Pronto Reopens, Without Rafi Adar
Pronto has reopened. On the face of it, who cares? Another restaurant opens, and not even a new one. But Pronto, now called Bar Pronto, is not just another restaurant. It is one of the oldest fine dining restaurants in Israel still operating continuously, aside from a relatively short interruption, for nearly 40 years. It has also become a symbol of our cultural life. Once, you came to a restaurant to bask in the shadow of the owner and his famous guests, like the old Kassit of Hatzkel and Moishe. Today, no one is interested in the owner. The star is the chef, who in many places is also the owner. And the guests? They mainly come to be seen. At the opening night of the new Pronto, those guests were Gal Toren and Guri Alfi, the stars of “The Chef,” the hit yes series whose third season is currently taking shape. The series’ culinary consultant is Moshiko Gamliali, the new chef and star of Bar Pronto, and some say that the character of the series’ protagonist, played by Toren, is based on him.
I meet Rafi Adar a few days before the opening. At 80, the fire and passion still burn in him, a filmmaker and singer turned restaurateur who set standards that shaped Tel Aviv dining, and in fact Israeli dining, for generations. He orders a shot of vodka, proves he can still do it and knows it, and slowly lets loose. He opened Pronto in late 1988 on Nahmani Street in Tel Aviv. At the time it was a classic Italian restaurant, with signature dishes on the menu such as vitello tonnato, elegant and also something of a club for the best people in culture, business and politics. Its kitchen was highly skilled and faithful to the original, with authentic Italian ingredients and a serious, extensive wine list, unlike the Italian restaurant scene in Israel at the time, which was more modest.
About a decade ago, Adar left Pronto and left it to chef David Frenkel and his partners. Frenkel turned it into an excellent personal-cuisine restaurant, where the chef was the star. About a year and a half ago he left, and after a brief decline and a pause that dragged on, Pronto is returning with a new star, Gamliali. Gamliali and the group he leads have some of the most respected restaurants on the local scene in their portfolio, including Mona in Jerusalem, Bar 51 and Radeler, which is no longer his. Now he is planting a flag in the greatest institution of them all, Pronto. Perhaps it is more than symbolic, the chef has become a god. The owner, by contrast, is sitting at home.
In our meeting, it is clear that Adar is a little sad. “I suggested to Gamliali that we meet ahead of the opening. He said he’d be happy to, but it didn’t happen.” In the meantime, a meeting has already been arranged. He has a lot of resentment toward Frenkel. “He wasn’t in the restaurant in the end, and when he was there he did whatever he wanted.” And yet Adar is the one who gave the first opportunity to someone who became one of our most talented chefs. He was the prototype of the loud, sometimes aggressive but also embracing and loving owner, a figure that, as mentioned, disappeared together with his departure from Pronto, making way for the model of the chef as a super-celebrity. Adar even served as a judge in the first season of “Master Chef.” Today he would not even get an audition. There is no longer room for colorful characters like him, next to whom even Eyal Shani looks pale. Pronto was a home, Bar Pronto is a factory, a brand. Who can even feel at home in the darkness and noise of the new Pronto?
Adar was born in Tel Aviv, the son of a respected doctor who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and sent him to study medicine in Italy. He never made it to medical school. He studied film in Rome and even spent a few weeks on Fellini’s set. “Rafal, that’s what he called me, remember, the crew is the most important thing. And I always remembered. The staff in my restaurant was the most important thing.” When he returned to Israel he joined the legendary “Lool” group of Uri Zohar, Arik Einstein and Shalom Hanoch. That same Hanoch later became his most important client. Later he directed many commercials and one feature film, “Gloves,” based on Dan Tsalka’s book, which was not very successful. Along the way he also recorded four albums, including performances of songs by Paolo Conte. “I am a singer, a director and a restaurateur. How did Ron Mivberg once write about me? I am a Renaissance man.”
When he opened Pronto, he smuggled prosciutto and Parmesan in a suitcase. “Whole legs of ham and rolls of cheese. Who knew what that was in Israel back then.” Pronto became a home for the bohemia. At one stage Adar founded “Dibur BeTzibur” evenings there, “Public Speaking,” as Shalom gave it the name, with the participation of the best poets. Adar also spoke, delivered fiery speeches and drank. He also served excellent pasta prepared by a string of outstanding chefs, who were then still just Rafi’s cooks, Alessandro Fragni, Mena Shetreem, Dudi Schick and Moti Sofer. True kitchen giants. As if that were not enough, some of the waiters were famous musicians: Dana Berger, Karni Postel and Adam Horovitz. Members of Knesiyat HaSekhel cleaned windows, and Amir Lev was something of a security guard. At the tables sat Arik Einstein, his close friend, Meir Ariel and Shmulik Kraus, as well as public figures such as Shimon Peres and Ehud Olmert, and businesspeople like Nochi Dankner and Victor Shmerich, who later became Adar’s partner and remains now also a partner of Gamliali and his group.
In 2011 Adar moved Pronto to its current location on Herzl Street. Along with the move, generations changed and roles reversed, and David Frenkel became not only the chef and partner but also the one setting the tone for the restaurant’s character, which changed from a classic Italian restaurant into a personal chef’s restaurant that also serves pasta. It is the same now with Gamliali. The pasta, by the way, is excellent, annelotti with fresh corn and crab. So are the tuna tartare on bruschetta, the delicate fish soup, the amberjack sashimi in gazpacho, the fried zucchini balls and the pumpkin flan for dessert. But what about the spirit? It probably will not return.
Adar knows he was a wild man. Sometimes he drank too much. “I don’t drink like that anymore. I get tired after two glasses of red wine,” he says with a smile, perhaps a little sadly. When he overdid it, he insulted customers. Once he insulted me too. I forgave him. Despite the certain sadness, Adar is happy that Pronto is surviving. “I’m glad my girl is still here. She’s already grown up and walking on her own, without me, and that’s how it should be.”
