Lonell, Florentin neighborhood, Tel Aviv/Yaniv Garnot
It is difficult to find an orderly documentation of the IDF's stretcher trips over the years. Thousands of them raise the dust of records and mythological stories from the past, many no less subject to the rigidity (or flexibility) of the well-known effort bar, and all the rest naturally depends on what happens on the battlefield itself.
I personally remember tens of kilometers of shoulder screaming in training, accompanied by an almost immediate (and too late) IDF instruction to reduce the distances and suffering. This instruction was quickly reversed to the other side, as part of the lessons of the Second Lebanon War, and God forbid.
The ongoing war in Gaza - soon 150 days , everyone counts - re-emphasized these journeys, mixed army and citizenship and demonstrated an almost collective effort of carrying it. In the first weeks, for example, maximum shoulders were felt under one single, large and wide, Israeli stretcher. Even now, so long later, the attitude is still reasonable , in solidarity and cheering for everyone who raises a hand and demands a replacement. That is, minus the politicians who only talk about an equal distribution of the burden, but whom no one ever really needs to count.
So many stretchers, so many journeys and carries, handles that are placed roughly on a shoulder socket Painful, and yet, Lonell's stretcher seems to be something unusual after all. Very unusual.
The magic bath.
Lonel/Walla! system, Yaniv Granot
Romance for its own sake.
Lonel/Walla! system, Yaniv Granot
This stretcher was stretched hard and far, two handles inside Gaza and two in south Tel Aviv.
70 km of Israeli restaurants, and the heroic attitude of two soldiers to the journey
The relatively new food bar of Amri Couptail Vinon Elal opened a few weeks before the shock burst into our lives in Tel Aviv's Florentine neighborhood, with a great deal of talk about classic cooking that combines Provence and Jerusalem.
He did this in the heart of perhaps the only urban area in the city that does not speak fluent French and also, sorry in advance, in streets that have not become famous in the world as a model of class or classicism, yes?.
Still, a happy opening, and positive first steps that provided enough subtitles for this film.
This opening was cut off like everything else that was cut off from our lives that Shabbat.
Elel was drafted into the reserves and the initial period of shock was quickly replaced by the gnashing of teeth of the two partners and a super effort by them and the crew members to keep Lonell in the air, alive.
This stretcher was stretched hard and far, two handles inside Gaza and two in south Tel Aviv.
70 km of Israeli restaurants, and the heroic attitude of two soldiers to the journey.
During this time, the two partners closed one place (the sympathetic and popular Mena, on Yarakon Street), hosted friends and raised enough pop-ups to receive an honorary subscription to the food news section, but Mainly keep the air in your lungs, keep your fingers crossed, keep hope, hold on.
Now, finally, Elel is back to cooking, Cowtail is back to smiling, and Lonell is back to life. For now, this stretcher is folded. The Ministry of Defense would do well to collect it, check springs and oil hinges , but also to place her in her true rightful place - in the travel hall of fame.
Mobbing to Pantheon
A new house of food, with all the space to breathe, and smile
To the full article
Roots journey.
Lonel's Cubana/Walla! system, Yaniv Granot
Everywhere else it was two matches.
Here it's just as good, plus a bright and wide free standing bathtub that was placed at the exit from the bathroom and filled with dozens of wine bottles.
of course
The time that passed, and especially the events that sprung from it, stripped Lonnell of her French passport and Jerusalem poetics, and put her, at least outwardly, into survival mode that shouts "brasserie" so as not to alarm anyone.
In practice, it's hard not to recognize the Frenchness on the plate and it's even harder to ignore Elel's charming roots - Jerusalem of course, but also the Yemeni mother, the one who acts as a solid alibi for him when a customer comes to complain about the Kovna's hair, a true story - that hold all these points in the air, without dropping anything.
The envelope does the rest, an almost absurd combination of romantic design (thick white candles that drip themselves knowingly) and classic touches (high curtains that cover the only extension in the neighborhood that is only a little dirty), a poppy playlist (have the Spice Girls already reached the stage of ironic listening? How old Am I the hell?) and October's bereavement (a waitress and a shift manager who were murdered at a Nova party and immortalized on the wall and on the cocktail menu).
Everywhere else it was two matches.
