So after my Kanibar fiasco I was anticipating the opportunity to eat out and write a review of a typical dining experience in Israel which is usually awesome.
Lucky me. Who knew it would come so soon.
The next day was a friend's 40th birthday. ( Hi R. Luv ya babe!)
6 of us went out to Temple Bar in the G center in Kfar Saba.
http://www.templebar.co.il/
I arrived first. While I waited I started chatting with the guy working the door. Big guy but fit and trim, maybe early 20's, nice smile... real friendly. And I speak hebrew with such an obvious American accent that anyone who knows a lick of English auto switches from Hebrew so they can practice their English.
So we started talking. He asked me where I was from, why I came to Israel... all the usual questions.
And I asked him where he is from.
And that's when things got sketchy.
You won't know it, he said. - Ok, maybe I will, and if not, I will now.
Yeah, it's no place you've been, he said. - Right, I haven't been to most of Israel, this is how I learn.
It's near Netanya (a big well known city not too far from me). - Great, I know Netanya a bit, what's your area called?
I'm not Jewish, he said quietly.
Huh?
I'm not Jewish he repeated in almost a whisper.
I paused. It took me a while to figure out where that came from and what that meant.
After I remembered that I aint in Kansas anymore, I looked him square in the eye and I said, Buddy, I'm from the United States of America. There are over 300 Million people in the USA and you wanna know something?
yeah...?
Most of 'em aint Jewish.
His face lit up and a big smile and wave of relief washed over his face. We shook hands and he said, I'm from Bakko, I'm an Israeli Arab.
We chatted a bit more and then my part showed up.
How happy I feel that a random person could offset a drop of what he has to walk around with every day in Israel.
How sad I feel that he walks around with this every day.
Now onto the review.
Overall Great!
Downside: The fries weren't great, which is a bit disappointing.
Upside: Fantastic decor, spacious and comfortable interesting ambience. Wonderful service. A huge beer and liquor selection. Irish/Israeli pub motif. Fantastic menu. Great food. Fair prices. Great presentation of food. Great service. (yes I said this before but service is a huge criteria for me). Decent live music, but not so loud that you couldn't interact with friends, in the middle of the week. Loads of parking.
Definite Must Go.
I had the sampler platter of sausage, wings, spring chicken and other assorted meats. But I sampled my friends foods... fish n'chips, Shepard's pie and more.
It was all really really yummy and the service was good and the prices fair.
What more do you want?
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Presidential Religious Litmus Test
Ken Starr recently wrote an article calling on Americans to ignore Romney's faith as in America there is no religious litmus test to be president.
Ken Starr is correct.
And yet there are a few nagging points which need to be made.
Where is Ken Starr on President Obama? As a leader in the GOP he writes an editorial for a presidential candidate from his part but says nothing as his party continues to paint President Obama as a muslim. He allows this behavior to continue because the President's religion does matter to a large percentage of the population.
Yes, there is no religious litmus test in America. A qualified candidate may run for office no matter his or her religious beliefs. But why does this mean that the voter should not take the candidates religion into account? If a Mormon Democrat was running for office do you believe that Ken Starr wouldn't take that into account when he decided who to vote for?
So what we really have here is once again, the leader of a political party wrapping himself in the cloak of righteousness when in truth, he flings rhetoric to gain more power.
Yay for democracy!
Ken Starr is correct.
And yet there are a few nagging points which need to be made.
Where is Ken Starr on President Obama? As a leader in the GOP he writes an editorial for a presidential candidate from his part but says nothing as his party continues to paint President Obama as a muslim. He allows this behavior to continue because the President's religion does matter to a large percentage of the population.
Yes, there is no religious litmus test in America. A qualified candidate may run for office no matter his or her religious beliefs. But why does this mean that the voter should not take the candidates religion into account? If a Mormon Democrat was running for office do you believe that Ken Starr wouldn't take that into account when he decided who to vote for?
So what we really have here is once again, the leader of a political party wrapping himself in the cloak of righteousness when in truth, he flings rhetoric to gain more power.
Yay for democracy!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Israel Restaurant Review #1
I've eaten at some amazing places: Trotter's, Carlos', King Louis 15th and Tru to name a few. And I love just as much to chow down on a hot dog and fries or a good pizza. All I ask is that the food be yummy and the service good.
In fact, I often find that the service makes the difference in how the food tastes. A bad server won't tell you if a dish is too salty, or won't bring the food on time, or make good recommendations. And when you're paying good money for food, if the service is bad your perception of the food is affected.
