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
TASTE OF KOSHER
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