My new favorite lunch spot is Home Kitchen on Jungmannova. It's about the size of a large closet and only has a few seats, but it serves honest food made fresh several times a day. The menu changes frequently, with three different soups daily (I warmed myself up with a fantastic dill and potato version), a meat entree (like duck breast with rosehip sauce and gratinated potatoes), and a couple of vegetarian items (stuffed peppers or eggplant parmigiana with turnip purée). The cozy brick walls, pleasant service, and neat take-out packaging make Home Kitchen feel distinctly un-Prague-like (a more complete write-up can be found on Cuketka's blog).
I was very sad to
hear that one of our best and most innovative restaurants, Sofia Smith's Asian-inspired Angel, has apparently closed. Celèste, Angel's sister restaurant, is still open, and I recently had a great meal there -- the desserts were particularly awesome -- but Angel will be sorely missed.
More predictable, perhaps, is the closing of Le Cornichon, which was resurrected with a new chef after a hiatus last summer, but never managed to regain its buzz. La Casa Blu, meanwhile, is still fighting to renew its lease; updates can be found on its homepage.
As m
any of you know, I left my position as Lidove Noviny's restaurant critic at the end of last year (their farewell interview with me can be read here). I'll be putting the blog on hold while I pursue other passions and things. Thank you to all my readers, even the more vicious ones, for your support. You kept it interesting -- and kept me in check occasionally, too.
And if you find anyplace good to eat in this town, be sure to let me know.
photographs: homekitchen.cz, Tomáš Krist for Lidové Noviny, lecornichon.cz, Prague Spoon
Monday, February 1, 2010
Food news: Openings, closings, and goodbye Spoon
Friday, February 13, 2009
Food news: Goodbye Gordon, hello Hooters
After less than a year and a half of operation, Maze Prague by Gordon Ramsay will be changing hands. The news was confirmed by Ramsay's Czech PR rep, Michaela Dvořáková, who says that although the restaurant will keep its name (for now), Maze will be run by the Hilton Prague Old Town management and Gordon Ramsay Holdings will just "participate in the creation of the menu." Head chef Philip Carmichael is rumored to have already left Prague for his native U.K.
Maze Prague is only one of several restaurants in the Gordon Ramsay empire said t
o be struggling. Still, Ramsay's departure from the Czech market may discourage foreign restaurateurs, few of whom will realize that local patrons weren't Maze's problem -- its location was. Put your restaurant in a windowless box in the lobby of a hotel on the fringes of Old Town (in one of the world's most view-worthy cities, no less) and you are bound to fail, no matter how good your food is.
I sure will miss their chocolate fondant.
Meanwhile, Angus Burger and Angus Grill in Palladium and Cremeria Milano on Pařížská have closed, and Sapori Italiani, the Italian-goods specialty shop formerly located on Perlova, is moving to Bělohorská in Prague 6.
And in food-unrelated restaurant news, the sports bar/breast-ogling American chain Hooters will debut in Prague late in 2009. Franchise holder Na Zdravi Ventures is planning to open several Hooters restaurants in the Czech and Slovak Republics over the next few years. Na Zdravi CEO J. Steven Parker says, "The time is right for the introduction of the Hooters brand."
I hate to admit it, but he might be onto something.
images: gordonramsay.com, saporiitaliani.cz, hooters.com
