Stunning Seaside Lunch — Tel Aviv, Day 3

This rosé, called Blue C, is from Covenant Israel. It certainly looks right at home by the Mediterranean. Image by Liza Schoenfein
Yesterday I told Teddy that today would be his day (actually it’s Adeena’s wedding day, so technically I suppose it’s hers). I asked how he wanted to spend it, and his emphatic choice was the beach.
I’d heard about a gorgeous restaurant on the beach called Manta Ray, so I decided we’d have lunch and then hit the sand and sea in the afternoon. A couple of friends said the place, which specializes in seafood, was pretty much all about location — the food isn’t spectacular. And while I found that to be true, I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.

We thought it was funny that the man on the menu and I were wearing the same hat. Image by Liza Schoenfein
Scanning the menu we found something called Sharing Seafood: mussels, shrimp, crabs, calamari, pineapple and sweet potato in a lemongrass-ginger coconut curry. Teddy determined that we’d have that. We started with a few mezze, or small plates, chosen from a huge tray of colorful choices.
I was excited to find the Covenant Israel rosé, called Blue C, on the wine list. I’d run into Covenant’s Jeff and Jodie Morgan at the Kosher Food & Wine Experience and had talked with them about their relatively new Israeli Winery. The rosé was the perfect choice.

Seafood curry at Manta Ray restaurant on the beach in Tel Aviv. Image by Liza Schoenfein
It’s time to get off the computer and get dressed for the wedding. More tomorrow.
Liza Schoenfein is food editor of the Forward. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @LifeDeathDinner
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
