For years, one of the popular niche types of entertainment in the Metro Detroit area was Middle Eastern Music with “Belly Dancing.”  This type of entertainment seems to have vanished from the landscape and has been replaced with over sized television monitors which I do not find entertaining.  Be that as it may, one of the last of this venue was Mitch Housey’s restaurant.

During the period that Mitch Housey’s was in business, ethnic food was not as popular or a staple of the restaurant business as it now.  This restaurant catered more to business people and couples looking for a nice dinner and a get-away.  Consequently that did offer quite a few dishes from the grill, like steaks and fresh fish, and a few Middle Eastern dishes.  As a rule, because I have enjoyed a lot of these dishes growing up, made by members of my family, I tend to shy away from commercial variations of the dishes that I know.  This was a great place to enjoy a steak dinner and to watch the entertainers dance for the pleasure of the audience.

The wine list for the red wines tended to be skewed towards Italian wines, which work well with beef dishes.  One night I opted for a Tommasi Valpolicella Classico Superiore 1993.  I have discussed my favorable bias towards Valpolicella wines many times.  The term Classico refers to the fact that the grapes come from the original controlled designated area for this varietal and the Superiore means that the wine has been aged for at least a year and that the alcohol content is at least 12% by law.  I have found that when one orders a varietal that has extra “words” like these, that the wine is fuller and richer, which adds to the enjoyment of the wine.