114
NOVEMBER 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
THREE PERFECT DAYS
||
TELAVIV
it serves as a museum. In the basement,
you come across a photography exhibit,
an ongoing municipal project in which
volunteers visit homes throughout Tel
Aviv to scan people’s family snapshots.
The sepia-tinted expressions of hope, the
sense of belonging, conjure the citymo o:
“
To build andbe built.” On theway out, you
actually run intoMayor RonHuldai in the
street. “Enjoy my city!” he says, pumping
your hand.
After a couple of hours spent relax-
ing at
Frishman Beach
,
you head inside
your nearby hotel and get dressed for
dinner (not
too
dressed—Tel Aviv is very
casual).
Social Club
,
a bar-restaurant off
Rothschild Boulevard, is aptly named,
with Tel Aviv’s beautiful people milling
around the U-shaped bar in the center of
the Rat Pack–reminiscent room. You start
with the smoked roast beef appetizerwith
artichokes andhot peppers, continue on to
a pork chopwithmango salsa, and end by
digging into coconut ice creamwithflaxen
Turkish
halva
,
a confection that melts in
your mouth like co on candy.
You’re fast slipping into a food coma, but
it’s Thursday night, which, as every person
youencountertellsyou,is“crazy”inTelAviv.
Soyouhead for
PaulinaStash
,
thebifurcated
bar located in the oldWeiss house, inwhich
one side is mellow, serving barbecue, and
the other is noisy, dimand smoky. You grab
a local Goldstar beer and struggle through
the crowd to the patio, where you finish
your drink in the shadow of the Shalom
Tower. Inevitably, youbecome embroiled in
a spiriteddebatewithahandful of regulars.
FEAST YOUR EYES
Left, scenic Rothschild
Boulevard; right, Social Club’s smoked roast beef
appetizer; opposite, treats at Abulafia Bakery
