In our streets - voila! Food

In 2007, David Chao entered the offices of a young and immature startup in Palo Alto, California.

The task was to decorate the entire building with murals (preferably "sexy", as defined in advance with words of which "sex" was the subtlest) and the rough graffiti artist, who specialized in a unique "dirty style", completed it relatively quickly.

The payment, generous to someone who was never rich and often had to steal food to satisfy his hunger, was closed ahead of time at $60,000, but the person ordering the work offered him an alternative.

"The truth is that I didn't believe in this company, and I thought it was a joke. I didn't understand what they were both talking about, and this whole business seemed pretty stupid to me," he repeated many times since then, "but I started making some money from the paintings, and when they advised me to take shares instead of payment, I decided to gamble ".

The person ordering the work, and the one who convinced him to give up the cash, was Sean Parker.

The other person in the room was Mark Zuckerberg.

The startup that is

When it went public in 2012, Chao's shares were worth $200 million.

More than a decade later, Chow admitted that only a small part of them were realized by him, "just to prove to myself that I really got something for the paintings".

According to estimates, most of them are still in his possession.

At the time of writing, one share of Facebook, essentially a meta, is worth a few cents less than $190.

A little bit of everything.

The Streets (Photo: Ran Biran)

Far away from the stories of the battle heritage of Palo Alto - 12 thousand kilometers away - I delve into a new mural that covers one of the walls of "The Streets".

The cafe, on the corner of many streets, none of which is Dizengoff and somehow all of them are a little bit, was recently renovated during a classic Tel Avivian style, which combines a little of everything, avoids breaking and shaking on principle, and mainly explains itself with hand gestures that usually mean one thing - in small .

The paint was renewed, the furniture was changed, the exterior was delineated and the interior was painted, but it can be estimated that no one offered the painter - Kathy Kanavsky from EKA Studio - options.

In fact, it is more likely that the creators changed, and in the spirit of Israeli restaurants, the transaction should have been completely reversed.

Or in the words of Nadav Naaman, Rani Ofer and Yonatan Greenberg, "If we took a percentage of every table that startups took out, we would be set, millionaires."

"Like married."

Naaman (right), Ofer and Greenberg (photo: Ran Biran)

At the age we were then, you don't think an inch ahead.

We saw the property, which is of course considered a cursed corner in Tel Aviv, and we simply couldn't give it up, so we opened it as it is, Ala Bab Allah

We meet on the occasion of the Sweet Sixteen celebrations of the two-branch cafe (including its slightly younger brother on Ibn Gvirol Street, and minus the basal branch that closed a few years ago after a decade of activity) and I ask even before they sit down if they still love each other.

"Now we are in a relationship of a married couple", they answer with a smile that invites you to do the natural thing and dive to the starting point in search of romance, and sparks.

"At the age we were then, you don't think an inch ahead. We saw the property, which is of course considered a cursed corner in Tel Aviv, and we simply couldn't give it up, so we opened it as it is, God forbid," they repeated, "and it went really bad for us. Really, really Bad. It was empty, completely empty. It was scary."

The trio, with a rich past in the city's nightlife scene, found themselves "running for half an hour on someone who eats breakfast and makes you as much profit as one mixing vodka with Red Bull at a bar," as she put it.

"

Fight instead of Flight.

The Streets (Photo: Ran Biran)

"There were places near us that did really well. We envied them. Today they no longer exist"

Their solution, given that we are now sitting in a caffeinated spoiler life, was Fight instead of Flight.

"One by one we grabbed. We let in everyone who passed by on the street, and let them drink and eat. We fought for every customer," they described, "Did someone want a newspaper that we don't have? We ran to the store and bought it. We really remember their names."

Another day and another day, "in teeth", and each month brought "a little more people", until one day they arrived, "and it was full".

This sentence summarizes, in their estimation, two whole years of struggle.

"The fact that it went like this for us in the opening is one of the best things that happened to us. It simply taught us to work, but really from the bottom of it," they explained, "there were places near us that did really well. We envied them. Today they no longer exist."

from the hollow

The Streets (Photo: Ran Biran)

"Suddenly you see a line on Friday, or you arrive at midnight and it's full, and there is a table with coffee and a table with cocktails, grandparents, a gay couple and politicians, screenwriters and military personnel. It's an organized mess"

This moment of leaning was short, but satisfying.