So now, after dozens of years of cooking non-professionally and professionally eating food from all over the world, it's time to start reviewing restaurants in my new locale: Israel.
A couple of my basic guidelines:
1) If you're an expensive restaurant than you better be great. If you're good or just ok than you're not worth that kind of money. There are too many top places to throw away the same cash on good.
2) have good service for your price range.
3)Don't Cheat! Don't you dare switch sauces in the bottles. If you're going to fill up a heinz ketchup bottle, for example, it better be with Heinz Ketchup. But if you put some knockoff in there to save a few pennies, how can I trust you on anything expensive? like the quality of your meat and produce, the time you spend on food safety & hygiene etc.
By and large I love Israeli food. Most of the places I've been have offered good value for their money, the food is fresh and the service friendly. There are loads of world class restaurants tucked away in little corners happily working their magic.
So I really expected that the first review would be of one of my favorite places. And just by chance I happened to take my kids to a fairly new local upscale hamburger place which was profoundly disappointing.
Kanibar Restaurant in Hod HaSharon. www. kanibar.co.il
Upside:
The food was tasty. They cooked the meat in my hamburger properly.
My daughter's schnitzel was juicy and full of flavor with a great even and pretty crust topping.
Yummy Fries (aka Cheeps)
It was the middle of the day and they attract a young crowd and even some kids, so the service was reasonable for that time of day.
Downsides:
#1 they put the meat and the vegetables on the wrong sides of the bread. You want the meat to be on the bottom and everything else building on top. There are reasons for this: 1st, simple construction. You want all your loose materials sitting on a solide wide base. 2nd, lettuce and onions and cheese etc. contain a lot of moisture. With the heat of the hamburger and juice dripping down, the moisture from those toppings get released and your base becomes a gooey mess. The alternative is to eat the burger upside down, with the round side down and the flat side of the burger roll up, which creates a terribly unpleasant sensation in the mouth. So good tasting patty killed by execution.
#2- they were out of some of the toppings I ordered. Really? No hot peppers? Walk down the street to the vegetable stand... literally just down the road.
#3- There was some brown stoneground style mustard in the Heinz Yellow Mustard bottle.
I happen to prefer a nice brown to the fluorescent yellow on my hamburgers. But they cheated! or the mustard had gone way way bad and I will be puking later.
#4- chicken wings came out barely coated in sauce and cold under the sauce there was. Yuck, cold wings and warm sauce. The microwave rectified the problem :-(
#5 - The onion rings: Decent but could buy the same at the grocery store frozen aisle. If you don't have great onion rings than don't bother.
My Recommendation: Don't go. Loads of great places for the same money.
In fact, I often find that the service makes the difference in how the food tastes. A bad server won't tell you if a dish is too salty, or won't bring the food on time, or make good recommendations. And when you're paying good money for food, if the service is bad your perception of the food is affected.
So now, after dozens of years of cooking non-professionally and professionally eating food from all over the world, it's time to start reviewing restaurants in my new locale: Israel.
A couple of my basic guidelines:
1) If you're an expensive restaurant than you better be great. If you're good or just ok than you're not worth that kind of money. There are too many top places to throw away the same cash on good.
2) have good service for your price range.
3)Don't Cheat! Don't you dare switch sauces in the bottles. If you're going to fill up a heinz ketchup bottle, for example, it better be with Heinz Ketchup. But if you put some knockoff in there to save a few pennies, how can I trust you on anything expensive? like the quality of your meat and produce, the time you spend on food safety & hygiene etc.
By and large I love Israeli food. Most of the places I've been have offered good value for their money, the food is fresh and the service friendly. There are loads of world class restaurants tucked away in little corners happily working their magic.
So I really expected that the first review would be of one of my favorite places. And just by chance I happened to take my kids to a fairly new local upscale hamburger place which was profoundly disappointing.
Kanibar Restaurant in Hod HaSharon. www. kanibar.co.il
Upside:
The food was tasty. They cooked the meat in my hamburger properly.
My daughter's schnitzel was juicy and full of flavor with a great even and pretty crust topping.
Yummy Fries (aka Cheeps)
It was the middle of the day and they attract a young crowd and even some kids, so the service was reasonable for that time of day.
Downsides:
#1 they put the meat and the vegetables on the wrong sides of the bread. You want the meat to be on the bottom and everything else building on top. There are reasons for this: 1st, simple construction. You want all your loose materials sitting on a solide wide base. 2nd, lettuce and onions and cheese etc. contain a lot of moisture. With the heat of the hamburger and juice dripping down, the moisture from those toppings get released and your base becomes a gooey mess. The alternative is to eat the burger upside down, with the round side down and the flat side of the burger roll up, which creates a terribly unpleasant sensation in the mouth. So good tasting patty killed by execution.
