Tel Aviv's Art Scene

No matter where I looked in Tel Aviv, I found my senses constantly stimulated by the eclectic- and Bauhaus-style as well as contemporary architecture, art galleries and museums, and design emporia. In fact, I could've easily have spent a week just checking out Tel Aviv's art and architecture scene. This is one of several posts details the venues I fell in love with:

• If you're interested in decorative arts, the Eretz Israel Museum Shop is a must visit. Located just a short cab ride from the heart of Tel Aviv, the museum is an amalgam of everything to do with Israel's history and culture including archeology and traditional crafts. When I visited, I stopped in to check out the temporary "Clay, Sensation" exhibit that displays the works of more than 50 celebrated Israeli ceramics artists, from Samy D. to Karin Zur. This is no ordinary pottery exhibit; many are quite avant garde -- such as a bowl that reminded me of a cell's nucleus and a glowing perforated globe that seems like an alien ship. Definitely worth checking out if you want to see creativity at its best in the ceramics arena.

It's hard to walk away empty handed at their Museum Shop with its array of ceramics and jewelry, both classic and contemporary. You'll find cool glassware and metalworks, Ethiopian sculptures , Bedouin embroidery and even boldly-hued mezuzahs.

• By the way, if you can't get enough of all things design oriented, make sure to get a copy of the "Israel Through Art" guide. Here you'll be able to spend your week or your weekend in Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel visiting the boutique shops, private galleries, workshops and studios of some of Israel's top decorative artists. This booklet is a product of AIDA, the Association of Israel's Decorative Arts which is a group of American collectors that are well known in this arena. I wish I had more time because I only found out about this near the end of my trip.

• Along Bialik Street, a placid narrow lane lined with Bauhaus buildings, I appropriately found the new Bauhaus Museum. Open only on Wednesdays and Fridays, this one-room space exhibits the furniture designs that were influenced by the Bauhaus School. Titled "Bauhaus at Home," the display includes tubular tables and chairs constructed of glass, wicker and wood as well as tubular lights, and cabinets with tea sets.

• Almost across the street is the newly renovated Bialik Museum that opened a few months ago. This lovely 1920s home of the country's national poet, Chiam Nachman Bialik, is replete with an ornate tiled fireplace, tiled columns and floors and his painting collection on the first floor. Though all the displays and booklets are in Hebrew, come on a weekend and you might be able to request an English-speaking guide. I did and found out that the building (with its East/West architectural influences) was meticulously restored using the original plans and documents; the the clock in the dining room played what later became Israel's national anthem; and that Bialik would entertain friends and guests at length, discussing politics, philosophy, Judaism and how to build the young city of Tel Aviv.

• Down the same street, don't miss the Rubin Museum, formerly Reuven Rubin's house and studio. The Roumanian-born painter is considered one of Israel's most beloved artists. Dating to the 1930s, the multi-story house displays his sun-bathed landscapes that reminded me a lot of works by Cezanne, photos of Rubin with a multitude of celebrities, including Harpo Marx as well as a few unfinished canvases. The three-floor temporary exhibit -- these change three or four times a year -- is entitled "Van Gogh in Tel Aviv" and displays the oils, charcoals, mixed media and wood sculpture of more than three dozen Israeli artists that pay homage to this master. (Interestingly, the museum's curator was inspired to produce this exhibition when she found an homage to Van Gogh painting among Rubin's unpublished works.)

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Chilling Out in Tel Aviv

I promised more postings about my recent trip to Israel. These are some of the venues where I chilled out from my usual high-adrenalin wanderings:

• The restaurant at the boutique Hotel Montefiore is a must dinner stop. After all, this is the place to see and be seen. It seems all of the top designers and architects and others I spoke with had dined here. During my one-week visit, I visited here twice and I saw that the liveliest spot to dine is the bar, rather than the adjacent dining room. Here I sat alone beside a couple celebrating the wife's 30th birthday. But I didn't feel alone for long. After ordering several appetizers -- the shrimp salad with cellophane noodles, and the Four Nams, small egg rolls that you wrap in lettuce and mint leaves -- they soon ordered vodka shots, poured some for me and invited me in several toasts. You gotta love Israel -- this never happened to me in New York City. The restaurant offers a fusion Vietnamese menu and, though I didn't find every dish memorable, the atmosphere definitely was.

• Down the street from Hotel Montefiore, a new wine bar, referred to simply as The Wine Bar, is set on a corner of Nachalat Binyamin Street at 15 Montefiore Street. This two-floor glass ensemble provides an intimate venue on the top floor where you can snuggle with your date at the solo table while looking out at the large glass windows. I sat at the bar on the ground floor sipping a wonderful Chardonnay from the Golan Heights -- an area known for its wines. Though most of the varieties are from Israel, you can also find wines from Chile, France, Australia and Spain. They also serve food: I vote for the ravioli stuffed with lamb and garlic and the excellent creme brulee with pomegranate.

