 
Gnome
Member
Username: Gnome
Post Number: 842
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 9:28 am: |    |
My sources ... hmmm, I'll let others decide if a non-partisan group is objective, or even the official Hesbollah web-site.
Mauser, you have proffered the notion that Hesbollah is not a terrorist organization. May I ask from where did you draw that conclusion? It certainly could not have been from Hesbollah, but I'm an open minded guy. Please, educate me. |
Club_boss
Member
Username: Club_boss
Post Number: 311
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 9:36 am: | |
Hezbollah (party of Allah-party of God), who has done some things for Lebanon, is Syria’s puppet and in my opinion the people of Lebanon wish Hezbollah would go away, go far away. |
Saintme
Member
Username: Saintme
Post Number: 98
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 9:53 am: | |
Well, sh*t. There goes another good one. |
Mike
Member
Username: Mike
Post Number: 1258
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 9:59 am: | |
club_boss you lebanese? |
Club_boss
Member
Username: Club_boss
Post Number: 312
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 10:09 am: | |
Yes |
Evelyn
Member
Username: Evelyn
Post Number: 144
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 10:22 am: | |
Glad I went to La Shish the last time I went back home. I’ll miss their baba ghanoush. |
One_shot
Member
Username: One_shot
Post Number: 359
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 10:27 am: | |
Ike's on 17 & Van Dyke is great for mid east food. Love the fresh warm pita bread! |
Mauser765
Member
Username: Mauser765
Post Number: 2565
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 10:55 am: | |
" Please, educate me."
offtopic - long argument. if it makes you feel better, you can be right - now we are finished arguing. |
Designerguy24
Member
Username: Designerguy24
Post Number: 115
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 11:02 am: | |
ugh now where am I going to get my rice almond salad? |
Professorscott
Member
Username: Professorscott
Post Number: 1139
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 11:40 am: | |
"I wish they could have sold the business instead of having it collapse. Were any of the allegations EVER PROVEN?"
The tax fraud is considered to have been pretty much an open-and-shut case which is why Talal high-tailed it to Lebanon. The support of Hezbollah, who knows?
There were attempts to sell the restaurants but the US government would not allow it. They are not willing to negotiate with Talal so long as he is a fugitive. He has his money (allegedly, I guess) so there is precious little reason for him to want to come back here and face the music. |
Diehard
Member
Username: Diehard
Post Number: 360
Registered: 03-2005
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 11:57 am: | |
Steve's Backroom is terrorism-free, right? That'd be my second choice. Plus, it's closer for us eastsiders than Dearborn.
Even so, there are a lot of hole-in-the-wall places along West Warren that look promising. |
Iseries840
Member
Username: Iseries840
Post Number: 523
Registered: 08-2005
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 11:59 am: | |
Where can I get my De-Boned chicken from? |
Alan55
Member
Username: Alan55
Post Number: 1291
Registered: 09-2005
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 1:18 pm: | |
"There were attempts to sell the restaurants but the US government would not allow it. "
If this is true, then it was a stupid move on the part of the IRS. A federally-supervised sale and then putting the proceeds in escrow may have been the only chance for the Feds to ever recover any of the alleged delinquent back taxes. |
Flyingj
Member
Username: Flyingj
Post Number: 99
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 1:24 pm: | |
I steer clear of Caribou Coffee in the Midwest for a reason;
http://www.snopes.com/business /alliance/caribou.asp
Hit up Zankou when you go out West, only controversy is a murder-suicide by the cancer-afflicted family member;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z ankou_Chicken
http://profile.myspace.com/ind ex.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewpro file&friendID=22465525
http://calapp.blogspot.com/200 6/11/iskenderian-v-iskenderian -cal-ct-app.html |
Texorama
Member
Username: Texorama
Post Number: 176
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 2:20 pm: | |
Say, for those who just have to have that creamy La Shish hommous, the Ann Arbor location, which cut its ties to the chain, is still open.
http://blog.mlive.com/annarbor news/2008/03/local_la_shish_no t_affected_by.html |
Professorscott
Member
Username: Professorscott
Post Number: 1140
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 4:06 pm: | |
If you're looking to satisfy your Shish Tawook jones, the Freep has a helpful article.
Link: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20080303/FEA TURES02/80303053
Excerpt:
"With hundreds of small Middle Eastern restaurants dotting metro Detroit, there's no shortage of spicy falafel, crisp fatoosh and tender shish tawooks to be found.
But that's part of the problem for diners who made the area's 11 La Shish restaurants their destination for Middle Eastern cuisine.
After the chain abruptly closed Saturday because of business losses related to fugitive owner Talal Chahine's legal problems, many La Shish customers are wondering which of the many other restaurants they should try.
