 SEPTEMBER 3 • 2020 | 53

A look back at Van Dyke Place.

the best of everything
Raskin

L’Chaim 
Noshing Menu

L

ooking back to the future 
… With nothing more to 
prove in the restaurant 
world … having carved a solid 
niche as one of the nation’
s finest 
restaurants … 
Van Dyke Place 
added another 
gem to its trea-
sured list of din-
ing wonders.
Traditional 
Jewish foods, 
even back in 
1994, were being received with 
high popularity at this popular 
restaurant, noted as one of three 
Michigan eateries rated among 
the top 50 by a prestigious 
Condé Nast Traveler restaurant 
poll … The others were the 
Whitney and the Lark for dedi-
cation and extraordinary service 
… A truly distinguished restau-
rant award was also received by 
Van Dyke Place.
When a restaurant has 
achieved such high significance, 
you may ask, why burden the 

executive chef with learning 
culinary skills of yet another 
cooking style?
It would be most difficult to 
prepare the Jewish dishes served 
at Van Dyke Place if the exec-
utive chef weren’
t Jewish and 
hadn’
t been brought up with its 
techniques and teachings.
Executive chef at the time, 
Keith Supian, had attended 
Achim Hebrew School, gradu-
ated from Southfield-Lathrup 
High School and was in the very 
fine Schoolcraft College culinary 
program … The son of Beverly 
and Bernard Supian, he had 
been executive chef at Van Dyke 
Place three years … If ingredi-
ents were in the house, he would 
make almost whatever custom-
ers would desire.
In the meantime, his enor-
mous talents had released a 
wonderful dining experience 
drawn from Keith’
s Jewish heri-
tage … and so the L
’
chaim style 
of dining.
The rugelach and mandel-

brot made were from recipes 
of his grandmother, Hannah 
Gellerman, who handed down 
her instructions to daughters 
Beverly and Roberta Brown.
Beverly and Bernard Supian 
loved it when son Keith came 
over … He cooked, washed 
dishes and, with the help of 
his sister Karen, also served … 
Karen also assisted with the 
cooking.
L
’
Chaim was like a restaurant 
within a restaurant, with reser-
vations required for dining on 
the non-smoking second-floor 
level … Guests could also order 
from a L
’
Chaim menu in the 
downstairs areas of Van Dyke 
Place … When making reser-
vations, folks would ask to be 
given the L
’
Chaim menu … The 
upstairs area was considered the 
most desirable area because cus-
tomers were often surrounded 
by people they perhaps might 
know. 
Keith also looked at his Jewish 
cooking with a sharp eye on the 

health angles … He tried to stay 
away from fat as much as pos-
sible, using vegetable oil instead 
with highly gratifying results.
The L
’
Chaim “Noshing Menu” 
showcased Keith’
s talented culi-
nary expertise … His excellence 
as chef was one of quiet acclaim.
OLDIE BUT GOODIE … 
The customer tells of being 
held up in a small town recently 
because of heavy rains … “This 
looks like the big flood,
” he said 
to the waitress in a restaurant 
there.
“The what?” she asked.
 “You know,
” said the custom-
er, “
the flood when Noah saved 
the animals in the ark. You must 
have read about that.
” 
The waitress said, “Mister, on 
account of all this rain, I ain’
t 
seen a paper in four days.
”
CONGRATS … To Douglas 
Goldberg on his birthday … To 
Harvey Goldsmith on his birth-
day. 

Email dannyraskin2132@gmail.com.

Danny Raskin
Senior Columnist

LOOPNET

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