• On the old Tel Aviv Port waterfront which has been renovated into a shopping, dining, nightlife venue. Among the many options, I chose to hang out at ultra-laid back Shalvata. This restaurant/bar is most noted for its outdoor patio complete with thatch umbrellas and sofas with plenty of colorful throw pillows. I wish the weather was cooperative because I would've hung out staring at the sea. But with the cool weather, I retreated to the spacious interior where a palm tree pierces the reed ceiling, a wood burning stove sits in the middle of the space and the bartenders are plenty willing to chat.

• Also on the old Tel Aviv Port, the Coola Spa is a hidden gem for women. This women's only day spa is so much more. It's a place where they offer everything from belly dancing classes to movement therapy. Sited on the waterfront, coming here on a sunny day allows you to sit outside on a lounge chair and enjoy the sea views. Their treatments are plenty varied, including Japanese, Chinese, Hawaiian and Indian massages as well as a even a Tibetan treatment. Chocolate lovers, like myself, can opt for a chocolate treatment. They're really got something for every woman, including those who are pregnant. It's really more like a regenerative day retreat.
• In Jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv's center, I found a restaurant with the most wonderful location. Babai is set right on a windswept seafront with nothing to impede the ocean-front views. Sitting beside the tall windows, I wanted something light so I asked if I could just have a mix of dishes, a little humus, baba ganoush, that sort of thing. Wonderfully, 15 small individual plates arrived, each with a tasty salad: baba ganoush, lentils with onions, curried cabbage, tomatoes with garlic, tabouli and much more. Plus, warm pita bread. These simple but varied dishes and a view that can't be beat makes this a winning locale.

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Israel: A Happening Holy Land

As a native New Yorker, it's hard to imagine living any other place in the U.S. What city could rival New York's vibrancy and creativity, its edginess as well as its sophistication? But one city that reminds me so much of New York but with the added plus that it comes with an amazingly beautiful waterfront promenade and a sandy beach to boot is Tel Aviv. Here you have a small city that's jam packed with creativity, liveliness, an incredible restaurant scene, notable architecture aplenty and art galleries and design emporia popping up all over the place. I just spent a week there, using it also as a base to visit other parts of the country. My first post from this trip is devoted to just a few of the cool Tel Aviv-based venues I visited:

1. When I walked into La Champa, an intimate cava bar, I felt transported to Barcelona. Many of those packed into this small narrow bar were dancing to the live Spanish music played by an Israeli band -- plenty were enjoying the vibe outside as well. I stood at the bar -- as everyone does; there's no sitting here -- and sipped a wonderful glass of cava (they serve nine different kinds) while nibbling on patatas bravas, chorizo and manchego. When I left near 1 a.m., things were still going strong.

2. The city's love affair with Spain is apparent in the recently-opened restaurant appropriately named Pintxos. (It's the Basque spelling of a word referring to small one-bite tapas.) They offer 15 different varieties on a tray -- you pick what you want as the waitress passes your table -- and I gobbled up 10 of these. I couldn't resist the white truffle spread on bread, Danish blue cheese with grapes, and artichoke with truffle oil and cashew nuts.

3. If an architect didn't tell me about one-year-old Salon, I wouldn't have found out about this gem. After all, they don't advertise, there's no web site and don't expect anyone to hand you their business card because they don't have one. This is a word of mouth establishment on the edge of Tel Aviv that's only open on Wednesday and Thursday nights. I showed up at 10 pm on a Wednesday -- the more "laid back" of the two nights, though it's never laid back -- and sat at the bar. (That's where all the action is. You're only steps away from the chef who's preparing food on the bar top that's stacked with all manner of fresh ingredients, from black tomatoes to Arab almonds.) Everything, from the ultrathin raviolis to the flavorful focaccia is handmade. And though eggplant and radishes never have thrilled me, they became my favorite foods, at least the way they were prepared here. I chose the six-course tasting menu where I found out the chef's love of tomatoes of all sorts.

4. Film buff that I am, Hotel Cinema couldn't be a better locale to lay my head. Centrally located off of Dizengoff Square, this boutique accommodation is housed in the original Bauhaus-style movie theater that opened in the 1930s. Every floor has plenty of the theater artifacts to explore, whether it's film projectors, old movie posters or cinema tickets. They even provided a small carton of popcorn at check-in.

5. Open less than a year, the Hotel Montefiore is a boutique affair that's become a happening place. Housed in a building dating from the early 1920s, the 12-room hotel couldn't have a better location near tree-lined Rothchild Boulevard -- my favorite strolling street in Tel Aviv. Expect to be catered to here -- they'll arrange everything from having a fitness trainer or masseuse come to your room to setting up private guided tours. My next posting will discuss my dining experience in their restaurant.

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Israel Travels

Just wanted to let you know that I'm traveling in Israel and will be back on Sunday. I've been running all over the place checking out hot designers, new restaurants and recently-opened wine bars. Getting back at 2 a.m. each night didn't leave time to post. But you can expect a complete update on what's happening in Tel Aviv this Sunday. In the meantime, you can check my updates on twitter.

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