We turned to the people who would know best - food lovers of Middle Eastern heritage - and asked them to dish about their favorite spots for great Middle Eastern cuisine.
Here are some of their recommendations:" |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 11393
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 4:20 pm: | |
Did anyone mention Motown (or is it Detroit) Kabob on Woodward in the New Center area? They have sit down eating but it isn't the most charming environment but the food is outstanding.
I believe the owner used to manage one of the La Shish's. |
Gibran
Member
Username: Gibran
Post Number: 1912
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 5:01 pm: | |
I'll send this out to the experts...a rare restaurant dish...Kibbeh Nayyeh with Hashwa..that was my favorite...any ideas...sad to here about the closure...that was sad for those making a real living there.. |
Club_boss
Member
Username: Club_boss
Post Number: 315
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 5:21 pm: | |
I really like this thread, I've gotten several tips of places to check out serving my favorite food.
Back to the delicacy (and hunt) of Kibbeh Nayyeh. |
Ericsprague
Member
Username: Ericsprague
Post Number: 40
Registered: 02-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 5:25 pm: | |
Hopefully at least a few can re-open under ownership of former La Shish employees:
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/a pps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2008 0303/REG/581070801/1036 |
Wazootyman
Member
Username: Wazootyman
Post Number: 315
Registered: 02-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 5:37 pm: | |
The Farmington Hills location (mentioned in the Crain's article, above) was always busy during the weekday, even recently.
I'm glad to hear that there's a real possibility that some may re-open in their present locations. I could really go for some 'hommous with schwarma' right about now... |
Ericdetfan
Member
Username: Ericdetfan
Post Number: 261
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 7:09 pm: | |
I have heard that Beirut by Night on Ford and Outer Drive is pretty good. Everyone always talks about it. |
Harsensis
Member
Username: Harsensis
Post Number: 334
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 9:49 pm: | |
I love Sahara on Harper between 8 and 9 mile roads in St Clair Shores. Since we moved to Houston we haven't had a chance to eat there, but it is on our must stop list when ever we come home. They have great service and great food too. |
Mike
Member
Username: Mike
Post Number: 1259
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 11:01 pm: | |
if you guys want a sandwich. try a lil hole in the wall called tuhamas on warren in dearborn. it is before miller next to the plaza that houses blockbuster. |
Optima
Member
Username: Optima
Post Number: 8
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2008 - 8:15 am: | |
I concur with Texorama. Both Pineland locations in Westland (walkable from my house) and in Farmington at 12 Mile and Farmington are excellent. I've always preferred them to La Shish and the Shish Tawook is awesome.
Great people too. |
Detroitpetanque
Member
Username: Detroitpetanque
Post Number: 79
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2008 - 12:17 pm: | |
 |
Alan55
Member
Username: Alan55
Post Number: 1296
Registered: 09-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2008 - 12:59 pm: | |
I think someone already did - Maybe that chili sauce tastes better the second time going down. |
Club_boss
Member
Username: Club_boss
Post Number: 322
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, March 09, 2008 - 1:41 pm: | |
The most informative article to date on Talal Chahine.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20080309/NEW S02/803090572 |
Patrick
Member
Username: Patrick
Post Number: 5259
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, March 09, 2008 - 2:19 pm: | |
Ike's on Van Dyke in SH is the best I have had in metro Detroit. Even family members from the old country think so as well. The place used to be a hole in the wall, but has since re-opened into a modern fancy place. La Shish had dishes that were from certain parts of Lebanon....more exotic in some ways. If you're in DC you can stop by a place in Adams Morgan (DC) called Mama Ayesha's...best middle eastern food you will ever have. |
Brenda
Member
Username: Brenda
Post Number: 62
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, March 09, 2008 - 7:26 pm: | |
I am glad the La Sish owners met the law--you can't come here and work for the enemy and profit at the expense of the "American Way"...having said that there is a wonderful middle eastern restaurant in Dearborn called "LaPita". It is located on the street where Pier One used to be an adjacent to a bridal store. They built a new building that is beautiful inside. The food is wonderful and the staff friendly! My best friend is an American of lebanese decent, Christian and turned me onto this delicious food. Go to "LaPita"...good Americans working honestly like the rest of us! |
Gibran
Member
Username: Gibran
Post Number: 1990
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, March 09, 2008 - 7:41 pm: | |
I do believe that there were good Americans working there also...maybe when the owners are brought to a "court" and have their day in a real court ...then justice will be "served"... |
Chitaku
Member
Username: Chitaku
Post Number: 1884
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, March 09, 2008 - 7:44 pm: | |
git r done |
Brenda
Member
Username: Brenda
Post Number: 63
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Monday, March 10, 2008 - 5:31 pm: | |
I forgot to add one important about La Sish, the workers were hurt and left on the street...no one deserved that....the government could have let them sold the business so the workers would get their pay and move on....that wasn't right at all...I agree Gibran, there were good Americans and immigrants working at LaSish, but it seems many have to pay for the sins of a few. |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 2008
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Monday, March 10, 2008 - 5:37 pm: | |
But Brenda, for that situation to be addressed would involve forming a union, which would mean that jobs would leave the state and ... oh, um, forget it ... |
Gibran
Member
Username: Gibran
Post Number: 2011
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Monday, March 10, 2008 - 5:49 pm: | |
unfortunately so. |
Diesel
Member
Username: Diesel
Post Number: 50
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 9:56 pm: | |
Anita's Kitchen in Troy had the chicken Kabob today Delish! |
Mike
Member
Username: Mike
Post Number: 1270
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 12:04 am: | |
But what killed the chain, they said, were allegations in a court hearing in May 2006 that Chahine supported Hizballah. During the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Chadwell said Chahine and El Aouar attended a fund-raising banquet in Lebanon in August 2002 and that Chahine sat to the right -- a position of honor -- of Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, whom Chadwell identified as Hizballah's spiritual leader.
