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 Building of the former Van Dyke Place Contact Larry Al l an can’ t enj oy j ewel ry i f i t’ s si tti ng i n your safe deposi t box. Sel l or borrow on i t for i mmedi ate cash. We deal i n j ewel ry, watches, di amonds and coi ns. A Service to Private Owners, Banks & Estates 248-644-8565 Coins & Jewelry Weekly Headlines Delivered to Your thejewishnews.com/newsletter FRESH Weekly Headlines Delivered to Your Inbox.