Honorable Mentions קצרים

Below is an amalgamation of things I should have posted about long ago. So in no real notable order - kind of like the Torah...

GOOD EXPERIENCE: Adrenaline junkies that we are - on a day that we had 45 minutes TOTAL for our afternoon meal - we decided why order when you can go to the local burger joint?! We decided to head to Black Bar N' Burger בלאק בר נ' בורגר in Petach Tikva - and by the time we parked we had somewhere in the vicinity of 39 minutes for our entire escapade - including the drive back to the office. We notify the waitress of this even before we sit down - saying, if she doesn't think they can uphold the tight timeframe - then we'll order take out instead. Lo and behold - Black like a good challenge themselves. "Bring it on", says she. We told them whatever's ready - bring it out. Also - without regard to any specific chronological order.

Booooooy did they deliver. Quicker than we could eat - (well, me, not the boys) - they had our orders out. Drinks, starters, 2 burgers, and a salad. (Yeah, guess who that was...I know I should be so ashamed I shouldn't even be posting this - but in my own defense, the spouse and I had already planned on big fat steaks that night - and despite being a meat lover - even that was too much cow for my conscience).

WORSE EXPERIENCE: The office decides to order Burger Ranch בורגר ראנץ' this week, and while till now I've been a Burger Ranch refusenik (as a result of a previous bad experience) - I decided to give them another try. We place the order and shortly thereafter they give me a call (below is a short transcript of the conversation):
Burger Ranch: Hi, you asked for the sauce on the side, and that'll be an extra shekel.
Me: Really? But if I had asked for it inside the burger it would be the same price?
BR: That's correct.
Me: Ok, no thanks.
BR: The other burger that was ordered - we don't have sour kraut.
Me: Um, that sucks.
BR: The person who ordered juice, we don't have that either.
Me: Allow me to patch you through to my colleagues.
BR: We don't have any juice.
Colleague A: Ok - then I'd like an extra side of fries instead.
BR: Ok, we'll send juice. (I SWEAR THIS IS ALL FACTUAL).
BR to Colleague B: We don't have any sour kraut.
Colleague B: That's cool. (He's just such a nice guy).

And then after this conversation the meal failed to arrive for nearly another two hours, and this branch is five minutes walking distance from our offices. Huh?

(Just as an aside, the meal itself wasn't half bad, but the whole song and dance before left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Oh and the last bite was burnt. It could've been that too.)


EXCITING NEWS FOR THE JEWS (and any and all other races and ethnicities):
A) So I had initially soured a bit on River when in my last order I had asked for extra sweet potato chip things they put on top of the noodles - and didn't receive any...and then TODAY (drum roll please...) - I discover that for a measly five new Israeli shekels - I can have a whooooole box of 'em! WOOOOHOOO! Gooooo River ריבר! It just gets better and better!

2) Pinati פינתי has come to Petach Tikva - and yes, I have already, had their very lovable Kubeh Chamusta. (And they got rave reviews all around - even from the chicks in accounting who are hard-asses. More than me...if you can believe it.)

iii) The higher you climb the harder the fall. BISIM ביסים ARE POOPIES! (Not food-wise - but service-wise). So they forgot the same chick's order TWICE in one week, and everytime she called them they either 1) accused her of being a pathological liar; or b) told her they didn't have time to deal with her. LAME is an understatement. If you forget a person's meal not once but twice in one week - you had best apologize all over yourself, and offer serious restitution. No, the lame coke you offered does not constitue serious restitution. We now hate you. Demoted.

That's all for now.

Blogged Brain

I don't deserve you're readership...we're nearly at the end of November - and I have blogged nothing this month, there's been so much food/activity - I don't even know where to begin.

So I had quite a bit of River Noodles Bar this month (and yes - despite the fact that I always get the same dish - the Seven Wonders שבעת הפלאים) - I must say I can't get enough of this place. (The spouse ordered a different dish - Grilled Entrecote Slices on Fried Rice המנה של נוריקו סן- so I actally got to expand my River horizons). They make every dish well - and they give hefty portions. WE LOVE YOU RIVER!



Other than that - hosted a small Thanksgiving shindig (yes I know it's not quite Thanksgiving yet - but had extenuating circumstances that obliged the moving of theve event up a week).

Things I learned from this event:
1) Guitar Hero is seriously addictive.
2) Turkey is seriously addictive.
3) People will go into your bedroom - so don't dump the whole house in there expecting the door to remain closed. IT WON'T.



A new favorite dish discovered:

Lucas - Spaghetti and Meatballs (hold the cheese)
Not meatballs made with cumin and paprika intended for another dish - and added to this dish as an afterthought. Actual Italian-style spaghetti and meatballs. Good yum all around. (Note the beautiful basil sprinkled above.)



And to finish off a small 10Bis anecdote. So I made the annoying discovery that not every restaurant you can order from through the 10Bis website actually accepts 10Bis in the restaurant. What a pain. Just for reference, pretty much all of the Tel Aviv area 10Bis'ers DO NOT accept 10Bis to sit down - this after trying three different places (Bar Giyora, River Noodles Bar - I KNOW!, and Ze Sushi).

Spirits battered and broken, we decided to attempt ordering from our cell phones.

AND HERE IN PUBLIC IS MY ADMISSION - YOUR PHONE IS OFFICIALLY BETTER THAN MINE. I promised I'd admit it, so here it is. Are we even?

We actually managed to order from Ze Sushi (while standing outside the establishment) from the spouse's BlackBerry (my HTC Tytn II failed us). It's pretty funny because we actually got the "deal" עסקית option - which was the meal + an appetizer - instead of just the meal. SUCKERS.