metro >> dining around the d
DETROIT
SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA
Con Ce te 6et;e5
PRESENTED BY WRCJ 90.9 FM
SOUTHFIELD
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
SLATKIN
CONDUCTS!
TONIGHT!
THUR., JAN.10 AT 7:30 P.M.
Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Sara Davis Buechner, piano
2
WEST BLOOMFIELD TWP.
Berman Center for
the Performing Arts
ON THE EUGENE & MARCIA APPLEBAUM
JEWISH COMMUNITY CAMPUS
6600 W. MAPLE
BACH'S
BRANDENBURG
CONCERTO NO.3
THUR., JAN. 24 AT 7:30 P.M.
Tito Munoz, conductor
Gabriel Cabezas, cello
Stravinsky Dumbarton Oaks
Haydn Cello Concerto No.
Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings
TICKETS JUST $25
($10 for children under i8 and students)
CALL 313.576.5111 OR VISIT DSO.ORG
UBSCRIBE
TODAY,
r_4 CQNCERTS
- FOR $75!
(
West Bloomfield Twp.
THURSDAYS AT 7:30 P.M.
Berman Center for the
Performing Arts
ON THE EUGENE & MARCIA APPLEBAUM
JEWISH COMMUNITY CAMPUS
6600 W. MAPLE ROAD
BACH'S BRANDENBURG
CONCERTO NO. 3
JANUARY 24, 2013
MOZART AND HAYDN
FEBRUARY 28, 2013
HANDEL'S WATER MUSIC
APRIL 11, 2013
MOZART'S "HAFFNER" SYMPHONY
MAY16, 2013
DETROIT
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
LEONARD SLATICIN Music Director
A COMMUNITY-SUPPORTED ORCHESTRA
CALL 313.576.5111 TO SUBSCRIBE TO
YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD TODAY!
FOR MORE INFO VISIT
DSO.ORG/NEIGHBORHOOD
Generously sponsored by The William
Davidson Foundation with additional support
from the National Endowment for the Arts.
22 January 10 • 2013
Vinsetta
Grill
Federation donors jump
10 percent in 2012.
I
y
27375 BELL ROAD
Mendelssohn The Hebrides
Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No.
Schumann Symphony No. 3
Jewish Detroit
Steps Forward
A ',V
ARTWORKS.
n795590
0u just try to do the best job
you can and be consistent"
said Mike Papa, offering
this modest explanation for why so
many diners keep coming back to
his and wife Tracy's Vinsetta Grill on
Woodward at Catalpa in Royal Oak.
Mike Papa estimates that up to 60
percent of their customers are repeat
guests, including non-locals who make
this a dining destination. Vinsetta
Grill is a draw because of
its menu and reliable food,
as well as the cozy atmo-
sphere. This is not a loud
bistro where you can't hear
the person seated across
from you.
In April 1993, the Papas
purchased De Luca, known
for Italian dining, and start-
ed Wetland's Bar & Grill.
It's been more than 14 years
since their noisy sports
bar was transformed into a
sedate restaurant, featuring
the warmth of wood and upholstered
private booths. In 2008, they had
Birmingham-based restaurant design-
er Ron Rea freshen the two-room din-
ing space with a refurbished bar and
appropriate touches, such as mission-
style, geometric light sconces.
Barbecued ribs are the house spe-
cialty. That, perhaps, is not surprising
because Mike Papa learned to cook at
his parents' venerable Oxford Inn, a
Royal Oak mainstay for ribs.
"But we have our own recipes"
noted Papa, who also had man-
agement training in the Mountain
Jack's steakhouse chain. In addition to
wonderful baby backs and beef ribs
in "original" barbecue sauce, Vinsetta
Grill serves up St. Louis Sweets,
spareribs in a sweet-smoky sauce,
and Mexican Red Hots, St. Louis-style
spareribs in a sauce featuring five
types of peppers.
