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(Daniel Tchetchik) Dining Out / Lighting up our appetites By Daniel Rogov Tags: Raanana, Israel restaurants  Wander into Ra'anana's Edison during the day and you might well wonder why the owners and designers named this bar-restaurant after the inventor of the light bulb. Wander into Ra'anana's Edison during the day and you might well wonder why the owners and designers named this bar-restaurant after the inventor of the light bulb. Just take a peek at night and you'll understand why: red, green, purple and orange rays light up this sophisticated, suburban venue. Black banquettes, LCD screens and a bar full of wine bottles that flicker red, orange and purple in the changing light add to the restaurant's colorful ambience. The first cocktail I sampled was actually so pink it frightened me. Fortunately it took but a sip to realize that this was a crisp, dry, sparkling rose wine that went nicely with black and red berries. Once we took our place at a large indoor table, two of us on a banquette and one on an upholstered chair, we were served a steaming hot, thin, crisp and flavorful foccaccia. The bread was served with what our waitress called a garlic confit - but, in fact, it was an appealing aioli sauce and a mixture of olive oil, herbs and just enough hot pepper. We sampled from three opening first courses. The first was a salmon seviche, tiny cubes of fish mixed with crisp carrots, bits of tomatoes and a lemony sauce. The seviche, fine on its own, was even better topped with a light and flaky pastry shell, a hint of wasabi and a teaspoon of salmon eggs that most restaurants like to call "red caviar." Advertisement The second offering was a plate of Moroccan style "cigars," a mix of finely-chopped, well-seasoned lamb wrapped in dough and deep fried. Crisp and full of flavor, the cigars sat on a thin bed of well-made orange gazpacho and were topped with an appealing tehina sauce. My third appetizer was the chicken liver pate. Juicy, flavorful and delightful The pate, mixed together with pistachio nuts and flavored nicely with brandy and pepper was rich and just firm enough. Here, too, the dish was special as it was served on a bed of poached pears in a sweetened red wine reduced almost to a jam. With the pate spread on the toasted white bread and topped by the sweet pears, the dish was a real treat. For my entree, I opted for the 350-gram entrecote steak, a fine cut of beef with just the right amount of fat, done medium-rare as requested and topped by a thick, well-made red-wine sauce. Served with a generous portion of good french fries, there was nothing complex about the dish, but the steak was very satisfying. One of my companions tried the 250-gram hamburger with the traditional lettuce, tomato slices and red onion. The burger had plenty of flavor. The third dish we tried was fillets of croaker fish (moosar); the skin was crisp, the fish itself just soft enough and the mashed potatoes were rich and smooth. The final main course we tried provided a lovely surprise. Call them "wraps" or call them "rolls" as you like but what we received were tortillas wrapped around a mixture of chopped entrecote that had been mixed together with bits of tomatoes, pickled cucumbers and red onion - all deep-fried until crisp. Served on a thick mayonnaise-and-mustard-based sauce, the dish was a delight. We decided to share a single dessert, several cups of smooth and creamy mahlabi: two were vanilla-flavored and one was chocolate-flavored and all were topped with grated coconut. Served with good espressos, the dessert was a winner. Our food bill for three came to NIS 480 to which a pleasant bottle of the South African Goats do Roam red wine added NIS 118. The restaurant is appealing and just sophisticated enough, with pleasant and attentive service and dishes that fall comfortably in the bistro category. Perhaps not worth a special trip from the big city but certainly a comfortable haven for those who live in or are visiting the area. Fixed-price menus, a 25% discount on regular prices, are offered from Sunday-Thursday. Edison: 282 Ahuza St., Ra'anana: (09) 7743131. Open daily 12 P.M.-12 A.M. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Fake reactor Syrian envoy: Photos of alleged nuke site fabricated by CIA. Modern Moses Commander of legendary Jewish immigrant ship Exodus dies at 90.

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