American Style Birthday – Dixie Grill Bar

As two of my (Shahar) best friends, Samuel and Uri, have both celebrated their same-week birthday, we met on a working night at Dixie. Dixie is a well known American style diner that, although was in its prime in the early days of the decade, continues to draw the crowds, mainly on the late night hours (Dixie is open 24/7).

Dixie’s setting fits well with its food. A large bar is located at the entrance to fit all late nighters, diner booths around all its ends and some tables are located in between. As we sat to the table the restaurant was quite full, which is impressive on a mid-week evening. Even though, the service was quick and accurate.

Dixie Wings

As Samual and I waited for Uri to finish his work, we ordered the infamous Dixie wings. Drowned in a spicy chili sauce, the wings are considered as one of Tel Aviv well known dishes. Though I liked it a lot, I wouldn’t crown it so hastily.

Beef Fillet Cutlets with Spätzle

As Uri arrived and we were hungry as well we cut to the chase. As Dixie’s main business is beef, I ordered Sautéed Beef Fillet Cutlets with Spätzle. The Austrian egg noodle, which is more like pasta, is a favorite of mine. I really enjoyed that dish as the Spätzle were excellent and the Beef Cutlets were tender. Unfortunately the Portobello mushrooms which are described in the menu were hardly noticed.

Beef Burger and sautéed onions

Samuel picked the classic Beef Burger along with sautéed onions. The burger was cooked well and was OK but the beef itself was too lean, which made it somewhat dry and not juicy enough. Uri took the light option and ordered the Caeser Salad with Chicken and Parmesan. This dish failed in few perspectives. The cherry tomatoes added to the salad made it somewhat a vegetables salad rather than a Caeser salad (worth mentioning in the menu). In addition, the roman lettuce swam in so much sauce it made the dish massive rather than a light one.

Caeser Salad with Chicken

Summarizing Dixie, it’s not my cup of tea, as there are better steak restaurants in Tel Aviv (Hudson, Makom Shel Basar, NG), even if we take value-for-money parameter. Even though, I think it’s a good pick if you want a late night steak or want to have some good options along with your beer.

The check please (3 people)

Dixie Wings (8 pc.) – 31 NIS
Caeser Salad with chicken – 58 NIS
Beef Fillet Cutlets with Spätzle – 102 NIS
Beef Burger with sautéed onions – 69 NIS
3 X Guinness Beer – 81 NIS

All in all: 341 NIS

The Cizer-Kobrinsky Scale: 

3 Forks

Summary:

Food:  Steak House diner
Price:  Expensive
Location: Yigal Alon

Contact details: Dixie Grill Bar
Address:  120 Yigal Alon corner with Totzeret Haaretz. Tel Aviv | 03-6966123|
Opening Hours:  24/7 |
http://www.dixie.co.il/site/eng.asp

Don’t come alone: Tchernichovsky 6

Writing this blog is hard… every time we want to eat outside we need to go to somewhere we have never visited before (Don’t fill sorry for us, just send us your recommendations). This time we got another recommendation from Zipi & Shaul for Tchernichovsky 6 (shesh). This place used to be a nice place for takeaway of homemade food, and nowadays they move across the street (Tchernichovsky 5) and define themselves as a bistro.

The Bar

The first thing you can think of when you go to a place named Tchernichovsky is the great Israeli band named Mashina, the second one is the poet Shaul Tchernichovsky (your thoughts might be opposite – depends on the decade you were born at). When we came to the place we didn’t think a lot since it was a spontaneous visit.

When we arrived only two other tables were taken and we set on the small bar. The place has a very worm and special atmosphere. For example, their menus have a cover of a Tchernichovsky book (Asher Haya Velo Haya), and next to their courses you’ll find some of his poems. The other side of it was that we felt a very serious ambiance. The music was almost silent and you couldn’t talk without being heard throughout. The very small bar contributed to the stressful feeling.

Fish filet

We shared the first dish – calamari on the plancha, served on top of an eggplant and yogurt paste was simply fantastic! The calamaries were cooked properly and the eggplant paste was fresh and tasty. Shahar took the sausages made from white meat, veal & pecorino cheese that were served with mash potatoes and mustard. When he finished taking care of the dish nothing was left on the plate (though the mash wasn’t the best we had). Inbar took the fish filet. Every day the place serves a different fish – depends on today’s supply from the nearby market – Hacarmel. The fish was served with green-broken wheat & oven-baked vegetables. This dish was also very good and fresh. One of the oven-baked vegetables was fennel that had a very unique taste when it came right out of the oven.

Because of our upcoming wedding, we decided to skip the deserts, yet we should mention that they cook all their deserts in-house.

The check please (2 people)

Burned Calamari – 48 NIS
Fish Filet – 98 NIS
Sausages -68 NIS
2 X Cava – 50 NIS

All in all: 264 NIS

Summary:

Food: Bistro
Price: Expensive
Location: Tchernichovsky (The golden triangle of King George – Allenbi  (Ha Carmel market) & Bugrashov)

The Cizer-Kobrinsky Scale

3.5 Forks

Contact details: Tchernichovsky 6 (Shesh)

Address:  5 Tchernichovsky Street, Tel Aviv | Phone: 03-6208729
Opening Hours: NA
Email: tchernihovski6@013net.net.i
http://www.restaurant-tel-aviv.co.il/
English menu here: http://www.restaurant-tel-aviv.co.il/home_tshernichovski_6.aspx