Unlike the ancient cities along the Eastern Mediterranean, Tel Aviv is defined more by its future than by its past. Yet headlines about the vibrant Israeli metropolis, built less than a hundred years ago, have mostly focused on the sporadic violence within its borders. Tel Aviv's last bombing, however, occurred two years ago, so the good word about this progressive municipality has started to spread, thanks also to its nascent commercial boom, architectural one-upmanship and piping-hot restaurant scene.
While design aficionados have always been drawn to Tel Aviv's leafy Rothschild Boulevard for the world's largest concentration of Bauhaus architecture and resultant Unesco World Heritage status, today they also come to see the next generation of iconic structures: luxury apartment housing. There's Philippe Starck's poshly furnished Yoo project, Ilan Pivko's rocket-shaped Garden Tower and Abraham Yaski's Tzameret Towers, which rise playfully, like Jenga blocks. Santiago Calatrava, I.M. Pei, Moshe Safdie, Daniel Libeskind, Richard Meier and, yes, even Donald Trump's team have residential towers in the works.
Likewise, Tel Aviv's dining options are rapidly expanding. Where to find the best food provides endless fuel for conversation: at Cordelia (30 Yeffet St.; 011-972-3-518-4668), with its lemon ravioli in Champagne and shrimp sauce; at the lively It-restaurant Herbert Samuel (6 Kaufman St.; 011-972-3-516-6516); or at Abu-Hasan's Ali-Karavan (1 Dolphin St.; 011-972-3-682-0387), where the finest hummus in town is worth the wait? Inside the Carmel Market (Allenby and Sheinkin Sts.), beloved Israeli TV food personality Gil Hovav waxes poetic about Asfour (Emunim St., Jaffa; no phone), a semi-secret falafel joint in Adjami, the residential Arab quarter. "Falafel is now sold in designer form," Hovav says over the haggling of market vendors. "Asfour serves a few plain balls topped with cabbage and tomatoes. Spartan, yes, but it's the best in Israel."
Though Hovav may long for simpler times, the city continues to become more upscale, a trend that won't halt anytime soon. Tel Aviv Port, a formerly neglected industrial zone, is home to oyster bars, chocolate shops and oceanfront tavernas. From Thursday through Saturday (the Jewish weekend), chic boardwalk-strolling families and sun-seeking twenty-somethings gather to snack on avatiach (watermelon with cubes of tart Bulgarian feta cheese) and sip organic Judean Hills wines. Shoppers flock to Bait Banamal (Tel Aviv Harbor, Hangar 26; 011-972-3-544-9211), an elegant gallery and retail complex with everything from locally produced leather bags to Comme Il Faut's latest women's wear collection.
It's the formerly hovel-filled Neve Tzedek, though, now a boutique-lined microdistrict, that wins the award for top neighborhood makeover. Southwest of Neve Tzedek, at Jaffa's Flea Market (Olei Zion, Old Jaffa), on-the-quest interior designers and savvy seekers of vintage items while away countless hours browsing among antique chandeliers and one-of-a-kind housewares. Bargaining is encouraged. A few blocks from the market, the Nina Café Suites Hotel (double rooms from $270; 29 Shabazi St.; 011-972-5250-84141; ninacafehotel.com ) has made devotees of locals and visitors alike, who sip minty lemonade in its café's cozy open-air space. More traditional opulence can be found on the beach at the Dan Tel Aviv Hotel (double rooms from $290; 99 Hayarkon St.; 800-223-7774; danhotels.com ), the city's first luxe megahotel, where Bill Clinton, Kathleen Turner, Richard Gere and other luminaries have stayed.
For now Tel Aviv may be perceived as merely a weekend destination or a stopover en route to more classic sites, like Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. But with urban planners already starting to prepare for Tel Aviv's centennial celebration, in 2009, it's anyone's guess how the city's future will unfold. There's an old Hebrew saying, "Promise little, do much." All evidence suggests that's just what Tel Aviv is aiming for.
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