September 25, 2010
I persuaded Natalia that we should take the suggestion of several Tel-Avivites to have breakfast at Benedict, renowned as a great "breakfast place", serving just breakfast 24 hours a day. More than any other restaurant in Tel-Aviv, it reminded me of the United States, and in a good way. First, the menu was unambiguously not kosher, bacon and ham in clear view on the menu. The staff was warm and friendly, and the waiters who served us at the bar were jokey. The menu itself had the humorous feel of an American menu in a hipstery restaurant in a newly gentrified neighborhood (and the Hamburger Factory in Reykjavik). And the food was good. Dark coffee, eggs benedict (with lox instead of ham) on brioche bread, many extra glasses of tap water. And the people we watched looked more like American Jews than many of the folks we've seen in Israel.
From Benedict, which was located near the top of the map provided by the hostel, we walked to the new port, which depending on the person asked, is either a beautiful, fun place full of great bars and restaurants, or is cheesy and avoidable. Since we were there during the day, rather than at night, I'm not sure we got the full flavor of the area, but I was fine with this -- it was a pleasant walk along the boardwalk, had a good chat about Proust and David Foster Wallace, and stopped for a refreshing Coke.
Then we went to the beach for a bit, the beach just a 2 minute walk from the hostel. The water was warm, so warm that even I felt comfortable, but I'm not that strong of a swimmer so I got out soonish to read on the beach. The lifeguard screamed at the beach on a loudspeaker almost throughout: "YELADIM!!!! Blah Blah Blah Blah!" Every time he yelled, I assumed it was at me, even though I couldn't possibly have been violating any Tel-Aviv beach rule. But to be clear, the beach was a highlight, even with the screaming lifeguard.
By the time we walked to old city Yaffa (the oldest continuously operating port in the world) the sun was setting over the water. The old portion of Yaffa had a similar flavor to Old Jerusalem at night, but absent the orthodox Jews. Instead it was mostly populated by jewelry and art stores. But there were pretty palm trees, and all of it was made of stone. We found a free art gallery and looked at photographs by what I can only assume were Israeli photographers -- good stuff! And then got a drink or two at a cafe on the harbor.
When I asked my friend Lisa K to tell me where the hipsters in Tel-Aviv lived, she recommended the Florentin neighborhood, which turned out to be accurate enough. Like the rest of Tel-Aviv, it was dirty, slightly smelly, but we found a place Florentin 10 that we very much liked -- cool crowd, huge servings (I had chicken fingers for the first time in forever), great outdoor place to sit.
We then migrated to Hoodna, a mostly outdoor bar, with no apparent walls. People milled about in the street drinking Gold Star beers (we were drinking whiskies) and across the street, hip Israelis were making paintings. In one of the semi-open building, some sort of experimental live music performance was taking place. Natalia (and then I) struck up conversation with two friendly looking Israeli guys leaning up against a car, Mikey and Asaf. We soon learned that they were the founders and owners of Ierous, a company that makes arak, an Israeli anise based liquor. These guys were a very lucky find. They invited us to another bar in Florentin called The Chaser, run by some of their friends, and we we were introduced to more of their friends. Unlike the religious types we encountered in Jerusalem, these guys were all extremely secular, and had many insightful things to say about politics, which I will not repeat her. The bar music was terrific: LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, Robyn, the Knife, Hot Chip...It was a late night, but super worth it. Got to meet some authentic Tel-Aviv types.
Jonathan Richman -- New England
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