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Well-Dressed Roots

Classy Cafe Cortina fetes Orchards' stylish crowd.

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OTPOURRI
... Hungarian Rhapsody serves
A BIG PLEASURE to see so
it at the table from a kettle over
many young folks dressed prop-
a lighted fire ... I know your
erly at the recent Cafe Cortina shindig to
mouths will probably water for
benefit Roots, the young professional group the other great things there ... If
that helps support Orchards Children's
you go with others who may not
Services ... The excellent hors d'oeuvres
be into Hungarian delights, tell
and choice wines were supplied and served them to try the steak Budapest, a
on the outdoor patio by Cafe Cortina,
New York strip, or the Tournedos
which counts Adrian Tonon, who with
Porcini or the steak and shrimp
mother Rina, have seen their Italian res-
Budapest style or even just
taurant become a world-class operation, as the plain 8-ounce filet ... Veal
an active member of Roots ... Most of the
Rhapsody, its signature dish, is
fellows looked so good wearing ties and
wonderful ... sauteed medallions with an
jackets and the gals were equally chic in
asparagus sauce.
their fineries ... Composer and producer
GOOD DINING DEAL DEPT. .
Sean Blackman's six-piece musical group
At Boneyard, Orchard Lake Road, West
gave out with a lot of fine rhythms.
Bloomfield ... Bar-B-Q Lamb Ribs for Two,
QUESTION & ANSWER DEPT. ... "My with sides for two of cottage-fried potatoes
wife, Mala, is a Hungarian Jew, born and
or baked potato, salad or cole slaw and gar-
raised in Hungary, and I am a Hungarian
lic bread, $21.95 ... And the Bar-B-Q whole
Jew, born and raised in New York. Do you
chicken for two, eight pieces, including all
know of any good Hungarian restaurants?
the above sides, $14.95 (broasted, $15.95).
We live in the Northville area but will go
MAIL DEPT. ... "Growing up and
anywhere for good Hungarian food!' ...
spending half of our married life in
Sidney Gershon.
Michigan, my husband Len and I had great
In my opinion, Hungarian Rhapsody on
memories of some of the gastronomic
Northville Road, between Dix and Allen
delights that we enjoyed. The outstanding
Road in Southgate, ranks among the best
onion soup at Chuck Muer's restaurant
... You and your wife will be very pleased,
in the Pontchartrain Hotel (Chuck had
I'm sure. I have found it to be even better
three of them there ... Top of The Pontch,
than a lot of Hungarian restaurants visited
Salamander and La Mediterranee), owned
in New York ... Hungarian appetizers like
by Sam Gershenson, for whom my hus-
Hortobnagyi Palacsinta (salty crepes stuffed band was controller, naturally the great
with ground veal and paprikas, and served
steak and zip sauce at Lelli's in Detroit,
with a sour cream), for example, is wonder-
the wonderful food at Carl's Chop House
ful, and you'll enjoy the Kolbasz (smoked
and Tunnel Bar-B-Q in Windsor. The
Hungarian sausage) ... I highly recommend best Chinese food ever we thought was
the Gulyas, beef stew which you know as
at that Chinese restaurant next to the
Goulash, the traditional dish of Hungary
car wash on Dexter and Elmhurst (King

Fong). Whenever our small
group of former Detroiters
get together, we agree that
Michigan people don't realize
the abundance of good-qual-
ity restaurants that you have
available to you.
"Here in Westlake Village,
Calif., we have the best deli
in the West, Brent's, which we
feel is better than Nate and
Al's in Beverly Hills. Our son
Craig's favorite Santa Barbara
restaurants are Lucky's for steaks and celeb-
rity-watching (Oprah is there regularly),
the Biltmore for Sunday brunch, Piatti's in
Montecito and, for history and romance, the
San Ysidro Ranch for cocktails where JFK
and Jackie spent their honeymoon.
"I loved those terrific Sanders Hot Fudge
sundaes in Detroit, the egg rolls at Wing
Hong and the great Maurice Salad I used to
get at Hudson's. What fantastic memories!"
... Donna Bassin, Camarillo, Calif.
NO MORE CHARGE for splitting meals
at the New Giorgio's Gourmet Diner in
West Bloomfield's Sugar Tree, Orchard Lake
Road north of 15 Mile.
HEART TO HEART Du Vintage event
by Beaumont Hospitals' Ministrelli
Women's Heart Center, this Friday, Sept. 26,
6:30-11, is at Franklin Hills Country Club
in Franklin, not Tam O'Shanter.
IF EVER a restaurant consultation
department is opened by the head folks
of Trader Joe's On Northwestern Highway
Farmington Hills, they won't have to look
any further than their fine, hard-working
assistant manager there ... Karrie Dunn, a
graduate of the Culinary Institute of America

in Hyde Park, N.Y., and owner of a degree
in culinary skills from the Art Institute in
Seattle, is being recognized by many ... She
was the former general manager of Bamboo
Club in Novi before it recently closed.
IT'S GETTING to be a meeting
place with folks bumping into people
they haven't seen in years ... Even Dan
Sonenberg, co-owner with John Taormina
at the new Johnny Pomodoro's Market on
Middlebelt and 14 Mile, Farmington Hills,
the former Nino Salvaggio Market, has got-
ten into the meeting fun many times ...
Big surprise was Dan being approached
by a woman who asked if he was Dan
Sonenberg ... Now 49, Dan assured her
he was ... She introduced herself as Mrs.
Sachs, "your kindergarten teacher at Dewey
School in Oak Park!'
HE'S BEEN HITTING the little white
ball only a few years, but Dr. Darryl
Goldberg can now brag about something
many golfers wait a lifetime and still never
get to blow their horn about ... His first
hole-in-one, a 145-yard shot, playing with
Ben Reitman, came on the number two hole
at Birmingham's Lincoln Hills Golf Course.
ANY GOOD DINING deals out there?
... Let me tell others.
ERRATA, TYPO, ETC. DEPT. . . . Todd
Kaplan, not Scott Kaplan, had the recent
hole-in-one at Chief Golf Club.
CONGRATS ... To Geri Margolis on her
74th birthday ... To Michael Kallen on his
70th birthday ... To Dr. Paul Kerwin on his
90th birthday ... To Dorothy Masserman
on her 99th birthday.

Danny's e-mail address is
dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net.

201 S Old Woodward Avenue • Birmingham MI 48009
248.594.7300 • www.forterestaurant.com

September 25 • 2008

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