A Whitney Memory

I return to haunt this ancient house prematurely.
I say prematurely because I am not yet dead.
As I am clearly visible, I cannot qualify as a ghost.
Though my association here of approximately
Four generations (eighty years) ought to qualify.

It was seventy-nine or eighty years ago
That my mother, to rid herself of a precocious
Child, sent me off for a few hours making
"House calls" with my father. As a City Physician
He made calls on the sick poor or poor sick,

Whichever they were. The anxious looks of people
Waiting outside for the doctor spoke volumes of
Their fears and anxiety. Daily he stopped at the
David Whitney House, which was gifted to
Wayne County Medical Society as its headquarters.

Here he registered infectious diseases and gathered
Quarantine placards to warn away visitors.
There was no question, the society helped my father
Practice medicine. That house, after I finished
School myself, helped me learn to drink in moderation.

Free meals at various society meetings were
Preceded by a groaning board filled with
Crudities, and surrounded on one side by
Martinis and the other by Manhattans. It is easy, yet
To conjure up that image as I climbed the stairs tonight.

Later still, after it did a stint as the home of the VNA
It became the home of the very fine Whitney
restaurant in which incarnation it exists today.
Can you imagine? I still see myself as a toddler
Looking at those stained windows for the first time.

It was mid morning. The daylight illuminated the
Cherubs from behind and lit the dining room.
We ate a tuna sandwich and followed it with
Home made apple pie. For years that pie
Was brought in daily by one of the cooks.

Those pies sustained me through childhood, internship,
Residency, fellowship and early practice.
Perhaps I shall even order a slice tonight.
Though at eighty-three I have generally
Foresworn dessert. But I remember and miss it!!
Gratefully
Ned I. Chalat M.D.

There is lots of summer left in The Whitney Gardens!

The recent summer nights have been perfect and new faces have been appearing in The Whitney Gardens for every one of them. We invite anyone who hasn't witnessed the Glory of The Gardens to come down for great food like the Whitney Sliders -- three great small sliders (burger, chicken and pulled pork) plus French fries for $7 -- and drink to experience The New Whitney.

We continue to offer a complimentary shuttle to Tigers night games (with free valet parking) and have a great line-up featuring a variety of live entertainment, including DJ PowdrBlu performing every Tuesday evening beginning at 7:00 and rotating entertainment on the weekends. We've also moved the Thursday 89X Garden parties to a 6:00 PM start time. Here is the current band schedule for the next month:

07/17/08
Wurfull
Jamie McCarthy

07/24/08
Prime Ministers
The Wall Clocks

07/31/08
Otto Vector
Hiding In Thailand

08/07/08
Kadro
Cobalt Party Revolution

We invite you to come down and spend these relaxing summer months with us with fresh food, live entertainment, and a garden ambiance in the city. Whether its lunch, dinner or brunch, we look forward to seeing you in the Garden!

A Thoughful Thank You to The Whitney

Nothing makes us happier than receiving positive feedback from a pleased guest, especially a bride! We do everything in our power to make sure that your time at The Whitney is as wonderful as we can make it. It's nice to hear that we are succeeding in this endeavor. Below is a beautiful letter from a bride who recently shared her wedding with us. Thank you so much for bringing your friends and family into our Whitney home! It was a pleasure having you with us and we are thrilled that you all enjoyed yourself!

"Thank you so much for all of your help, planning and suggestions. Everything was absolutely WONDERFUL!! I feel badly I didn't have the chef come out at the end of the meal. It was truly amazing.. I think every person said how tremendous the meal was.. PLEASE pass that along to him.
I really can't think of anything else we would have wanted to be done differently. The set up was beautiful. We would likely order more hors d'oeuvres - they flew!!
The waitstaff was really wonderful - especially with the kids.. if one of them ordered a drink they had it within no time.

Again thank you so much for everything. You were so wonderful to work with. We will definitely be back for anniversaries!!!

Cori"

One Night at the Whitney

Sixdegrees is sponsoring "One Night at The Whitney" this Friday, July 11th. It promises to be a spectacular celebration in The Whitney Garden with DJ Matt A on-hand. The Whitney will offer a wide array of food and drink including complimentary Bellini's from 10 - 11 PM. This Friday, One Night at The Whitney will be the coolest event at Detroit's hottest venue!

