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You Feelin' Lucky?

MGM Grand's Palette Dining Studio is a sure bet.

A

s legend might have it, someone now at MGM Detroit's Palette
told another that it was lucky
Dining Studio.
to eat king crabs ... And even
READER MINI REVIEW
more so, when the listener, after having
... From Emma Kellman
king crabs, heard the bells of a winner.
"We recently visited the Lark
As a result, the jumbo crabs have
on West Maple and agreed
become king and queen of the seas. MGM
with the accolades about its
Grand Detroit accepts the challenge it
excellent service, delicious
affords ... And so, on Wednesdays from
food and homey atmosphere.
5-11 p.m. for just $4 more than the usual
Our first taste was the salty
$28 all-you-can-eat festivity in its Palette
goodness of the Lark's made-
Dining Studio, folks can indulge to their
to-order bread. Next was the
heart's content in as many huge king crab
cold appetizer trolley that
legs as their stomachs can hold.
contains platters of smoked salmon, cold
In fact, there are about 4,000 pounds of shrimp, raw oysters, and the signature
them to go with about 160 other items at
curry duck salad and constantly chang-
the five stations that also include shrimp, ing cold vegetable salad.
oysters on the half shell, soup, sushi,
"The ensuing course allowed the selec-
chicken, meats, salads, stir-fry, luscious
tion of a soup, pasta or hot appetizer.
desserts by MGM
The soup I had was sweet and creamy,
Detroit's pastry
but also intensely salty and garnished
chef, etc. ... The
with crispy onion rings. Before the main
price of $32 for
course, customers are served Italian ice
the all-you-can-
to cleanse their palate. The extremely
eat king crab legs
refreshing flavor of the night was rasp-
station seems so
berry.
unbelievably low
"For the main course, I had the Lobster
that a successful
Thermidor Cafa de Paris. The dish was
--;,-
casino depending
baked with tender meat and delicious
on gaming can do
cheese. I also tried the Chinese oven
it
and
smile
while
honey-glazed
duck, which was succulent
Chef Mark Swinton
losing money.
and well-cooked, with a crunchy skin and
No wonder
sweet glaze. The dessert trolley did not
there is always a
contain the most inspired things on the
line, usually from 4 p.m., for trips to the
menu, but their execution was obviously
king crab legs station and bevy of food to done by skilled hands with a creamy
chow on at tables with buckets to throw
and fruity consistency, and the chocolate
the shells ... The 550-capacity dining
ganache cake was rich and dark. Overall,
room turns over three times for 1,500 or
the Lark stood up to its impeccable repu-
so wide-eyed people.
tation."
Chef Mark Swinton saw many folks
MAKING ROUNDS ... To Jeremy
while with Matt Prentice and his Unique
Restaurant & Bar, Cass Lake Road, Keego
Restaurant Corp. that became the former
Harbor, for beef tenderloin with onion
Matt Prentice Restaurant Group ... but
marmalade ... To Hungarian Rhapsody,
never so many at one time as he is seeing Northline Road, Southgate, for beef gou-

lash ... To Fiddler, Orchard
Lake Road, West Bloomfield,
for beef strogonoff.
MAIL DEPT. ... "If your
readers have not been there
yet, they should go to Mama
Mia's of Livonia on the north
side of Plymouth Road. They
can't miss the green awning,
and the great food at very
reasonable prices and fine
service are hard to beat.
Someone from the family is
always there to make certain everything
is to your liking. I've been there many
times and have never had anything but
great food. Especially the bread pudding
for dessert. The spumoni makes you
think you are in Italy. I have sent many
people there, and they all had the same
experience." ... Joyce Golding
QUESTION & ANSWER DEPT. ...
"What is the difference between a master
chef and an executive chef? And why is
a master chef supposed to be the tops in
his field?" ... Seymour Swayman
[An executive chef's duties vary, but he
or she is mainly the head of the kitchen. I
know that when Chef Milos Cihelka, for-
merly of Detroit's London Chop House and
Southfield's Golden Mushroom, became
the first in the United States to attain
the high "master chef" ranking, he went
through hell ... Milos was invited with
nine other chefs across the country to test
for the American Culinary Federation's first
testing in the United States, sponsored by
the ACF's Culinary Institute of America in
Hyde Park, N.Y., where European master
chefs flew in to judge.
[From what I remember, five made it
through the point system after 10 days
of intensive testing through everything
from French cooking to Asian cooking to
tableside cooking to baking, to nutrition

and dietary health aspects ... Even bar-
tending, sanitation, management, pur-
chasing and receiving, menu planning,
dining room management that included
wine service, etc. ... Milos had the high-
est score after each competing chef was
given a mystery basket of food stuffs and
told to prepare a complete meal for 10
people, using only the food in the basket
... If memory serves me correctly, his
main course was a favorite dish served
at the Golden Mushroom, Veal Medallion
California.
OLDIE BUT GOODIE DEPT. ... A
well-known anti-Semite walks into a bar
and is about to order a drink ... When
he sees a fellow close by with kippah,
tzitzis and payos, he shouts over to the
bartender so everyone can hear, "Drinks
for everyone in here but that Jew over
there ... Soon after the drinks have been
handed out, he notices the Jewish gent
is smiling and waving to him saying,
"Thank you."
This infuriates him and in a loud voice,
he again orders drinks for everyone except
the Jewish gent and, as before, this doesn't
seem to worry the Jewish guy who contin-
ues to smile and again says, "Thank you."
"What's the matter with that Jew?"
he asks the bartender, "I've ordered two
rounds of drinks for everyone in the bar
except him, and all he does is smile and
thank me. Is he nuts?
"Nope," replies the bartender. "He owns
the place."
CONGRATS ... To Sam Borak on his
100th birthday ... To Frances Sonne on
her 94th birthday ... To Mike Germansky
on his 63rd birthday ... To Bernard
"Bernie" Friedman on his 70th birthday
... To Susan Levin on her birthday ... To
Harry Levy on his 90th birthday.

❑

Danny's email is dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net.

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