The likes of Mike’s Place

All five branches of the longstanding pub-restaurant around the country offer more than just a hint of a genuine overseas barroom ambiance.

OCTOBER 27, 2016 18:53

The Tel Aviv branch of Mike’s Place (photo credit: GIL AMIR) — The Tel Aviv branch of Mike’s Place

(photo credit: GIL AMIR)

For many Anglos, especially those who are happy to bend an elbow or two, Mike’s Place is something akin to home away from home. All five branches of the longstanding pub-restaurant around the country – two in Tel Aviv, and one each in Jerusalem, Herzliya and Eilat – offer more than just a hint of a genuine overseas barroom ambiance.

That comes across, in buckets, at the chain’s principal outlet in Tel Aviv, which moved a few meters up the road, along the seafront, a few weeks ago.

“We took over the pizza place we had here,” explains Gal Gantzman, one of the partners. One of the other four partners is his older brother, Asaf, a professional blues musician who has been in the business several years.

The Tel Aviv branch opened for business 15 years ago although, at the time, Gantzman was not setting his sights so far into the future.

“When we signed the contract, the owners told us that we should take into account that the building was old, and it might be demolished, and that we should think about being there for four years. That was 15 years ago,” laughs Gantzman.

“We were in that same state of limbo until six months ago, when we decided to move. The previous building was in exactly the same state. No one could tell when it was going to be demolished, if ever.”

That uncertainty eventually pushed Gantzman and his partners to relocate 50 meters to the north, near the US Embassy. In fact, the Gantzmans and their partners knew exactly where they were heading, as the “live music sports bar and restaurant,” to give it its full official epithet, actually took over the premises of the Mike’s Place pizza enterprise.

“It was the right time to make the move,” Gantzman notes. “Things slowed down with the last war in Gaza, and they still haven’t picked up fully yet, but we felt it was time to move the bar here.”

And a fine job they have done, too. While we sat at one of the dozen or so outside tables with the gently lapping Mediterranean just across the road, inside the handful of lunchtime weekday patrons happily supped and dined to the ubiquitous sound of rock and blues music. Gantzman gave me the royal tour of the interior, including the multi-pump bar, the music room with its slightly raised stage, and top-of-the-range sound equipment and soundproofing fittings.

Mike’s Place began life in Jerusalem, back in 1993, when a Canadian-born photojournalist – yes, called Mike – who was fresh over here from the horrors of the war in Kosovo, decided to open an intimate little bar in downtown Jerusalem. Mike Gavoda stuck to his beer-pouring guns for around three years before he decided he’d had enough and returned to Canada for a while.

The new owner was none other than Asaf Gantzman, a Haifa-born, Jerusalem-bred blues musician who quickly upped the bar’s entertainment ante with live music.

“Asaf never thought of changing the name, and he saw some potential in the place,” says Gantzman. “It was a place for Anglos.”

The younger sibling came on board three years later, in 1999, and the Jerusalem bar – the chain had yet to spread its wings – crossed the road to larger premises on the corner of Heleni Hamalka Street and Hyrcanos Street. Back then, it wouldn’t have taken much to find a more spacious place.

“The original Mike’s Place was more like someone’s living room,” chuckles Gantzman. “I think it was something like 40 square meters.”

Things went well there for a couple of years or so before the security situation took a nose dive.

“We had some good times there, and then the second intifada began and that really set us back.” But as things got tough, the tough Gantzmans got going. “That’s what pushed us to open the place in Tel Aviv. We realized we wouldn’t be able to survive with just the Jerusalem bar, with all the security stuff going on there.”

Throughout our chat, betwixt quaffing beer, Gantzman repeatedly referred to the convivial ambiance that reigns at Mike’s Place – between bosses and employees, and with the regulars.

“Actually, we call them ‘irregulars,’” says Gantzman somewhat enigmatically, turning to say a cheery hi to someone.

“That’s the chef from the Herzliya branch. We have a family atmosphere among the staff. We have all sorts of people who come to work here. Some work here after the army, you know, to save up some cash so they can go to India or somewhere else. Some work here longer.

Some go away on their travels, and come back here when they need to make some more money.” Sounds like a healthy employment state of affairs.

Gantzman speaks to his staff in English – he was born in the US to Israeli parents, and came to Israel at the age of 10 – but the choice of workplace parlance is more the product of the stated barroom orientation than a reflection of Gantzman’s origins.

“This is basically a place with a sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll feel, but in a safe friendly environment,” he says.

“That’s what we’ve always wanted to put out there.”

Gantzman says it is an ethos that has universal appeal.

“We get people aged 60 and over, youngsters aged 18 and, during the day, we get small kids too, and they all hear the same music here.”

It is very much a matter of spreading the musical and cultural vibe as far and wide as possible.

“For some, it is remembering the music they grew up on, and for others it is a real education,” Gantzman continues.

“That’s the heritage we want to preserve – the ’60s and ’70s. I’m only 42, but I was drawn to the ’70s.”

Nearly 14 years ago, the previous Mike’s Place premises were anything but safe, in a very tangible and horrific sense. At 12:45 p.m. on April 29, 2003, the weekly jam session was in full swing when a suicide bomber approached the bar and blew himself up near the entrance.

Three people were killed and around 50 wounded.

If not for the courage of the longtime security man, Avi Tabib, the cost in human life would undoubtedly been far higher.

Gantzman says it is the family core that he and his brother and their cohorts have instilled throughout the Mike’s Place hierarchy that helped them through that very dark time.

“We reopened seven days after the terrorist attack,” he recalls. “We needed to do that. To get back to work, and keep the place going. We have close to 200 employees across the chain, and we educate them about all the hippie stuff, about love, and about providing service through karma.”

The groovy ethos goes on.

“We used as much recycled material as possible in building this place,” Gantzman continues. “We used the deck that was already here to make the wooden fencing, and we even reused screws. Taking care of the environment is just as important to us. We did most of the work ourselves.”

There is a genetic aspect, too.

“I remember, as a kid, walking around Haifa with my grandfather and he’d say: ‘I paved this road with these hands.’ I still remember his big hands.”

Taking care of clients’ nourishment is also high up on Gantzman’s priority list. There is a strong carnivore leaning to the food offerings, but there is plenty for vegans such as myself to sink their teeth into, too.

“We like our customers to feel at home here, and we take great pride in what we do,” Gantzman says, stressing that he and his staff do their utmost to cater for all customer creature comforts. “There may be different sporting events going on at the same time, so we’ll have different games and events on different TV screens around the bar. Sometimes, we’ll get someone come here with their laptop, so they can watch some sports event that we don’t have on our screens. That’s fine too.”

The food-beverage sector is a notoriously tough way to make a living, but Gantzman says he and his colleagues are fully and happily committed to the Mike’s Place cause.

“We pay all our taxes on time, and in full. Yes, it is a hard line of work but you’ve got to love what you do. I love it.”

For more information about Mike’s Place: www.mikesplacebars.com/