George & John, Tel Aviv (Yaniv Granot)
In the end, just before the moment when it becomes unpleasant because it has to be taken out, things are said. At first quietly, then loudly, with a rather resounding exclamation point.
Don't get me wrong - dinner at "George and John" went well, was delicious in an almost unusual segment and managed to dance beautifully and acrobatically between the expectations of recreating Tomer Tal's past charms and the hopes for a new juggling show (of the exact same Tomer Tal, a food gladiator who enters the kitchen every day and can quietly shout his "Are You Not Entertained"), but this sentence had to be said.
"Listen, there's no other way to explain it. Our chef is just crazy."
Look summer in the eye. George and John
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There are psychoses and there are crazy. Many of these and even more of these. Tomer Tal, no matter how much his bartenders won't try, not there
Now, I'm not familiar with the laws of Israel's culinary psychosis, and I have no ambitions to study the best crazy people in the industry, but I can say this - there are psychoses and there are crazy ones. Many of these and even more of these. Tomer Tal, no matter how hard his bartenders try, not there. He's not crazy. Far from it. He's just focused, and passionate, at the height of a rare manpower fantasy for the industry, at the edge of his abilities, looking summer in the eye, and smiling.
George and John's regular menu is constantly changing anyway. The same bartenders, professionals who have been working here for years, tell of new dishes that come in every few days. Next to the same menu you also get another page. Today's specials, tell you as you sit down. Two, maybe three courses, you think and then pick up at least two more meals just there, from those "specials." Dilemma, tragedy, comedy, drama.
Because since summer began, Tomer Tal has been creating, acting, experimenting, researching. Big words, but true. Since summer began, Tomer Tal has been making food.
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Celebration at the bar. George and John (Photo: Walla!, Yaniv Granot)
Follow the steps. George and John (Photo: Walla!, Yaniv Granot)
"Look," he tells me a few days after dinner, as we sit back downstairs and let the talented Alon Mesika film the New Year's dinner he prepared for Walla! Food (spoiler: Happy New Year is emerging), "I've reached the full extent of my abilities in terms of managing my 'routine.' I have a great team here, which has been with me for years, and this now allows me to devote myself to my passion - to try new things, and to interest myself, them, and the diners."
Or, as he puts it all into one sentence that "crazy" night, as the bartenders put it, "If I'm a customer who comes to George & John's for one meal today, I just order all the specials."
Kebab, obviously. George and John (Photo: Walla!, Yaniv Granot)
This tension between "ordinary" and "special" increases even more when you consider the audience. There are regulars here, of course, but many customers clearly refer to this meal as an event, a special ocean. Heck, *all* of the bar sitters around me were celebrating something. Most of them are birthdays, one couple marked an anniversary, and in general this is the happiest marble strip in Israel that is not part of a banquet hall.
They want the building blocks of George and John. The things on the basis of which Tomer Tal climbed. And yes, I mean crab spaghetti. We'll get to it, of course we will.
Still here, probably forever. George and John's crab spaghetti (Photo: Walla!, Yaniv Granot)
Freedom to riot. Tomer Tal (Photo: Nitzan Rubin)
But what does this mean in practice? What do we eat here now (i.e., not now, because it must have changed as a rabbi, but a general idea of now)?
Tal juggles, among other things, white fish sashimi on charcoal with Israeli wasabi and salmon caviar, tinkering with plums (thinly sliced and also as part of a tart vinaigrette), adding hay cheese, macadamia nut brass and baby cucumbers, serving poached calamari salad with unripe mango sheets in mango sauce and turmeric root, increasing a finely roasted butcher's share in josper with pickled unripe melon, pickled "cactus nopalis" in roasted jalapeño and brushed with tamarind glaze, Or roasted lamb sirloin in coriander seed glaze, lamb tartare in burnt herb vinaigrette and lamb neck tortellini.
And also Thai okra stuffed with chopped locos with bone marrow and herbs, tamarind glaze in tomato sauce and locus broth, which is a lot of words to say the most spectacular fish kebab currently served around us, and red tuna tartare waiting in a watermelon citrus with crispy quinoa, ginger, onions, coriander, watermelon vinaigrette and basil.
And that, even before those specials, yes?
There is no madness, but there is madness. George and John (Photo: Haim Yosef)
These include oyster with blackberries, shallots, chili and finger lime, veal tongue skewer with pine syrup, roasted leeks and herb butter, lamb fillet on a sage branch with potato and garlic rotolo, shrimp jumbo stuffed with shrimp and pecan pesto with bisque and caviar whipped cream, as well as two glittering stars on a stage full of fireworks and glitter and bright lights - tarjon sashimi on the idre with kusho lime, Young coriander, chili, Persian lemon vinaigrette, and raw blue crab with olive oil, smoked salt, soft butter toast and Israeli caviar.
The first is a song of praise for minimalism that turns into maximalism without any shortcuts along the way, and the second is – pardon the cliché – everything Israel dreams of being at night, before waking up. And if she's lucky enough to wake up here, at the Drisco Hotel, maybe she can, too.
Ice party. George and John (Photo: Walla!, Yaniv Granot)
It's funny, especially after all these words, but Tomer Tal doesn't like talking about a "summer menu" at all, and really doesn't understand what the story is. "Temperatures are rising, crops are growing, things are blooming and reaching peak freshness, and that's the food we need to eat. Simple," he explains.
In a way, it's obviously true. Take all the mannerisms and menu jargon, and you're left with the essence of the whole business. Food from what's the best now. In every other sense, and certainly considering what we're used to in too many places, it's the sticklight thrown at the intersection we're approaching. You can try to ignore the dazzling glare and move on. It is more worthwhile for you to walk in the markings left behind by Tomer Tal.
George & John, The Drisco Hotel, 6 Auerbach Street, Tel Aviv, 03-7269309
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