 OCTOBER 8 • 2020 | 45

the best of everything
Raskin

L

ooking back to the 
future … A wonderful 
little restaurant gem was 
Dave Goldfine’
s Clam Shop 
in Detroit’
s then aging factory 
and warehouse 
district.
The building 
was an ancient 
structure, orig-
inally put up by 
a well-known 
brewery way 
back, even before 
Prohibition … In those days, 
the bartenders and breweries 
all but dragged the customers 
off the street to drink beer for 
a nickel and partake of a free 
lunch.
The interior was plain and 
clean, and the floor dipped 
gracefully here and there … 
The kitchen was very likely not 
as big as the one in your home 
or apartment, but the seafood 
that came out of it was terrific 
and thought by many to be 

the best in Detroit … and oth-
ers said it was the best in the 
Midwest.
Neither Dave, who originally 
bought the place, or his part-
ner, Frank Van Brusselin, who 
joined him 10 years later, had 
any restaurant experience.
As the name implies, the 
Clam Shop was devoted to 
those who believed all that is 
good came from the sea … 
The menu featured a high con-
centration of things like clams, 
oysters, lobster, king crab legs 
and fish galore.
Many who dined on lobster 
in some of the nation’
s top 
seafood restaurants said that 
the one they had at the Clam 
Shop was equal or better than 
the Lobster House or King of 
the Sea in New York and heads 
up above any lobster they had 
ever eaten. 
On one particular evening 
we happened to run into a 
friend who had eaten lobster 

at many restaurants in the 
country and said that the Clam 
Shop’
s was equal or better than 
any he had anywhere … even 
tastier than in Chicago, also 
noted as having the best ones 
along with those at the Lobster 
House and King of the Sea.
Lobster was king at the Clam 
Shop and the piece de resis-
tance was the broiled lobster 
… This was a 1¼-pound beau-
ty stuffed with what many said 
was the absolute most delight-
ful they had ever tasted.
Oysters and clams were 
other highly acclaimed special-
ties at the Clam Shop … Like 
the lobster, they were flown 
in every other day, and either 
Dave or Frank would whip out 
their weekly price list to show 
you that they bought nothing 
but quality, regardless of price.
Dave and Frank were equally 
proud of their red snapper, 
fresh pompano, Finnan haddie, 
shad roe or king crab.

As a concession to the occa-
sion eccentric folks who came 
in for steak, the Clam Shop 
had excellent News York strips 
and steaks of the highest qual-
ity … but make no mistake, it 
was basically a seafood house.
OLDIE BUT GOODIE … 
A Jewish man ate at a Chinese 
restaurant and wondered if 
there were any Chinese Jews … 
When the waiter came to take 
his order, he asked, “Pardon 
me, but are there any Chinese 
Jews? 
The waiter says, “I no know. 
I new here. I ask manager.”
The waiter goes to the kitch-
en and returns to explain to the 
man, “No, no Chinese Jews. 
We have orange Jews, tomato 
Jews, grape Jews and pineapple 
Jews but no Chinese Jews.”
CONGRATS … To Marilyn 
Rubin on her birthday. 

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

Danny Raskin
Senior Columnist

Motown
Memories:
The Clam 
Shop
The Clam Shop

FABULOUS RUINS OF DETROIT

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