arts & entertainment >> the best of everything City Of Champions Detroit's restaurants rank with the best anywhere. A s we give thanks on the Jewish New Year, let's add our gratitude to Mike Ilitch and the Detroit Tigers for another opportunity to show America that Detroit is far from being a gastronomic desert as too many out-of- towners are led to believe. The Tigers reaching the Major League Baseball playoffs that begin tomorrow (Friday) is another big step forward in the restaurant resurgence of Detroit ... Recent openings by Joe Muer Seafood and Texas de Brazil, along with standbys like Detroit Seafood Market, Caucus Club, Andiamo Riverfront, Coach Insignia, Roma Cafe, Mario's, Opus One, Pegasus, Fishbones, Mosaic, Roast, Saltwater, Wolfgang Puck, Iridescence, etc., await j changes of opinions and many more dollars as Mike Hitch visitors fill our Detroit restaurants perhaps in comparison with their own ... They'll find out that Detroit's dining establishments are far from the mediocre ones they may have been told about. Dan Thanks also to sports team owners and Detroit upswing involvement players like Ilitch, Dan Gilbert (whose late dad Sam Gilbert co- owned and operated his own good restaurant, Saksey's, back during Peter Detroit's restaurant Karmanos Jr. glory years) and Peter Karmanos Jr., etc., Detroit has surprised a lot of people. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS there was the downsized DEPT. ... "I know that it Topinka's on the Boulevard was named Baker's Keyboard and its rival the Steering Lounge, but when I used to go Wheel, both in the downsized there in the '60s to hear the shadows of the Golden Tower terrific jazz music, I was told of the Fisher Building housing that it used to have a great high noon motor mouth J.P. pianist, too, that played there McCarthy interviewing every even when it had the other acts. celeb that hit town to perform And I think I used to see com- at all the dine-and-wine clubs. Danny Raskin ics there, too. But, wasn't it sold "To the west in Hazel Senior Columnist to someone else then because Park, Stan Kazmarek's Moon I heard another name of the Supper Club lit up the night owner?" ... Sidney Urshal with Drummin' Man Buddy Rich's big [The house pianist you're thinking band while the Golden Coach just blocks of was Pat Flowers, a big favorite ... away pulled in similar celebs as Mamie Clarence Baker took it over from his dad, Van Doren, Al Martino, Dick Haymes and Chris Baker, and the jazz greats were Tony Martin. Clarence Baker's Keyboard regulars there ... He leased it to Solace Lounge kept the true jazz believer happy "Solly" Hartstein and wife, Fay, who put with the piano stylings of Meade Lux in comedy with the jazz, like Redd Foxx Lewis, Earl Hines and Mary Lou Williams. who played both Baker's and nearby Club A way south, the oddly named Crystal Alamo on Livernois.] Pistol on Monroe's doorstep popped off MAKING ROUNDS ... To Caucus each evening with melodic mayhem from Club, Congress, Detroit, for Dover sole Gladys Knight's Pips. So far out of Motown ... To Mario's, Second Blvd., Detroit, for that the Dean of Nitery Scribes, the Free chicken piccante ... To Mosaic, Monroe Press' Chuck Thurston, had the grit to Street, Detroit, for cedar-roasted whitefish make the hour-long drive to cover one of ...To Andiamo Riverfront, Renaissance the many versions of the Ink Spots or the Center, Detroit, for veal ribeye steak ... To reinvented Platters. Detroit Seafood Market, Randolph, Detroit, "Nearer home Mickey's Backdoor had for crab-stuffed flounder ... To Pegasus, Dearborn all to itself with local entries Monroe Street, Detroit, for lamb chops ... like Fat Bob the Plumber [Bob Taylor], To Roma Cafe, Riopelle, Detroit, for veal but it was all about to be passed up by a scallopini marsala. Ford as Hank the Deuce [Henry Ford II] I REMEMBER WHEN ... From was putting together DB's in the Hyatt William Garwood, former publicity gent Regency Hotel which Bob Crosby called in Detroit, now a nationally known author the Mausoleum, the hotel not the club. and reviewer of Western books ... "The DB's highlighted such showbiz fireballs supper clubs of yesterday in the Detroit as Jerry Lewis and James Brown and the area are not easy to forget. Up north was infighting for talent between two show biz the Port of Three with great food and giants, Windsor's Elmwood Casino and offbeat entertainment. To the northwest Detroit's Michigan Palace which grew out and growing by leaps and bounds were of a boomdock bar, Lofy's." Topinka's and the Raleigh House. Then THE INAUGURATON of a first at THEATRE Become a Sleuth. Collect the Clues. Solve the Case. Danny's email address is dannyraskin@sbcglobaLnet. 0, 4 MURDER MYSTERY DINNER the 2011 Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Induction Dinner, Monday, Nov. 7, at Congregation Shaarey Zedek, Southfield, could hardly honor too many better per- sons for its new Special Recognition seg- ment of contributions to athletics by those who were lost or injured in war without a chance to further their athletic dreams. "Little Joe" Bale and his brother, "Big Joe" Bale were both local sports figures at Central High School ... "Little Joe" was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously when killed while destroy- ing enemy tanks with his bazooka during World War II. His citation reads, "For extraordinary heroism in action on 30 Jan. 1945, near Wihr-en-Plaine, France, when his bat- talion was attacked and halted by enemy tanks, which rolled over the assault riflemen and killed others. With 88 mm machine gun fire and rifle grenade fire, Pfc. Bale fearlessly attacked with his rocket launcher, ignoring shells exploding five yards away and machine gun bullets which raked the position, he knocked out an enemy tank, forcing the Germans to withdraw. Later the same morning when his Bn. Op. was attacked by another tank at 100 yards, he braved shell fire in a sin- gle-handed attempt to destroy it, but was mortally wounded:' After the Pfc. Joseph L. Bale Post #474 of the Jewish War Veterans was formed in his memory, it became the Department of Michigan's largest post, headed today by former Hall of Fame honoree Willie Stone. CONGRATS ... To Mort Meisner on his 58th birthday ... To Hope "Cookie" Chimoff on her birthday ... To Beverly Keller on her 70th birthday ... To Nate and Ellie Rubin on their 64th anniversary. SEATED 'WINE & TAPAS EVENT TOURING ITALY; VIA GLASS & PLATE 11, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11 4 7-9P Dinner/Show Package Oct. 1, 2011 7p.m. Andiamo Bloomfield $50 Per Person Does not include tax, gratuity and alcoholic beverages. per person plus tax & gratuity For reservations call 248-865-9300 October 14 5 Tickets: $45 Andiamo Bloomfield Doors Open: 6:30 p.m. Show: 7 p.m. 56 Se ptember 29 • 2011 1 . \1 P.1.0i).\11 I t I I) lrOWNSH tr 6676 Telegraph RD Bloomfield Twp., MI 248-865-9300 : .