Food in israel, redux

23/09/2008
Originally uploaded by ben.maritz

I have been working long hours, and have not even had the time to call my several friends and family members here, let alone see them. But somehow, I'm walking on air -- mostly due to the food. Today, my day started with breakfast in my hotel, the Crowne Plaza City Center, whose buffet spread was featured in this month's Time Out Tel Aviv as the best in town. It's hard to describe what makes Israeli breakfast so good -- the ingredients are simple: vegetables, cheese and yogurt spreads, and fresh bread -- but the ingredients are so damn good that they transcend their humility. At this hotel, their also nicely prepared, which furthers the effect (see pic).

Lunch was in my client's cafeteria, which I must say may give that ne plus ultra of corporate caterers, Google, a run for its shekels. The cafeteria had a variety of stations, each serving a complete meal. There were various roasts, salad stations, sandwhich bars, etc -- I went straight for the hummus kiosk, where I was served a pita, topped with hummus, topped with cooked ground meat, topped with a different kind of bean dish, topped with a fresh israeli salad. I ate it all then slept thorugh my next meeting happily.

For dinner, I instructed our new Israeli team member to take us to his favorite Tel Aviv restaurant -- he chose a place called Toto ( http://www.telavivguide.net/Restaurants/Pricey_Restaurants_(Over_$50)/Toto_Tel_Aviv_20080905417/), in a modern-art decorated office building in down town. The restaurant, good in a city of great choices, was excellent -- I had a cote de boeuf that rivalled that which I love to order in New York's Craft.

And I haven't even had a decent shwarma yet.