The Palace Grille

Molly Abraham: The restaurant at the Palace of Auburn Hills has surprised a lot of people with its interesting menu of upscale contemporary American dishes. Executive chef Mario Etemad and his sous-chefs turn out such dishes as bacon-crusted pork tenderloin with medallions with cheddar potatoes and dried cherry and apple compote, grilled black Angus beef tenderloin with potato-gouda gratin, and chicken pot pie with Amish chicken all of these on the lunch menu. At dinner, the selections are typified by duck breast marinated in thyme,lavender, garlic and balsamic vinaigrette on braised Swiss chard and lentils, and a 20-ounce grilled cowboy steak with chorizo ragout.