Chadwell said both men were keynote speakers at the event, and that Fadlallah authorized the 1983 suicide bombing of the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 Americans. Chadwell said agents found a letter written in Arabic in Chahine's home thanking him for sponsoring 40 Lebanese orphans in 2000-01. He said orphans is a euphemism Hizballah uses to refer to the orphans of suicide bombers.
Local Muslims, including clerics, say Fadlallah is not a part of Hizballah. In fact, they say, he is part of a group that has strong differences with Hizballah. But the U.S. government says Fadlallah is a terrorist.
Chahine was not indicted on terrorism charges, and he flatly denied Chadwell's accusations.
"Untrue allegations have been made which wrongly link me with a particular organization," Chahine said in a statement from Lebanon, adding that "it is quite disheartening that our philanthropic efforts aimed at peace and charity for all are being characterized as otherwise."
Anyone hear ever read history... McCarthyism ring a bell? |
Downriviera
Member
Username: Downriviera
Post Number: 94
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 11:08 am: | |
If he is innocent and can prove it like he he has said, why has he not returned to answer the charges, like he also said he would. |
Professorscott
Member
Username: Professorscott
Post Number: 1165
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 1:48 pm: | |
He may or may not be innocent of anything related to terrorism, and I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But he is almost certainly guilty of tax related crimes, which is why he stays in Lebanon.
Still, it is not reasonable to keep accusing him of terrorist-related activities in the face of what appears to me to be absolutely no evidence whatsoever. That he is a tax cheat seems just about beyond any doubt, but that's all. |
Smogboy
Member
Username: Smogboy
Post Number: 7278
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 1:18 am: | |
It's all so speculative right now. The feds have their side of the story and he obviously has his.
Alas none of us will probably know the truth. |
Club_boss
Member
Username: Club_boss
Post Number: 327
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 11:19 am: | |
Well we do know this:
One million dollars in cash (one million dollars is 10,000 one hundred dollar bills and weighs about 22 pounds, assuming its all 100’s) was "found" at the headquarters plus a dual set of computerized books, one real, and one altered, at the Plymouth Township home.
He (they-whatever) had used this system to skim $20 million off his chain in 2000-05 and smuggle most of it to Lebanon.
I would think one million dollars in cash would be pretty difficult for even Jeffery Figer to explain away. |
Pythonmaster
Member
Username: Pythonmaster
Post Number: 145
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, March 15, 2008 - 8:07 am: | |
I hope they don't hang this guy in The Press, we are in a new McCarthy age when it come to middle eastern folks. It does suck for the workers who, as usual, get the shaft. |
Smogboy
Member
Username: Smogboy
Post Number: 7291
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, March 15, 2008 - 12:25 pm: | |
Club_boss... is it REALLY that difficult to imagine though? I've seen friends of mine who were waitstaff at some pretty nice restaurants and they'd come home with a couple of hundred bucks worth of tips in their apron at the end of the night. I have no idea as to what it weighed but it was a pretty sizable money dump on their coffee table to count. And they're just the waitstaff bringing home their tip money. I can only imagine what a multi-store owner of a restaurant chain can pull in from their tills.
I'm sure the LaShish people were pulling in some decent cash money (I'm basing it upon the amount of traffic I had seen at their restaurants and multiplying it by the amount of individual restaurants) so having that sort of big cash laying around might not be that un-imaginable. What they were doing or not doing with it is another thing. |
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