"We had a fantasy of how the place should be, that everyone could find themselves here and feel comfortable, that it would be both day and night," they described, "Over the years, this fantasy came true. Suddenly you see a line on Friday, or you arrive at midnight and full, and there A table with coffee and a table with a cocktail, grandparents, a gay couple and politicians, screenwriters and military personnel. An organized mess."

So, in the inverted species of entrepreneurial anxiety, a new trauma was born.

"When we realized that the business was working, it was an equally anxious event, because you say to yourself: 'Wait, I worked hard, I arrived, but now I have something to lose.'"

This anxiety was channeled, fortunately for countless leptophists and other customers, to healthy places, and mainly caused them to open their eyes and ears.

"We constantly listened to the audience, we never thought we knew best. People who came to work here shouted at us to turn off the music, so we streamed, and we turned off the music, and we didn't turn away all kinds of fringe populations who came in the middle of the night because it was sinful for our purpose. We did things Irrational, so to speak, out of loyalty to our emotion, but they worked, and it paid off every time."

"The whole time we listened to the audience."

The Streets

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These years gave birth to their ego, which is the What's Your Ism question, a tribute to the great Erykah Badu that adorns the back wall of The Streets, and essentially allows each guest to drop a private anchor in the heart of the stormy urban sea, and take a port.

"This is a prophecy that has come true. We knew that we would be here for everyone, and that we would find a way so that everyone could sit next to each other," they describe in the most imaginative sentence that can be uttered in Israel 2023, "It started with vegan food - Vegan Friendly contacted us already 12 years ago - 13 years - and continued with gluten-free dishes, providing a protein solution for people returning from the gym, for children, in nightwear, putting matcha on the menu before everyone else because you saw it on some cool Instagram from Australia. The main thing is that everyone feels good."

"We were cool, we stayed up-to-date, we matured and developed. We evolved, like the whole industry, from a beginner to professionalism. 16 years ago we didn't know what Excel was. Today, everything starts with Excel and continues from there, of course, to the head, heart and stomach."

Age adjusted.

The Streets' birthday menu (Photo: Ran Biran)

This coming of age is characterized by relatively modest birthday celebrations, very far from the teenage age and self-awareness in a way that is not arrogant, but just safe.

Or in other words - special brunches on all weekends in March, hopefully some of them will stay even later, and forever.

The special menu, sponsored by "Priya", will include five festive dishes, one for each guest.

Benzi Arbel ("Kaffra Mio", "Calabria") prepared "Mozzarella in Crocus", which is a mozzarella toast in a white chestnut covered with breadcrumbs, Avitar Malka ("the wonderful Winona Forever") went for a leek stew and poached egg, while Ofir Gutman ("Son Ron") concocted a green salad and smoked mackerel in a green chutney sauce, not forgetting a half-boiled egg (and keeping in mind a vegan version with tofu on the plancha).

Besides these, there is also Lili Ben Shalom ("Lella") with Georgian azeroli loaded with cheeses and yogurt with egg yolk, Hamudi Abolafia and Jake Saitovitz ("Dalida") with Arabic Gamliya, and a happy and rare line of alcohol in the form of cocktails for NIS 16 - "Pinky Linky" based on pink gin, for example, classic Bloody Mary and also sparkling and white wine.

A self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Streets (Photo: Ran Biran)

"It's a place that wanted to be everyone's, and managed to be everyone's," the three concluded, "neighbors and those who came especially, writers and directors, study groups for doctors and chess lessons. We even jealously guarded celebs, so they could assimilate here and feel comfortable. Our role was only Spread charm here and there, but not blatantly. People feel it when you're a geek."

The future, meanwhile, does not include any more Streets and certainly includes a worried look at the streets of Israel these days, but they are here "to stay, and to stretch the place in the directions it needs to stretch", as well as expand activity and even prepare for the return of 24-hour shifts on weekends.

"We closed it a little before the corona virus, and now it's coming back in a way that's a bit of a nod to the past, but mainly our statement that we finally got out of the epidemic. It was terrible, everything went into overdrive, and even if you survived, the whole body feels constricted. Now we say that's it, we're freed, and you can shout that we get out of this for the next decade. We are ready."

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