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.

And We Have a Winner Folks...Bisim!

10Bis has broken my free spirit. While I previously liked to consider myself open to trying new things...after a few serious debacles, I decided to forego this audacious, brash, rash behavior.

I like to go for a sure thing now.

Bisim is a sure thing. This is the third time I've ordered from there (and although there were two stain incidents with my other meals - which obviously cannot be attributed to them in any way - but annoying nonetheless) I must say I'm a happy camper once again.

The CLAIM:

Caesar Salad with Chicken Breast, Lettuce Hearts, Cherry Tomatoes, Red Onion, served with a roll of choice

My CHOICE: Caesar Salad

Special Requests: Chicken and dressing on the side

The DELIVERABLE: What can I say? They don't disappoint.

From the PACKAGING:

Everything was separated as asked for, and neatly and cleanly packaged - and I got TWO (rather fresh - might I add) rolls! Score!

To the FOOD:

The condensation on the container tells you it's fresh vegetables that came nice and chilled - while I'd have preferred more lettuce hearts (it was mostly regular chopped lettuce) - this was definitely not one of those salads you could have chopped yourself. Nicely cut, attention to the size of the vegetables (onions thinly sliced - as they should be), with a nice freshness to the vegetables. Plus - they didn't add any unmentioned/undesired vegetables. I hate the vegetable surprise.

The chicken as you can see also came warm - which is a tough combination and very impressive - chilled salad plus warm chicken. Definitely earned extra points for that.

The seasoning of the chicken was perfect for Caesar salad. I have a serious issue with places that'll market their chicken salad as a Caesar salad when there's no real differentiator between the two. The chicken is usually grilled the same way on some flat top grill whether it's for a chicken salad, Caesar salad, or grilled chicken breast with french fries. Such is not the case with Bisim - this is the exact seasoning for Caesar salad. (Which may be a complete coincidence - making their chicken salad or grilled chicken with fries taste very similar to a Caesar salad - but since this was my dish, I was rather pleased). The dressing was also just right. Although this was a kosher restaurant - so it couldn't be the traditional anchovy Caesar salad dressing - it was as close as it comes for the kosher version.

The VERDICT: Full stars all around - except for speed - because really even though they arrived earlier than most, it still took two hours. Definitely RECOMMENDED.