Here it's just as good, plus a bright and wide free standing bathtub that was placed at the exit from the bathroom and filled with dozens of wine bottles.
of course.
Two spoons, bull.
Lonel/Walla! system, Yaniv Granot
The menu, if all these words haven't hinted by now, is not ordinary, not boring and even - don't tell the neighbors - charming.
In a neighborhood that has been careful over the years to push out almost anything that isn't "smoking is allowed inside and of course you can bring the dog too", this is terribly refreshing.
The amount of dates around confirms this, and the amount of large tables as well.
Florentine, renew yourself, and do not be wary of your wishes, even when they come true.
It starts with a dish of sourdough bread, celery jam, butter and garlic confit (28 NIS) placed on a non-injustice in the paw next to the same Cubana with tomato paste, yogurt and green sahug (38 NIS) and therefore you will walk around the world forever with feelings of inferiority, and rightly so, "Oyster Elegant "With beetroot cream and hot chili (31 NIS) which is a colorful and bright motorboat, a genius bruschetta based on Jahanon and topped with raw fish, old-fashioned cream, sahug and paste (42 NIS) and also two spoons of fish tartar, fruit, cashew nuts and coriander (38 NIS).
Do you know when you are instructed to eat dishes "with the spoon" since you returned to pre-compulsory kindergarten?
Here the awkward dialogue is spared, and in its place is a super portion that does not require words.
Better, isn't it?
Florentine Beach.
Lonel/Walla! system, Yaniv Granot
Elal plays well with vegetables - bloody eggplant siniya with hot tahini, grilled asparagus with anchovy and egg aioli, caramelized onion and goat cheese tortellini with red wine butter - increases to excellent winter meat dishes (smashed meat burger with cheddar cheese inside brioche, Beef fillet skewer with campfire potato or goat tartare with confit garlic and Hennessy aioli) and a slice of excellent vegetarian fanfare topped with gnocchi in a white butter sauce that appears on every table, at least once.
And he also celebrates in the water.
The same tartare and oysters, yes, but also shrimp in tomato butter and sashimi with orange-tarragon vinaigrette, grilled octopus with Shata butter (NIS 94) and a PG-13 phrase in the form of "fish schnitzel" (NIS 88), or completely NC-17 like "plate "Fishermen" (NIS 92) that combines bite-sized pasta, white fish shreds and Boyavez sauce that doesn't make a fuss of itself into a French-Italian song that even Israelis whistle.
at least once.
Lonell's gnocchi/Walla! system, Yaniv Garnot
French-Italian whistle.
Fishermen's pasta of Lonell/Walla! system, Yaniv Garnot
That shell from earlier?
Of course, she tightens her grip on the menu as well, and spreads energy in the most remote corners of the experience, those that are usually neglected in our places, certainly if they had to go on such a long Gaza break.
And so, the service is excellent, and functions as a kind of smart homage to the neighborhood.
I mean, better but not snoozy.
Even the cocktails that are mixed in the large and round bar invest in drinking a little more than the norm, and the desserts compare, and elevate, correspond with the French ones (bitter-sweet crepe cake with pistachio cream and mascarpone between its layers, for example), but with an Israeli accent.
good you came
Elal/Walla! system, Yaniv Granot
Cowtail and Elel run this whole operation from their makeshift meeting point.
The first as the hospitality manager, the second in the open kitchen, three steps down.
This is a summit conference of the right restaurant for our time, and in general, and a fairly harmonious combination of two strong forces that decided not to collide, but to dedicate themselves and magnetize each other.
Good thing.
It meets you, and everyone who enters, at the very beginning, with the arrival of two hot saucers of soup at the table, in a kind of free welcome without manners that knows that what everyone needs now is a city of refuge - from the rain, from the news, from life.
But it's not the jesta itself, but the care taken, its temperature, the taste (creamy Jerusalem artichoke) and the croutons (warm and crispy, not waiting for anyone exhausted).
How many times have you received such a gesture?
And how many of those times turned out to be empty gestures?
Everything is full here, especially the intentions.
Everything is full, except for the plate that comes back empty.
Lonell's stretcher ride is over.
You can start walking.
Lonell, Abarbanal 72, Florentin neighborhood, Tel Aviv, 077-9800339
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