Smooth Operator

French sandwich

Place: Oren Meshi, Rishon Lezion

When: Thursday, early afternoon

Environment: Though I promised myself I would go straight home, I found myself drawn to the clean look of this bakery-café and made a quick turn in. It was situated in a shopping center, on a busy corner, across from a cemetery (which was actually the draw to Rishon Lezion on that particular day, unfortunately). Oren Meshi is a patisserie chain, selling all kinds of appealing food, from sandwiches to bourekas to refrigerated cakes to stuffed grape leaves and even bouquets of fresh flowers. The eatery was fairly busy, but mostly with customers buying items at the counter and leaving. Not many people sat inside at the bar against the window, and no one sat at the tables outside, despite the sunny afternoon. There was a lot to browse through, and no pushy salespeople intervened. In fact, the woman at the counter was exceptionally patient.

My Order: Small cappuccino (NIS 12); “French” sandwich (NIS 36).

The low-down: First, I had to decide what size coffee I wanted: They offered small, medium, and huge. And the huge was probably the biggest coffee-to-go I’ve ever seen in Israel. The small cup of coffee provided to me did not look promising. It was pale and unimpressive and I was pleasantly surprised. Despite the overly milky appearance and thin foam, the coffee actually tasted like coffee. The sandwich was served on thick, chewy bread that purported to be pretzel bread, and it held a very smooth camembert, pickled red onion, beets, and fresh, crunchy lettuce. There was a balsamic dressing inside the sandwich, though it would have been a better bite if there’d been more of it. But still, it was not a bad sandwich, especially for one that was sitting in a display case and not made to order.

Who else was there: A man and woman sat together at the bar seating by the window. They were both put-together: she with short, straightened hair, a black V-neck, black jacket, and jeans; he in jeans and a black jacket. Both wore trendy sneakers.

They were meeting for networking purposes, although it wasn’t their first meeting. They were exchanging experiences and tips for making their respective businesses run smoothly. Both were big fans of internal “systems” to keep everything organized and ensure everyone knows their role. The two got along well, and respected each other’s knowledge. It was hard to be a boss in a small company with no one to bounce ideas off of, so these meetings were valuable to each of them. It was like having a business partner, but not having to share the profits.