 JULY 16 • 2020 | 53

Remembering Detroit’
s
Carl’
s Chop House.

the best of everything
Raskin

Gone But Not 
Forgotten

O 

ne of the most success-
ful merchants in the 
tire industry was put 
into the restaurant game by a 
strange quirk of fate … Carl 
Rosenfeld wasn’
t 
too happy about 
it, but it worked 
out beautifully in 
the end.
After service 
in World War I, 
Carl was doing 
very nicely in the 
tire business when a friend of 
his from Cleveland talked him 
into investing in the Grand 
River Chop House.

It seems that the Clevelander 
was a little thin-skinned about 
certain federal laws governing 
the sale of potables and took a 
powder, leaving Carl with half 
of a restaurant and all of a tire 
store.
After trying for a while, Carl 
came to the conclusion that no 
man can serve two masters, 
so he sold the tire store and 
concentrated on running the 
Grand River Chop House with 
successful results.
Business boomed through 
the ’
20s and when prohibition 
came to a screeching halt in the 
early ’
30s, Carl was ready to 
cash in … In 1933, Carl’
s Bar 
& Chop House opened doors 
across the street that were to 
continue swinging for years to 
come until its closure in 2010.
Carl sold more 4-H steaks 
and chops than any other 
restaurant in the country … 
While Carl’
s was primarily a 
steak house, he took a back 
seat from no man in offering 
a selective fish and seafood 

menu … in his huge restaurant 
that sat about 800 persons at 
one time and gave him and his 
staff a good life, more wealth 
and security than ever.
ELIE’
S RESTAURANT in 
Birmingham, plus being a 
coveted and highly respect-
ed eatery, continues to add 
“Impossible” suggestions from 
an Impossible menu … In 
addition to stuffed eggplant, 
squash and peppers, he has 
now added delicious Lebanese 
sausage.
DON’
T GO OUT to eat 
soon in a restaurant and ask 
the server to do things for you 
if you cannot afford a 15% 
or 20% gratuity or just don’
t 
feel you have to give one … 
Remember that the price of 
the meal is for the food … The 
tip is for the person running 
around, serving you, refilling 
drinks, taking orders, cleaning 
up your mess when you are 
done, making salads, etc. 
OLDIE BUT GOODIE … 
The young man excitedly tells 

his mother that he has fallen 
in love and was going to get 
married.
“Just for fun, Ma,” he says, “I 
am going to bring over three 
women and you try and guess 
which one I’
m going to marry.”
The mother agrees and the 
next day he brings three beau-
tiful women into the house and 
sits them down on the couch. 
He says, “OK, Ma, guess which 
one I am going to marry.”
She immediately replies, 
“The redhead in the middle.” 
“That’
s amazing, Ma. You’
re 
right. How did you know?”
“I don’
t like her!”
CONGRATS … To Heckie 
Lazar on her birthday … To 
Marilyn Warnick on her birth-
day … To Sam Essick on his 
birthday … To Simone Vitale 
on his birthday … To Joe 
Smiler on his birthday … To 
Fran and Michael Goran on 
their 50th anniversary. 

Danny’
s email address is
dannyraskin2132@gmail.com.

Danny Raskin
Senior Columnist

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