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Sderot has the best cocktails in Israel By Ronit Vered Tags: Israel bars, Israel travel  Tapas bar Cadaques draws customers from all across the region. We remember the first time as though it were yesterday. We entered the Cadaques cantina with heavy strides and surveyed the dim red light that filtered through the windows and lit up the adjacent gas station. "Bloody Mary," we mumbled to the bartender. "Sangre de Maria," the man in the filthy shirt replied, taking a tall glass into which he poured fresh tomato juice, white rum, hot red pepper, cilantro, and other spices. When we were served the drink, we sipped it slowly, like experts, after which we downed it greedily. Good Lord, we thought to ourselves, this is delicious! "A nice town," we said afterward, "and this is a nice bar. Lots of customers, no?" Advertisement "No," replied the bartender. "There are very few visitors, unfortunately." "Very good. This will be our refuge," we said, humming softly, "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil be done for the rest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum ..." Okay, fine, that's not exactly how it happened. But why get caught up in details? Let's enjoy the tune before sampling a cool mojito; a Sangre de Maria, the rum version of the Bloody Mary; spiced vanilla rum; or other kinds of aged gold and dark rums. The real bartender is a young, likeable kibbutznikit, the view is the backyard of a gas station, and there's not a bit of indecent drunkenness, just the hum of Latin music. In Sderot, we drank one of the best cocktails we had ever had. So what if the preparation of the Sangre de Maria's classic blend - garlic, hot pepper and lemon - is the same combination used in hummus? You've got a winning Mediterranean-Caribbean blend here. After all, the rich Caribbean cuisine, born in the blood-soaked melting pot of local indigenous tribes, European imperialists and African slaves, has traces of the Mediterranean - citrus fruit and sugar cane, for example, which arrived thanks to Spanish "generosity." Food was always Pihovich's greatest passion. She remembers herself at the age of three peeling shrimp at the kitchen counter with her father, and at age 12 cooking an entire meal according to a carefully planned menu. Such are the memories of those whose hearts beat faster at descriptions of food, who choose life partners according to their tastes in food and drink, and who live in constant pursuit of new flavors. In her youth, Pihovich worked for years in international marketing, traveling the world. But her experiences in signing contracts and attending business meetings took a back seat to her food adventures in bars and restaurants abroad, until she finally decided to take action and fulfill her childhood dream of opening a restaurant. Why a tapas bar with Latino-Caribbean influence named after a town on the Costa Brava? Because Spaniards know how to infuse food with fun. Eating tapas is the absolute antithesis of the command, "Don't play with your food." It is a happy fiesta of alcohol and tasty tidbits - in small portions and never-ending choices of flavors. And Pihovich doesn't understand the question, "Why in Sderot?" "What does that mean?" she asks, shrugging, befitting someone who lives to this day in Kibbutz Dorot. "This area is home and this is where I want to be." Her clientele on Friday afternoons is comprised of people who regularly greet the Sabbath at Cadaques - with homemade hummus; spicy carrot salad; hreimeh, a spicy north African fish dish; and slices of fresh challah. In the evening, student couples from the nearby college sit at the bar, and families from moshavim and kibbutzim in the Besor region occupy the tables. There are also a few regular customers from Sderot proper - some of them keep kosher, and Pihovich has separate pots and pans especially for them. Everyone enjoys the dishes on the small, original menu, which varies according to inventory and the availability of raw materials. They include pao de queijo, small and extremely tasty buns made of cheese and tapioca flour. The latter is produced from dried cassava root, which was one of the primary ingredients in Caribbean cuisine before the European conquest. There are also all kinds of tortillas, croquettes and empanadas; green salad with ham and figs; chili con carne; skewers of chicken wrapped in bacon and soft, crumbly pork osso buco - both served in a dark, velvety mole sauce made of cocoa and dried hot peppers. In the year since the bar opened, customers have grown accustomed - when a siren sounds in Sderot - to head for the shelter next to the restroom, with sangria and Sangre de Maria in hand. Cadaques, Latin-Caribbean bar, in the gas station next to Sapir College, Sderot, 08-689-0452 The African slaves who worked the vast sugar cane fields on the Caribbean islands received a ration of rum that occasionally caused lead poisoning, due to the primitive distillation equipment. The combination of slaves, molasses (the by-product of the sugar production process, from which rum is fermented) and rum sustained itself for decades, resulting in the expansion of the sugar fields, an increase in the slave trade and the intensification of rum production. You can read about the circumstances under which rum turned into the official mariners' drink (Britain's Royal Navy gave its sailors daily portions of rum until 1970) in an alcohol and cocktail guide by Sagi Cooper and Tal Gal-Cohen. The two, both veteran journalists, have released one of the best and most comprehensive alcohol guides written in Hebrew. Beyond cocktail recipes, the book includes chapters on all kinds of drinks, with a witty introduction to every cocktail, including the story of its origin. The authors also provide anecdotes about the local drinking culture. "Alcohol vekoktailim, hamadrih haklassi" (Alcohol and Cocktails, the Classic Handbook), by Sagi Cooper and Tal Gal-Cohen, Carta Jerusalem (in Hebrew) Betty Raz's three grandchildren stand around a table and look hungrily at the display of colorful sweets: cocada - coconut confections with passion fruit and pumpkin; brigadeiro - chocolate balls with dulce de leche; quindin - a coconut dessert; rings of orange peel and more. Six years have passed since Raz, a chef and baker who worked at hotel restaurants and catering companies, moved to Bror Hail, a Brazilian kibbutz, in order to be closer to her family. Kibbutz residents have grown accustomed to visiting her unbelievably crowded kitchen in order to buy Brazilian desserts, cakes, pastries and prepared foods. Her catering company has received its kashrut certification and demand for Betty's desserts is on the rise. Betty Raz's kitchen, Bror Hail, 08-680-3365, 054-756-1501 Bookmark to del.icio.us   'I didn't kill Rose' Rose's mother, grandfather request court delay autopsy of body found in Yarkon River. Israeli requests Israel asks U.S. for arms and permission to use an air corridor to attack Iran.

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