The popular combos team the ribs
with chicken or shrimp. With four
types of ribs on the sampler platter,
you don't even have to choose. I've
found the ribs here to be tender and
moist.
Grilled items on the menu include
New York strip steak, teriyaki top
sirloin and filet mignon stuffed with
a mushroom mixture. Entrees come
with a choice of two side dishes, soup
or salad, and hot, buttery garlic sticks.
The daily specials here might
include broiled salmon or two sizes of
slow-roasted prime rib. There is always
a pasta of the day. A tasty rendition of
classic French onion and well-loaded
baked potato soups are more special-
ties, along with onion loaf and fried
dill pickle chips, the signature appetiz-
ers. Among the hearty salads is the
Santa Fe, almost too big in its tortilla
shell.
Diners also have the opportunity to
build their own burger from a check-
off list that begins with
three types of meat and
a veggie choice in three
different weights. The
one-third pound size was
enough for me.
Ten varieties of cheese
and a generous assortment
of a la carte toppings and
fixings allow guests to take
their burger in different
flavor directions. The black
bean salsa and roasted
corn toppings were most
appealing to me. Among
the many sauces offered, I recommend
the roasted garlic aioli or caramelized-
onion marmalade. Those following
a low-carb diet can skip the bun and
have their juicy, made-to-order burger
brought to the table in a bowl.
For anyone still hungry, chocolate
cake and caramel apple pie are two of
the dessert temptations.
❑
VINSETTA GRILL
28028 Woodward
Royal Oak, MI 48067
248-543-2626
$$-112 out of $$$$$
New Menu Items
At Little Daddy's
Little Daddy's family restaurants
already boasted among the more
extensive menus around. Now,
executive chef Keith Dysarczyk has
developed some great new items for
Leonard Colton's three locations:
Northwestern Highway in Southfield,
North Woodward in Bloomfield Hills
and Eureka Road in Taylor.
For me, the standouts are glazed
cinnamon French toast, roasted
and seasoned chicken wings,
Mediterranean salad with kale, warm
beet salad and broiled walleye. My
favorite item was the lettuce wraps.
This delicious appetizer consists of
Bib lettuce filled with ground chicken,
shitake mushrooms and water chest-
nuts. They're sautéed in a house-made
Asian sauce and topped with rice
noodles and scallions.
❑
n December, while most people
are thinking about wrapping and
opening gifts, the halls of the Jewish
Federation become a flurry of activity,
reflecting the staff hard at work wrap-
ping up the Annual Campaign and clos-
ing the gifts pledged over the past year.
The Annual Campaign is the fund-
raising engine that drives community
support for the services, the facilities
and programs that touch thousands of
lives every day here at home, in Israel
and in Jewish communities the world
over.
With the goal for a record-breaking
year, on Dec. 31, Federation hit the
mark, closing its 2012 Campaign with
a total of nearly 11,300 donors. The
achievement represents the largest
one-year increase in total donors to
the Annual Campaign since 1963 and
the greatest percentage increase to the
donor base since 1948.
In a time where Jewish Federations
across the nation are struggling to
maintain donors and dollars, Jewish
Detroit is steadily and surely gaining in
strength and numbers.
"Our mission is to strengthen the
community, and our numbers are start-
ing to prove we are doing just that,
reversing a multiple decade trend" said
Federation CEO Scott Kaufman.
Federation funding benefits everyone
in the community through its support
of Jewish community services, educa-
tion, camps and community events.
It also benefits those in Israel through
missions to Israel and support of the
Partnership Region of the Central
Galilee.
"Our success reflects the strength of
our Jewish community and the thou-
sands of people who stepped forward
this past year" says Federation President
Douglas Bloom. "Federation works for
all of us, thanks to those who reach out
to connect and engage, to those who
pick up the phone — or answer the call,
to those who so generously give of their
time and talents, to those who open
their hearts and their checkbooks year
after year"
❑
This story first appeared on
MyJewishDetroit.org.
Federation staffers man the phones.