor Steak House for
the first time, folks may not be aware of
the good dining experience that awaits
them inside the doors ... But the renovation
inside enhances a clean, relaxing atmosphere
to go with the carefully prepared food and
service that have made regulars out of
many first-time "let's try it" customers.
THERE'S NO BUSINESS like the res-
taurant business, Lazar Izrailov has always
said, even though Irving
Berlin wrote the show biz
hit with other words ... And
so Lazar is out of restaurant
retirement and back at his
original love.
Not that he ever really left
the food game, still holding
on to his Lazar's Catering
after selling the two Orchard
Family Restaurants he owned
from 1983 to 1996, first on
Orchard Lake Road south of
14 Mile where Best Buy is now located in
Farmington Hills, and then Farmington
Road, north of 15 Mile, West Bloomfield.
Seating at his new 855 Deli, named after
the delicatessen's phone number, at the
former locale of Hello Deli and Boris' Deli
on 15 Mile and Farmington Road, West
Bloomfield, is for about 30 at nine tables,
plus a window counter with six backed
stools ... The seven-day operation is open
for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Monday-
Saturday, 7-8; Sunday, 7-3.
Knowledgeable restaurant people are
smart ... They surround themselves as
much as possible with experience ...
Which is why 855 Deli preparations are
made on premises with much savvy
... The cooking is by Lazar and Dave
Johnson, who was trained by the late
Jack Goldberg at Stage & Co. in West
Bloomfield and worked there over 15 years
... And before that by Rose Guttman at
Irving's Deli on Greenfield in Southfield
... Dave teams with Lazar in prepara-
tions of whitefish, short ribs, beef brisket,
stuffed chicken breast, spinach pie and so
much more ... Lazar also makes the excel-
lent chicken soup with traditional noodles,
not those curly pastas, and deliciously
chunky chicken pieces.
There is little match for experience,
proven once again by Lazar and Dave ...
And because 855 Deli is loaded with this
know-how, it is the small kind of Jewish
delicatessen that a neighborhood commu-
nity enjoys with many open arms.
GOOD WAITRESS DEPT. ...
Vera Djonay at George's Honey Tree,
Northwestern Hwy., West Bloomfield ...
One of owner George Lukaj's hard-work-
ing, gracious and efficient service gals, she
is his longest-standing wait person, more
than eight years, and one at whose station
many people look to sit.
FINDING TWO PENNIES on the JCC
Maccabi Games track, superstitious-type
Nicole Meisner stuffed the lucky cent
pieces into the Spandex shorts under her
uniform and sprinted to nine gold medals
in track and field ... She is the daughter
of Mort and Leslie Meisner and on the
track team at Berkley High ... Nicole's
long curly hair is 15 inches shorter, too,
after recently cutting her tresses and send-
ing them to Locks of Love for youngsters
who lost hair due to cancer-related treat-
ment ... For which she certainly deserves
oodles more gold medals.
REUNION DEPT. ... New name and
contact phone number for Detroit Central
High's 50th reunion, Saturday, Sept. 13, is
Sandra Baren Matthews, (248) 553-8899.
CONGRATS ... To Mollie Moglovkin on
her 90th birthday ... To Sheldon Yarsike on
his 52nd birthday ... (correction, it's Sharon
Edelman on her birthday, not Adelman). ❑
Danny's e-mail address is
dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net .
Now taking orders for Rosh Hashanah omPLETE DINNERS & A LA CARTE
FREE
Honey Apple Cobbler
COMPLETE DINNERS CHOICES;
Roasted 1/2 Chicken
Roasted Honey Apple 1/2 chicken
Roasted Chicken Marsala
Stuffed Chicken Breast Marmalade
Lean Roast Beef Brisket
with all Rosh Hashanah orders
(10 person min)
Stool's use Oil
Psilet 00.00euts
i
S14. 99per person
S15 99 per person
S 1
6.99 per person
S1 7.99per person
S 1 8.99 per person
www.Vineyar•eli.com
NibblesAndNuts.com
All complete Dinners Include: (Chopped Vegetarian Liver or Beef Chopped Liver,
Chicken Matzo Ball Soup or Mushroom Barley Soup, Roasted Potatoes Anna or Potato Kugel,
Whole cut green bean Almondine and Holiday Challah Bread
32418 Northwestern Hwy (Bet Middle belt & 14 mile rd)
Dinner orders 248-855-9463 Rosh Hashanah Holiday Gifts shipped nationwide 248-737-8088
AI
September 4 • 2008
C13