THE BEST OF EVERYT -ZING
California Kin And Jersey Boys
Oh, what a trip! — to the Bay Area and Vegas.
A
mong the highlights of our
recent trip to San Francisco
and Las Vegas, other than being
with son Scott, daughter-in-law Bonnie
and grandson Matt in San Francisco and
then to Las Vegas with Scott and Bonnie,
occurred on the visit's final evening ... It
was seeing Jersey Boys at the new Palazzo
Hotel in Las Vegas where Frieda and I
stayed and witnessed a terrific show.
Bonnie couldn't stop humming and
Scott's foot never ceased tapping as the
life of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
reeled off their great songs ("Can't Take
My Eyes Off You;' "Sherry;' etc.) ... The
ending standing ovation was for their
whirlwind trip from working the streets
of Newark to stardom and a fantastic
rise with induction into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame ... Jersey Boy tour will
bring it to the Fisher Theatre, Detroit, next
November, in what should be a sellout
appearance ... Try not to miss it.
El So Puerto Rican restaurant in San
Rafael, Calif., was interesting with its lime-
ades presented in glass jars from which to
sip ... An odd experience was at Carnegie
Deli in Las Vegas' Mirage Hotel, where a
waitress or cook evidently didn't know
what a western omelet was and brought
me a corned beef omelet instead of the
ordered western, with extra charges of $1
each for green peppers, onions and mush-
rooms ... At the Carnegie Deli in New
York that I used to know years back, this
would have been a shocker for owners Leo
Steiner and Milt Parker.
Among our better neighborhood din-
ing experiences was at Marin Joe's, a
clean, gracious Italian restaurant in Corte
Madera, Marin County, operat-
ed by brothers Ralph and Paul
Della Santina ... We enjoyed a
rare place that knows how to
make a true Caesar salad table-
side ... Only thing missing was
a wooden bowl like Italian-
born Mexican Caesar Cardini
used in Tijuana, Mexico, to
originate the wonderful salad
... Back in the early 1980s,
Marin Joe's used to have just
one wooden bowl for the more
than 20 nightly Caesar salads it served ...
Health laws caused the change to metal
bowls.
An opposite experience to the Jersey
Boys show was at the Bernard Osher
Jewish Community Center of Marin
County in San Rafael ... The Kanbar
Center for the Performing Arts had Eddie
Carroll with his Jack Benny impersonation
... witnessed also by former Detroiter
Carol Stone, whose cousins, Barbara and
Herb Goldstein, and Uncle and Aunt Earl
and Sylvia Davidson are Metro Detroit
community-ites.
A second dining visit to the always
crowded for many reasons Tadish Grill in
San Francisco was enjoyed with its deli-
cious seafood Cioppino, considered among
San Francisco's best, chock full of clams,
prawns, scallops, bay shrimp, crab meat
and whitefish ... Plus a couple slices of
garlic bread for some luscious dunking.
And who could forget a visit again to
the wonderful Fisherman's Wharf ...
Seeing the church were Marilyn Monroe
and Joe DiMaggio came after being mar-
ried ... Joe DiMaggio's Italian Restaurant
and the Dom DiMaggio
Building ... Delicious In-N-
Out hamburgers with their
excellent never-frozen meat,
true American cheese, grilled
onions if desired, and french
fries cooked in vegetable oil.
Big doings at school kept
granddaughter Hannah at
Chico State University ...
No mustache wax anywhere
for 22-year-old grandson
Matthew's classy new Monte
Wooley mustache and beard ... He and
sweet galfriend Samantha "Sam" Solomon,
who was also with us, first met at Temple
Beth El Hebrew School in Orange County,
Calif. ... Now they are a togetherness and
she is today a four-day-a-week Hebrew
teacher at the same Temple Beth El, goes
to Saddleback College in Orange County
majoring in child development, and helps
out dad Solomon and mother Sue Duenes
at the family's Solomon's Bakery (and deli)
in Laguna Hills.
MAIL DEPT. ... "Our neighborhood
delicatessen, Tony's Embers Deli (Orchard
Lake), has gone through a facelift, and
has the nicest help you could find. Rose
Guttman makes the gefilte fish, stuffed
cabbage, roast chicken, latkes at the res-
taurant. The corned beef sandwiches are
about a foot high. They do everything they
can to personalize any dish. We eat there
all the time and have never had a bad
meal:' ... Paul and Dolores Goldman.
THERE'S DANCING now with d.j.
music every Thursday evening, 8 to mid-
night, at Sea Grille Bar and restaurant,
Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield ...
Happy folks, too, with the good food and
new lower prices.
BIG SHOES TO follow for Sam Abrams,
son of Michael and Julie Abrams ... His
bar mitzvah made it three generations
at Temple Beth El services in its Metro
Detroit locales ... Uncle Henry Abrams in
1965 on Woodward before Beth El moved
to Telegraph; dad Michael in 1971, and
grandfather Ray Abrams who had his first
and only bar mitzvah in 1999 at age 73.
The next night to an opulent reception
at the Townsend Hotel, Birmingham, for
250 guests, including 100 youngsters, with
much joy and merriment for both the
young folks and the elders ... Other than
the main dance floor and musical group,
the kids had their own room with special
tables, own hors d'oeuvres, etc.
A lot of down-to-earth fun with shades
of an Orthodox Jewish wedding thrown in
as Sam, younger brother Max, Mom and
Dad (Julie and Mike), were carried high up
on chairs along to "Hava Nagila" music and
hora dancing ... The excellent dinner was
capped off with a long, sumptuous sweet
table that included cherries jubilee and
bananas Foster among luscious goodies.
It was certainly something I'm sure
Mike and Julie truly wanted ... A bar
mitzvah occasion that Sam will never
forget.
CONGRATS ... To Paula Weiser on her
birthday ... To Aaron Katz on his birthday
... To Howard Novetsky on his 60th birth-
day ... To Jack and Shirlee Iden on their
60th anniversary.
Danny's e-mail address is
dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net .
201 S Old Woodward Avenue • Birmingham MI 48009
248.594.7300 • www.forterestaurant.com
February 26 • 2009
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