#2- they were out of some of the toppings I ordered. Really? No hot peppers? Walk down the street to the vegetable stand... literally just down the road.
#3- There was some brown stoneground style mustard in the Heinz Yellow Mustard bottle.
I happen to prefer a nice brown to the fluorescent yellow on my hamburgers. But they cheated! or the mustard had gone way way bad and I will be puking later.
#4- chicken wings came out barely coated in sauce and cold under the sauce there was. Yuck, cold wings and warm sauce. The microwave rectified the problem :-(
#5 - The onion rings: Decent but could buy the same at the grocery store frozen aisle. If you don't have great onion rings than don't bother.
My Recommendation: Don't go. Loads of great places for the same money.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The ATM Citizen or Let's All Break the Law
There are lots of reasons to not break the law.
The three primary reasons are:
1) Punishment
2) Social compact
3) Morality
What does it mean when the government turns it's citizens into ATM machines?
Go to downtown Chicago. The system in place is that if you drive into the city and pull over on a main downtown road, even just to drop someone off; if you wait in your car with the engine running a meter maid will walk by and put a ticket on your car.
They don't tell you to move. They don't give you a warning. They put a ticket on your car and walk away.
That situation by itself is a disgusting way for a government to treat its people.
But then you can go a few blocks away, to city hall, and what will you see? All the important people's fancy cars parked with their engines off on the side of the road. There are plenty of cops there, they are stationed there to protect the important people's cars. Tickets? Ha! Forget about it.
This is just one example out of dozens.
When the citizens are turned into ATM machines it means that government has broken it's social compact with the people. Without a social compact there is no morality.
And so, it appears that the only reason not to break the law is fear of punishment.
This is freedom?
And it's the same everywhere.
In Israel they claim with pride that their president was tried, convicted and sentenced for rape. "What a legal and fair country," cried the Israelis.
Yet what they forget is that Katzav, the disgraced president, was offered the "VIP" justice deal. All he had to do was plead guilty to a misdemeanor and it would all be swept under the rug. The government begged him to take the deal. Finally finally finally, despite all the pressure and begging and pleading, and Katsav still wouldn't take the deal, Israel was forced to try him the the judicial system.
I doubt a regular citizen would be offered the deal they made him.
All we are to the government is an ATM machine.
Global recession? People out of work? Businesses failing? and the government officials vote themselves pay raises and better benefits.
Break the law? The law is broken. Just don't get caught.
The three primary reasons are:
1) Punishment
2) Social compact
3) Morality
What does it mean when the government turns it's citizens into ATM machines?
Go to downtown Chicago. The system in place is that if you drive into the city and pull over on a main downtown road, even just to drop someone off; if you wait in your car with the engine running a meter maid will walk by and put a ticket on your car.
They don't tell you to move. They don't give you a warning. They put a ticket on your car and walk away.
That situation by itself is a disgusting way for a government to treat its people.
But then you can go a few blocks away, to city hall, and what will you see? All the important people's fancy cars parked with their engines off on the side of the road. There are plenty of cops there, they are stationed there to protect the important people's cars. Tickets? Ha! Forget about it.
This is just one example out of dozens.
When the citizens are turned into ATM machines it means that government has broken it's social compact with the people. Without a social compact there is no morality.
And so, it appears that the only reason not to break the law is fear of punishment.
This is freedom?
And it's the same everywhere.
In Israel they claim with pride that their president was tried, convicted and sentenced for rape. "What a legal and fair country," cried the Israelis.
Yet what they forget is that Katzav, the disgraced president, was offered the "VIP" justice deal. All he had to do was plead guilty to a misdemeanor and it would all be swept under the rug. The government begged him to take the deal. Finally finally finally, despite all the pressure and begging and pleading, and Katsav still wouldn't take the deal, Israel was forced to try him the the judicial system.
I doubt a regular citizen would be offered the deal they made him.
All we are to the government is an ATM machine.
Global recession? People out of work? Businesses failing? and the government officials vote themselves pay raises and better benefits.
Break the law? The law is broken. Just don't get caught.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Israeli Peace & Women's Sexual Desire
The religious claim that neither exist.
The right claim that Israel's neighbors don't want peace, all they want is to kill Jews. They claim that peace is impossible to achieve and therefore giving land for peace is a tactic to drive the Jews 1 step closer into the sea.