The Wicked Winds and a Wedding

June 21st, 2008 started off as a gorgeous day for a wedding at The Whitney. The garden was decorated to perfection with amazing centerpieces upon crisp white linens, champagne colored ribbons draped from the Peachtree, and the bride's signature drink was poured and waiting to be picked up by 125 guests as it sparkled in the sun. It was picture perfect... until 15 minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to start...

In a matter of moments, the sky darkened, the wind started howling, and then the rain and pea-sized hail came. We moved to Plan B as the staff immediately grabbed umbrellas, saved the 5 tiered cupcake wedding cake, and began moving the ceremony to the 2nd & 3rd floor staircase landing in front of the fabulous Tiffany stained glass windows. It was an epic Michigan storm out there.

We do many Whitney weddings inside where we serve hors d'oeuvres on the second floor and open our Winter Garden bar on the third. So this wasn't new to us. It turned out to be so wonderful, that many thought our Plan B should have been Plan A all along.

The Bride was absolutely thrilled with how everything turned out and the very next morning, she sent an amazing letter thanking the staff and praising the venue and the service.

So how does this fairytale wedding end... well they lived happily ever after (celebrating their new lives together in SUNNY Costa Rica)!

The Whitneys ready for PLAY

Sylvia Rector, a well respected Restaurant Critic/Editor at the Detroit Free Press, featured our restaurant and garden in the PLAY section of the Free Press today. If you have a moment, please check it out! Thank you Sylvia for joining us at The Whitney!

"Metro Alfresco: The Whitney"
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806190330

Heating up the Kitchen

This week, The Whitney is putting the finishing touches on its brand new kitchen! We have purchased many new appliances, including an entire hot line. The equipment is state-of-the-art and allows our talented staff to create even more succulent dishes in a shorter period of time.

At The Whitney, we love when guests come in and enjoy a leisurely meal with us. However, we also know that many patrons are on a schedule. With our upgraded kitchen, we are better able to meet all of our customer time requests while still delivering the culinary experience that has made The Whitney a Detroit favorite for over 20 years!

The Whitney's first 89X Garden Party of the summer!

Tomorrow, Thursday June 12th is The Whitney's first 89X Garden Party of the summer! These events have been a staple on the Detroit music scene for twenty years and many renowned bands have played in our Gardens (like The White Stripes). This year the events are better than ever. The Gardens have been re-done and are more spacious, more colorful and offer more seating than ever before.

The events start at 9:00 PM and two bands will play "un-plugged"- some for the first time ever.
Cal Cagno and the 89X team have pulled together a schedule that includes:
June 12: Wurfull and The Delivery

June 19: Robin Horlock Band and Otto Vector

June 26: Silent Violet and The Wall Clocks

July 3: Prime Ministers and Spencer Michaud.

There is no cover charge and valet parking is free.
Join us in The Whitney Garden for great food, refreshment and music in the heart of the "D"!

Flavors of Michigan Charity Event

Last night The Whitney took part in the "Flavors of Michigan" Charity Event hosted by the American Liver Foundation at the Ritz Carlton in Dearborn. Follow the below link for a description of the event.
http://www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/Events/Hour-Town-Events/?view=view_event&itm=685
The Whitney was auctioned off at the highest price of $1,000.00. Our chefs served a 5 course meal to the group that took part in the auction. It was a very successful event.

Here are some more events happening around The Whitney...
The Detroit Regional Chamber is hosting an event here tomorrow in the Garden with about 70 people. We also have The Detroit Wine Organization hosting an event on June 18th, they will be having close to 100 people in the Garden for a wine tasting. On June 20th we are out-catering an event at the Zoo for 2,000 people. We will keep you updated on these and more events coming up.

Tigers shuttle is a Success!

Friday, June 6th marked the first night for The Whitney's shuttle to Tigers games. 15 people used the shuttle on the first night and all agreed it was a good experience. That was a great turn out for our first ride! We offer this service for every Tiger night game and we hope Tiger fans take advantage of this in the future!

The Whitney's shuttle is free as is our valet parking. Instead of paying top dollar for inconvenient stadium parking, come by The Whitney and hop on our shuttle that drops you off right at the Comerica Park gate. Have a drink in our garden and save even more money during our Happy Hour (4 – 6 PM) where all garden menu food is half off! Then hangout after the game (The Whitney was voted Detroit’s Best Place for a Nightcap by HOUR Detroit).

Check our website for our live entertainment schedule.

We love our garden and we think you will too!

Celebrate the 2008 Red Wings Parade in The Whitney Gardens!

Like everybody in Detroit, we are celebrating the Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup Championship and their phenomenal 2008 season!

