 OCTOBER 29 • 2020 | 45

T

he walls were paneled 
in heavy wood … The 
chairs and bar stools 
comfortable … the steaks and 
chops generous.
The crowds of people 
who came to 
Berman’
s Chop 
House were big-
time athletes, 
newspaper men 
and women, vis-
iting celebrities 
and many sales-
men … A sort 
of New York’
s Toots Shor’
s.
Through the years, 
Berman’
s had built a nation-
al reputation on steaks and 
chops, which were about 85 
percent of the business.
At one time, it had two 
coolers filled with about 
10,000 pounds of aging U.S. 
prime beef … Its strip sirloins 
and tenderloins were cut after 
14 to 18 days.
Berman’
s steaks came in six 
convenient sizes … A large 
sirloin and a big tenderloin, a 

bigger sirloin and tenderloin, 
a club steak and a ground sir-
loin steak.
Its lamb chops averaged 
three ribs each and were 
almost as thick … It also 
featured thick cuts of roast 
prime ribs, trout, whitefish 
and frog legs … The cot-
tage-fried potatoes were par-
ticularly good.
The kitchen at Berman’
s 
was another point of interest 
… During the dinner hour, 
there were at least seven men 
in the tiny open kitchen … 
It was a lesson in efficiency 
to watch them work … They 
hardly had room to turn 
around, but they got every-
thing done.
Plus the food … espe-
cially the steaks … a sort of 
floor show went on … Folks 
laughed at the fellow chop-
ping cottage fries from an 
above site … as a cigarette 
dangled from his mouth with 
the long ash never falling on 
the dishes. 

When Harry Berman orig-
inally owned it, the consider-
ation was only that his restau-
rant was just another good 
steak house … But after being 
bought by Ben Kasle, whose 
family owned Kasle Steel, those 
words were changed consid-
erably … Legend has it that 
Ben discovered the corners of 
the steaks were being cut and 
tossed away … He is said to 
have immediately brought in a 
large cutter/chopper and began 
saving those corners … which 
caused a dining sensation 
when placed on the menu as 
Chopped Sirloins … coupled 
with an ultra-array of very thin 
cottage-fried potatoes … Talk 
was of changing the name from 
Berman’
s to Benny’
s, but that 
was short-lived and Berman’
s 
stayed in all its glory … 
Between its wonderful steaks, 
lamb chops, chopped sirloins 
and fantastic cottage fries, 
among a luscious array of food, 
it became a big favorite.
There never again was 

another Berman’
s.
DID YOU KNOW 
DEPT. … That there still 
is a Ginopolis’
 Bar-BQ 
even though the one on 12 
Mile in Farmington Hills 
is closed? …It was opened 
by one of the two brothers 
… Peter is serving them 
at his Ginopolis’
 in nearby 
Brighton.
OLDIE BUT GOODIES 
SHORTIES … Patient: “I 
have a ringing in my ears” … 
Doctor, “Don’
t answer!” … Q: 
Why don’
t some Jewish moth-
ers drink? … A: Alcohol inter-
feres with their suffering.
CONGRATS …… To Amy 
Wechsler on her birthday 
… To Jeanette Olson on her 
birthday … To Melissa Litvin 
on her birthday … To Jerry 
Olson on his 85th birthday 
… To Herb and Audrey 
Saperstein on their 64th anni-
versary. 

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

RASKIN
THE BEST OF EVERYTHING

Danny Raskin
Senior Columnist

A Tribute to 
Berman’s 
Chop House

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