 SEPTEMBER 24 • 2020 | 45

the best of everything
Raskin

It was one of Detroit’
s most 
glamorous dating spots.

A Look Back at the 
Gold Cup Room

L

ooking back to the future 
… Many may recall when 
James Beard, author, chef, 
etc., named his four cities with 
top restaurants he would stop 
at … New York, Chicago, San 
Francisco and Detroit.
He also told 
of his secondary 
choices … like the 
Whittier Hotel’
s 
Gold Cup Room 
… one of Detroit’
s 
most glamorous, 
which he said 
might be the equal to New 
York and Chicago’
s finest in the 
points of luxury and service and 
possessed a smaller but equally 
good menu.
When the Gold Cup Room 
was originally flourishing, it 
served as a sort of club for all 
young men and their pretty 
companions.
Many suburbanites had their 
first date at the Gold Cup, sway-
ing to the very danceable music 
of its owner Charles Costello … 
who then went on a remodeling 
campaign.

The new room was much 
bigger than the old place but 
retained the same posh intima-
cy it enjoyed since it originally 
opened.
Among other things, the 
Whittier got a new all stain-
less-steel kitchen, something the 
old room lacked. 
One of the most important 
parts of any restaurant was being 
under the direction of a wonder-
ful chef who had been at other 
fine eateries.
In many months, he and the 
maitre d’
 at the Gold Cup, who 
started there as a busboy and 
had never worked anyplace else, 
introduced a magnificent flam-
ing dish that many of those who 
were there will never forget … It 
was a sliced tenderloin cooked in 
a wine sauce and garnished with 
red button mushrooms. 
The flaming meal was not 
only spectacular but probably 
served the very practical func-
tion of being kept warm … One 
of the gents also added that they 
had never lost a customer or 
waiter to this pyre, but the danc-

ing flames suggested a bottle of 
Bordeaux or Burgundy to the 
diners or diners. 
OLDIE BUT GOODIE … 
The first Jewish president of the 
United States calls his mother in 
Queens and invites her for the 
holiday … “I’
d like to,
” she said, 
“but it’
s so much trouble. First I 
have to get a cab to the airport, 
and I hate waiting on Queens 
Boulevard.
”
“Mom! I’
m president of the 
United States! I’
ll send Air Force 
One!” he said 
“Yes, but when we land, I’
ll 
still have to carry my luggage 
through the airport and try to 
find a cab …And you know 
what holiday crowds are like.
”
“Mom! I’
ll have a helicopter 
pick you up! You’
ll go straight 
from the plane to my front 
lawn!” 
“I don’
t know,
” she said. “I’
d 
still need a hotel room. And 
hotels are so expensive, and 
they’
re not like they used to be.
”
“Ma! You’
ll stay at the White 
House!” 
“Well.
” … She thinks for a 

while and sighs, “I guess. OK. I’
ll 
come for you.
” 
That afternoon, she’
s talking 
on the phone with one of her 
friends. “What’
s new?” her 
friend asks.
“I’
m visiting my son for the 
holiday,
” she said.
“The doctor?”
“No, the other one.
”
CONGRATS … To Kari 
Silver on her 30th birthday 
… To William “Billy” and 
Georgann Wolfe on their 57th 
anniversary. 

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

Danny Raskin
Senior Columnist

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ing flames suggested a bottle of

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