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Feast In The East

Athenian Shish-Ka-Bob has winning food at low prices.

T

he beginning was touch-and-go
with constant wondering whether
a mistake had been made in tak-
ing over the former restaurant ... It was
in so much disorder that new owner Louie
Giannopoulos had second thoughts about
having to do all the needed remodeling
... But he finally did get it tip-top, and he
could present the kind of restaurant he'd
hoped for.
As a result, as Louie and wife, Ileni,
celebrate the 10th anniversary of Athenian
Shish-Ka-Bob at E. Nine Mile and Harper,
St. Clair Shores, their dining spot is a far
cry from the one that first greeted the
public in September 1999.
It is a full-fledged restaurant with none
of Louie's former dining operations coming
close to the numbers he continues to put
today ... More than a million-and-a-quar-
ter people have visited the 70-seat Athenian
Shish-Ka-Bob ... Although it specializes in
shish kebab, with nine styles of presenta-
tion, it also presents a diversified bevy of
Greek specialties and low prices ... One of
the dining winners is its five lamb chops
with soup or salad, green beans, potatoes
or rice, $13.95, which must be included
among the better dining deals around ...
Also in demand are the 8-10 ounce grilled
whitefish, $7.95, New York strip steak, $9.95,
barbecued chicken, $6.45, etc.
HE DIDN'T REALIZE it then, but a res-
taurant experience may have given Jordan
Maier his first shove into the medical
field ... It was while working as an eve-
ning busboy at Steak & Ale, Farmington
Hills, that a customer was seen grasp-
ing his throat and turning blue ... The
Heimlich maneuver Jordan had learned at
Southfield-Lathrup High School popped

out the food stuck in a man's
throat as his wife cried while
thanking the future doctor.
After stints as a waiter at
A&W restaurant, Southfield,
and California Pizza Kitchen,
Troy, Jordan's medical stud-
ies began with a bachelor's
degree from the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor
and then a M.D. degree from
Wayne State University in
Detroit ... Today, the heroic,
young, ex-restaurant worker,
son of localites Ron and Elaine Maier, con-
tinues to save lives as Dr. Jordan Maier, M.D.,
medical director of the Karmanos Cancer
Institute's Weisberg Treatment Center on
Northwestern Hwy., Farmington Hills.
MAIL DEPT. ... "A friend sent me your
Question & Answer with a reader ask-
ing about a delicatessen where you paid
according to what you ate without getting
a bill. You said the delicatessen was prob-
ably Modern on Fenkell in Detroit.
"It was! My grandmother would ask cus-
tomers,'What did you have?' And she would
quote them a price, which they paid. My
father was Harry Krugel, and Max was his
older brother. Both boys worked in the deli
with their mother. Yes, Max was a partner
with his mother, who began the restaurant
when the boys were young.
"My grandmother, Minnie Krugel, was not
only Max's mother and the cashier, she also
started the deli and worked in it until after
the riots in the late '60s:' ... Marcy Krugel
WHO'S WHERE DEPT. ... Royce
and Jenn are every Wednesday evening,
7-10, upstairs at Got Rocks Ultra Lounge
at Big Rock Chophouse, S. Eton Street,

Birmingham ... Full Big Rock
menu is served in the lounge with
its smaller tables, booths, chairs,
couches and high-top tables.
ALTHOUGH IT CLOSED last
week as a restaurant, Tribute,
12 Mile, Farmington Hills, will
continue to be a weddings, bar
mitzvah, etc., destination ...
Owner Toni Wisne chose this
instead of revamping the menu
because she didn't feel it would
then be her upscale Tribute.
QUESTION & ANSWER
DEPT. ... "Was there really a Prince
Michael Romanoff restaurant owner in
New York? Where was he a prince?" ...
Lilli Ann Mandhoff
[His restaurant was in Culver City, Calif.,
Lilli, and no, Mike Romanoff was never a
prince. His real name was Harry Gerguson
and some say he even talked himself as
well as others into believing his incredible
stories.]
OZZIE WAS A gentleman, or in meowing
parlance, a kind, cool cat, giving up his seat
for one of the 16 at the Yom Kippur break-
the-fast by Ozzie's human parents, Linda
and Barry Solomon ... Their dog Chance
could care less and stayed on the floor.
Indian Joe never moved from his stair-
way seat, even for Linda's mother, Mona
Rappaport's "trademark" sliced turkey
or the buffet bevy of bagels, lox, cream
cheese, tuna salad, whitefish, salad, hum-
mus, etc. ... Not that Joe ate too much,
but being a statue, he would have scared
the daylights out of folks if he had walked
over to the table.
Linda and Barry's Southwestern motif
decorated home with wagon wheels, sera-

pes, Indian and cowboy artifacts, antiques
galore, etc., made a quaint, but delightful
setting for an enjoyable Yom Kippur night
healthy-eating fast-breaker.
By the way, thanks to Linda and Barry
for the color painting of a reporter writ-
ing notes in a midnight setting with an
office building background ... It was
eerie, bringing back memories of when I
was at the Detroit News in 1941, working
the "graveyard shift" midnight to 8 a.m.
... Sort of spooky, with the fellow wear-
ing a brown fedora, tie and jacket and
sporting a thick black mustache, very
much like I did then.
THE RECORD ATTENDANCE
expected for the 25th Anniversary
Induction Dinner by Michigan Jewish
Sports Hall of Fame has gotten even
bigger ... Youngsters up to 13 years old
will be charged only $36 for the biggie
event 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, at the Jewish
Community Center, West Bloomfield ...
The amount of kids coming with their
parents, grandparents, uncles and friends
is sure to swell up the anticipated number.
CONGRATS to Carole Goldman on her
85th birthday ... To Robert Soper on his
70th birthday ... To Neil Wolfe on his
70th birthday ... To Roland Harrison on
his 50th birthday ... To Terrie Himelson
on her birthday ... To Achille Bianchi on
his 59th birthday ... To Diane Pomish on
her 80th birthday ... To Leo Raminick
on his 80th birthday ... To Dino "The
Tailor" Mitropoulos on his 70th birthday
... To Graham Orley on his 85th birthday
... Correction: It's Litvin, not Litwin, on
Manny and Bernice's 66th anniversary.

❑

Danny's e-mail is dannyraskin@sbcglobaLnet.

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

JN

October 8 • 2009

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