I was asked by one of the members of my dinner club to join him at a restaurant to check if the facilities would be good for another venue for the group. I have to admit that I felt honored to be held in enough esteem, that my thoughts would be valued. I went and picked up the gentleman and we went out to see what would ensue. One of the criteria that are used for our club is that the venue must have a private room for at least thirty five members plus additional room for displays and presentations. This criterion eliminates the majority of restaurants today, which are built for maximum use of a building, as private rooms can cut into the use of the dining area. The other criteria that is more important to some of the members is the price of an entrée as they will be hosting, there are normally three hosts for an evening, including drinks.

We went to a restaurant that had just opened on the East side of the Detroit area; they had already opened two other locations. We went to Fishbone’s, the original was in Greektown, and the parking is an issue downtown for some of the members. The second location is in Southfield, but we were looking for another venue on the East side, as some of the members were starting to call our club the “West Side Club.” I thought this was fair and I did not like to seem impartial to any of the members. We went and enjoyed the lunch and at the same time I check into the size of the private room, to see if it would accommodate our needs, not to mention the prices of the dinner menu. We started with a cocktail and then we ordered our lunch. We both ordered a simple plate of perch, especially since I was not too concerned about a beef or a chicken dish, but I wanted to see how the fish was, and it was a wonderful dish. It was not pretentious, but a fine presentation and the portion were more then adequate for our members.

We also shared a bottle of wine for lunch, as this was a very leisurely lunch and we could there would be no time constraints upon us. We settled on a bottle of Rodet Chablis 1999. The name Chablis has almost become generic, but it is actually an appellation in France. It is considered part of the Burgundy region even though it is about a hundred miles north of the Cote d’Or, the center of Burgundy. Chablis is the name of the village and there is almost as much basic petite Chablis made as there is Grand Cru and Premier Cru, but the bottle we had was petite Chablis. Chablis is made from the Chardonnay grape and it is a very crisp white wine and even the lesser wines still show some of the terroir of the chalky hillsides of the area. I enjoy a good bottle of Chablis, though it is not seen as often as a California Chardonnay these days.