raskin

the best of everything

Golden Phoenix Flies High

Danny Raskin

Senior Columnist

Asian dining delights
abound at West
Bloomfi eld eatery.

ABOVE: Art and Ava Fung

Good neighborhood Chinese
dining has always been a local
stronghold even before the
presence of House of Chung’s,
Detroit, which used to make its
own casings for egg rolls … and
Henry Yee, who reigned from
Midtown Detroit as mayor of
Chinatown before following his
clients to a shopping mall on
Orchard Lake Road on 14 Mile in
West Bloomfield.
Much can be said about a
good neighborhood Chinese
Cantonese restaurant ... But even
more so when the former worthy
features are maintained ... along
with additional dining highlights.
Such is a main reason why
come-back visits and new cus-
tomers to Golden Phoenix, Sugar
Tree Plaza, Orchard Lake Road,
north of 15 Mile, are enjoying the
lunch and dinner continuance
... Customers were somewhat
apprehensive when the restau-
rant was sold to a youthful cou-
ple who might not have known
about its previous high quality
that they would have to maintain
for continued success.
Taking over a restaurant from
highly regarded owners who had
maintained yearly high scores
of more than 90 percent from
the Oakland County Health
Department has many times cre-
ated restaurant acceptance bar-
ricades for new proprietors.
However, time has a way of
telling the difference between
good and not good enough ...

Add to this the exuberance and
youthful will of the new owners
as they strive even more in the
maintenance and all-important
cleanliness … while not only
adding to the already very good
Cantonese menu but for further
acceptance, adding even more
Asian dining delights.
Golden Phoenix, owned by
Ava and Art Fung, who took over
from former owners, Shawn and
Helen Ng, not only continue even
more the very necessary asset
of utmost cleanliness, but also
continue to add more features to
its already long-time-accepted
Cantonese and Thai cuisine ...
while continuing its stringent
policy of low-priced, full-course
lunch and dinner features.
HOW DO YOU LIKE your
chicken soup? … What started
out many years ago as a classic
American favorite of clear broth
with small pieces of chicken or
vegetables or with noodles or
dumplings has evolved into an
international dish with unbe-
lievable variations one never
dreamed would become a reality
… Persian, Jamaican, Mexican,
Tai, Bulgarian, Italian, Korean,
Brazil, Chinese, etc., prepared
more than 100 different ways in
their own traditional variations
… The ones with more note than
others are probably the Jewish
styles like moms used to make
and many still do, but the world-
wide versions continue to gain
much popularity.

Sweeten
VALENTINE’S

CALL FOR
RESERVATIONS
248.737.7463

retrieved my hat,” said the rabbi.
“Thank you very much!” He then
placed his hand on the man’s
shoulder and said, “May God
bless you.”
The young man thought to
himself, “I’ve been blessed by the
rabbi. This is my lucky day!”
He decided to go to the race-
track. In the first race, he noted
a horse named Stetson at 20 to
1. He bet and, sure enough, the
horse came in first. In the second
race, a horse named Fedora was
30 to 1, so he bet all his money
on that horse. Fedora won, too.
At the end of the day, the man
returned home to his wife. She
asked him where he’d been. He
explained how he caught the rab-
bi’s hat. And how he was blessed
by him, and how he then went to
the track and bet on horses that
were named after hats.
“So, where’s the money?” she
asked.
“I lost it all in the ninth race.
I bet on a horse name Chateau,
and it lost.”
“You fool,” the wife said.
“Chateau is a house. Chapeau is
a hat!”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said.
“The winner was some Japanese
horse named Yarmulke.”
CONGRATS … To Lisa Brown
on her birthday … To Barbara
Cohen on her birthday … To
Steve Zorn on his 75th
birthday. •

MAIL DEPT. … From Gary and
Mary Lou Cochran … “Affordable,
delicious and a full bar makes
Yardbird Smoked Meats in Keego
Harbor a dedicated destination.
It free-pours all its good bar
drinks, too. Jeremy Grandon is
the chef owner and is always on
site with wife, Paula, greeting
people. You may recall this loca-
tion as a ‘restaurant of the year’
about eight or nine years ago. His
transformation from white table-
cloth fine dining to this smoke-
house concept has been well
received by many in the lakes
areas of Keego Harbor.”
QUESTION & ANSWER
DEPT. … “We were surprised to
learn from you that there is no
egg in the egg cream drink that
New Yorkers rave about. I often
wondered if it was the whole
egg or maybe just the white. So
where does the egg cream come
from?” … Sally Berman.
(No cream either, Sally. Just
milk, seltzer and chocolate syrup.
The only thing I can think of is
that perhaps it was originally
called egg cream, but during the
Depression, when the cost of
eggs and cream was too high, it
stayed as an egg cream but with-
out the egg cream.)
OLDIE BUT GOODIE DEPT.
… The rabbi was leaving his syn-
agogue when a gust of wind blew
off his hat. A young man saw and
rushed over, grabbed the hat and
returned it to the rabbi.
“I don’t think I could have

Email Danny at dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net.

DAY

2017

LIVE MUSIC

FEAT. JOANNE ROACH
A CLASSIC&SOOTHING
AMBIANCE

CHEF’S FEATURES

EXCLUSIVLEY OFFERED FOR
VALENTINE’S DAY
ONLY

ELITE SERVICE

DEDICATED TO CREATING

A MEMORABLE DINING

EXPERIENCE

HOUSE.COM

jn

February 2 • 2017

2143170

49