The Red Wings are an incredible source of pride for our entire region. They are an Original 6 team, and we like to think of The Whitney as an original, authentic Detroit destination. I invite hockey fans to kick back in our garden for food and drink tomorrow after the Detroit Parade to celebrate the Cup’s return to Hockeytown.

The gardens are open at 11:30AM, but we also offer half off our garden menu from 4:00PM to 6:00PM. From 5:00PM to 7:00PM, morning radio personalities JAY TOWERS and BILL MCALLISTER from 97.1FM The Ticket will be on-hand to talk Red Wings and all other things Detroit.

We have free valet parking and is also pleased to provide a free shuttle to Comerica Park tomorrow evening for the Tigers game.

GO WINGS! GO TIGERS! And then go to the gardens!

Come One Come All! The Gardens are Offcially Open!

This week marks the official opening of our revamped and stunning new Whitney Gardens! So far the feedback has been extremely positive and we have been featured by Fox TV, The Detroit News, The Detroit Free Press and a whole slew of on-line publications.

Our first Tuesday with DJ PowdrBlu was this week. The rain caused us to move the party inside to our third floor WinterGarden - still it was great to get the event kicked-off. Tuesdays will be a blast this summer at The Whitney.

We Detroiters are always looking for outdoor dining and drinking experiences during our summer months -- we think our Gardens can become the place to be for lunch, happy hour, dinner and entertainment.

We hope you visit us and agree!

Barbara Komen “Race for the Cure” passes The Whitney!!

Well, I don’t usually wear a pink chef’s jacket but in the case of the Barbara Komen “Race for the Cure” where pink is the color of choice, why not? It was absolutely inspirational to see some 50,000 men, women and children of all ages and races filing past The Whitney Saturday morning, May 31, helping to raise funds to find a cure for breast cancer.

We wanted to be involved at The Whitney so we dressed our Tiger mascot “Whit” in a pink pashmina, tied pink ribbons and balloons to our front fence and Patrick Liebler, our Executive Director, Khalid Diab, our General manager, Michael Lutes, our Executive Chef and I donned pink chef’s garb as we handed out over 5,000 small chocolate Opera Cakes, The Whitney’s signature dessert, to help fuel the runners to the finish line.

It was a great way to throw open our garden gates and a great way to help a great cause. We’ll be there again next year, only bigger and better!

Where's our Gnome?! Relaxin' in the Gardens...

TheWhitney. Kick back in the garden this summer.
Home Grown Garden Parties
4421 Woodward Ave. Detroit, MI 48201

May 27 - September 28
Enjoy lunch & dinner in The Garden
Monday through Saturday
lunch brunch dinner drinks dessert
Check out local, live entertainment featuring
DJ Powdrblu every Tuesday
Signature Brunch every Sunday
Happy Hour 4-6pm Monday through Friday
Free Shuttle to Tigers’ night games
Go to TheWhitney.com or call 313-832-5700 for details.

Hello Friends of The Whitney!

I wanted to let you know we're continuing to make progress. Hopefully you've seen or heard some of the wonderful publicity we've received in the past few weeks -- articles in dbusiness and HOUR Magazine, stories in Crain's Detroit Business and the local newspapers, interviews on WDET and with Dick Purtan on WOMC, plus spots on 89X and 97.1 plugging our Friday night garden parties. We owe our friends in the media a big THANK YOU!Our new chef, Michael Lutes, is settled in and has made big changes -- for the better -- to our menu. Visitors, happily, are raving about the food. Master Sommalier Claudia Tyagi continues to update the wine list with great local, national and international wines to tempt any palate. We've had some big private parties and lots and lots of walk-in customers who recognize our General Manager, Geoffrey Browing, from his days at Joe Muer's and are happy to have him back on the Detroit restaurant scene.Renovations continue. The front walks and gardens and driveway resurfacing should be completed this week which will finish our outside work for awhile. We've stripped and repainted three more rooms on the second floor and removed the carpeting to expose beautiful parquet floors which we're ruminating over whether to polish and leave uncovered, or to carpet. We're about to order carpet for several of the downstairs rooms and are pushing, pushing, pushing to get our new bar/lounge on the first floor before the holidays. We'll definitely have an updated look to the third floor bar -- not the whole area, just the bar itself -- before the year is up. And we're getting some good entertainment up there on the weekends.It's all very exciting. Come see for yourself and let us know what you think.



Bud Liebler, Proprietor