The religious also claim that men have sex drives that are almost uncontrollable. Women don't suffer from sexual desire but women are the cause of men's urges. Therefore, because men are so easily tempted and turned on, it is the women wo must be put out of sight to prevent men from being tempted.
Except in both cases the religious right are proven wrong by facts on the ground.
We know peace is possible because Israel has achieved peace.
Israel has peace with Egypt and Jordan. Further, Israel has a cold peace with a number of other countries in the region. Just read WikiLeakes and you can uncover even more instances of Israel working closely with numerous Muslim and other countries.
Similarly, men are not all diddling themselves in the privacy of their bathroom. These men are having sex with women. If women have no desire for sex, than how are these hyper-sexual men getting women to have sex with them?
The fact that Israel has peace proves that Israel can have peace.
The fact that women have sex proves that women also want sex.
It's unfortunate that the orthodox are taught from such a early age that everyone hates Jews and that Jews are the chosen people... and at the same time they are taught that men are weak and can barely contain themselves sexually and women must be especially modest and chaste... to protect men and because that is their nature.
Imagine what might be if people were taught that they are not especially special by virtue of their blood?
or imagine what might be if people were taught that although men and women may express desire differently, both have sexual desires and that behaviors between consenting adults are not twisted and deviant.
All I am asking is that people look at what is, and not just what they are taught.
The right claim that Israel's neighbors don't want peace, all they want is to kill Jews. They claim that peace is impossible to achieve and therefore giving land for peace is a tactic to drive the Jews 1 step closer into the sea.
The religious also claim that men have sex drives that are almost uncontrollable. Women don't suffer from sexual desire but women are the cause of men's urges. Therefore, because men are so easily tempted and turned on, it is the women wo must be put out of sight to prevent men from being tempted.
Except in both cases the religious right are proven wrong by facts on the ground.
We know peace is possible because Israel has achieved peace.
Israel has peace with Egypt and Jordan. Further, Israel has a cold peace with a number of other countries in the region. Just read WikiLeakes and you can uncover even more instances of Israel working closely with numerous Muslim and other countries.
Similarly, men are not all diddling themselves in the privacy of their bathroom. These men are having sex with women. If women have no desire for sex, than how are these hyper-sexual men getting women to have sex with them?
The fact that Israel has peace proves that Israel can have peace.
The fact that women have sex proves that women also want sex.
It's unfortunate that the orthodox are taught from such a early age that everyone hates Jews and that Jews are the chosen people... and at the same time they are taught that men are weak and can barely contain themselves sexually and women must be especially modest and chaste... to protect men and because that is their nature.
Imagine what might be if people were taught that they are not especially special by virtue of their blood?
or imagine what might be if people were taught that although men and women may express desire differently, both have sexual desires and that behaviors between consenting adults are not twisted and deviant.
All I am asking is that people look at what is, and not just what they are taught.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Why Egypt Should DUMP the Israeli Peace Treaty
One of the hallmarks of a democracy, of a stable country with voting and equal rights, is the concept that future governments are responsible to uphold the agreements formed by previous governments.
Egypt's previous government was a dictatorship.
The government before that was also government of brute force.
Why should the Egyptian people, after risking their lives for the hope of democracy, be bound to the agreements of dictators who grabbed power and vast wealth in part due to the agreements they made with other governments?
Egypt should dump the Israel peace treaty... and every other agreement formed by their dictators.
Not today and not all at once. But elections are coming up. Let the parties state where they stand on oil contracts, military agreements, peace treaties; everything.
After the elections the new democratically elected Egyptian government can decide on a case by case basis which agreements to uphold, which to renegotiate and which to cancel.
I hope they uphold the peace treaty with Israel. I think peace is in everyone's interests. I like peace.
But the newly free people of Egypt should make that choice and not be bound to the residue from dictators.
Egypt's previous government was a dictatorship.
The government before that was also government of brute force.
Why should the Egyptian people, after risking their lives for the hope of democracy, be bound to the agreements of dictators who grabbed power and vast wealth in part due to the agreements they made with other governments?
Egypt should dump the Israel peace treaty... and every other agreement formed by their dictators.
Not today and not all at once. But elections are coming up. Let the parties state where they stand on oil contracts, military agreements, peace treaties; everything.
After the elections the new democratically elected Egyptian government can decide on a case by case basis which agreements to uphold, which to renegotiate and which to cancel.
I hope they uphold the peace treaty with Israel. I think peace is in everyone's interests. I like peace.
But the newly free people of Egypt should make that choice and not be bound to the residue from dictators.
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