Providing a stage: the wine bar where a contemporary culinary scene is brewing | Israel Hayom

Django Wine Bar by Chef Sharon Cohen is celebrating its two-year anniversary. To mark the occasion, he is hosting young chefs over the next month for meals that express the contemporary food scene in Tel Aviv.

Two years earlier, Cohen wanted to be the chef of one restaurant, the jewel in the crown – Shiloh, located on Ben Yehuda Street in Tel Aviv. It was after years of sketches, spinning balls and plot changes: his "Florentine House" opened and closed. Cafe Europa, in which he is a partner, has become a restaurant under the baton of chef, Yarden Shai. Offers from overseas poured incessantly, investors knocked on his door, and then COVID-19 came along and shuffled all the cards.

One of the dishes in the hospitality series,

But the forced gathering at the mother base, the wonderful Shiloh restaurant, brought calm. At the end of the coronavirus, Cohen nevertheless wanted to fulfill a dream and opened a wine bar that corresponds with the successful restaurant and chats with it across the street in the same language. "You can see that it's not just another wine bar, but that there's a thought about the hospitality experience. Where will you find a wine bar with white tablecloths on the tables?" emphasizes chef Tom Levy, winner of the "Chef's Games" program and the first guest in the series of pop-up dinners marking two years of the place.

Tom Levy,

True, Django is not just another wine bar. It is a Tel Aviv entertainment place, elegant but also light. It revolves around wine and the food next to it. The curatorial work of the sommelier, Gennady Shukelnik, is extensive and the selection of wines in the place is varied and wonderful. Wines from Israeli wineries alongside imported wineries bring great joy to the guests of the place.

Chef Sharon Cohen's menu is faithful to his clean poetics. He has great respect for tradition, technique, methodology and raw materials. He is paperless and has a brilliant and trusting hand. And now, this month, young, different and completely different hands are entering the kitchen. Young chefs who lead the contemporary scene in the city. Some are less well-known and no one has a permanent platform through which to host.

From meals at Jango,

"At first I thought it would be nice to work together with my guests and build joint menus, and then I met the chefs I host and I thought to myself – what am I getting into their food now, let them do whatever they want with me," says Cohen.

You don't cook with other chefs very much, how did this event come about?

"For me, it's more interesting. It takes me out of the box and thanks to it I see new things happening in the kitchen, exposed to techniques, learn something. I'm glad that each of the chefs is completely different from the other and from Django . It gives the beauty of a culinary sheet."

The first guest in the series, as mentioned, was chef Tom Levy, who grew up in "Rafael", "Virgin" and "Claro", and today owns successful and thriving catering services.

Fish cubes with basil flowers, yogurt, celery and basil oil by Tom Levy, photo: Idan Gur

He will be followed by chef Jonathan Cohen in Django from June 4-7. As a teenager, Cohen completed a course in "cooking" and set his sights on restaurants in the big city. At first he worked for Meir Adoni at Mazlala and Katit until it closed. From there he continued to "Poppina" and then to "Mashya" as Yossi Shitrit's sous chef. His menu at Django is a bistro that ranges from European, Japanese and Tel Aviv cuisines. Among the dishes: stuffed dumplings - potato buried in charcoal, reduced bar blanc ravin; Potato rosti - beef tartare, bone marrow hollandaise and black caviar.

Jonathan Cohen, Photo: Amir Menachem

From June 18-21, Chef David Shoshan, who is known as the contestant of the program "Israel's Next Restaurant" and specializes in traditional Italian cuisine, will be hosted there. Shoshan lived for a decade in Brescia, northern Italy, working under leading chefs from the region. These days he conducts, among other things, cooking and baking workshops. Among the dishes at the shared meal will be: zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta and anchovies topped with crispy hummus, pumpkin risotto and smoked probola cheese.

David Shoshan,

On June 25-28, Liron Greenberg and Tchelet Portman, who worked in Eyal Shani's kitchens, but met again on the set of "Chef's Games", will be guests. For the past two and a half years, they have been operating a brand of private meals and events, where they cook colorful and wild food.

Liron Greenberg on the right and Tchelet Portman,

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