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Vienna, (Bratislava, Brno,) Prague

March 9th, 2009

Beef Goulash with Dumplings at Deminka

Prague, Czech Republic – A short 4.5 hour train ride from Vienna is Prague. Like Vienna, the architecture here is grand, breathtaking and sometimes intimidating. And also like Vienna at this time of year, it is cold, it is windy and it damp. Likewise, the food here is well-suited for the chilly conditions – beef goulash, salty stock soups, wiener schnitzel, sausages and intimidatingly large pork knuckles – served in smoky pubs and stocky wooden restaurants. The cafes, however, are where the two cities differ. While the kaffeehaus of Vienna was aristocratic, high-ceilinged, chandeliered and comfortably refined, the cafes in Prague with their empty or jumbled spaces, idiosyncratic coloring and tilted, black and white photographs, reminded me more of Brooklyn than Austria, and conveyed the moody, darkly intellectual atmosphere that Prague seemed to breathe. One that carried through across all the streets and pubs and everywhere else.

After hoofing across the river, up steps and over cobblestones, around the Prague castle and through the lamp-lit streets, I found myself in a pub with icy fingers and dizzy from hunger. I ordered the beef stock soup, a quarter roast duck and some kind of Moravian wine. Of course, from the looks of the place and the menu, I should have ordered a beer, but I’m not a big beer drinker and I was in the mood for wine. The stuff tasted like vinegary grape juice, but I couldn’t complain because I knew what I was getting myself into. The beef stock soup, on the other hand, was the perfect way to thaw the chill. I was perfectly satisfied with the clear, super salty beef stock filled with short, thin noodles and light, liver dumplings. Needless to say, my eyes widened when my quarter roast duck arrived. It looked like it had eaten another roast duck and was accompanied by two stewed cabbages – one plain and the other with cherries – as well as dense bread and potato dumplings. Delicious, but you wouldn’t think I thought that after seeing my plate after I was finished.

After our chance finding of a nice pub, I decided to look up my friend David Farley’s article on Prague gastropubs to see what else was out there. In an internet cafe, I scribbled down the addresses for Budvarka, Deminka and U Bulovky. We couldn’t find Budvarka, which is supposed to be behind the Prague castle somewhere. After weaving in and out of castles, Baroque churches, synagogues and the town square, we hopped on the tram to head out out of the town center to neighborhood favorite and local brewery U Bulovky. It took a stop at a local gym to get pointed in the right direction, but we soon found the brewpub. The small room seemed to glow golden through the haze of smoke. It was packed with people playing cards, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. Plates of pork knuckles the size of a football with a knife sticking out of the top glided past us as we took a seat at the bar next to a 7-foot copper still. I instantly loved it and the friendly staff who took great pains to explain the (non-English) menu to us. We sampled their dark and light beers, all of which seemed fine to me, but I ended up with a double whiskey. My friend ordered his standard for Prague, the beef goulash, which turned out to be my favorite of the trip. The meat was tender and beefy, the sauce expertly balanced in spices and the fried potato dumplings were crisp on the outside and light inside.

We found ourselves in front of another plate of goulash the next day, a few hours before leaving Prague, at Deminka. This pub was much grander than the others we’d seen outfitted with chandeliers, high windows and ceilings. They served a range of typical offerings – an okay goulash, soups and beers – but if I were to return, I would delve into some of their more upscale offerings or perhaps go a bit more hungry. But that was that, a Pilsner Urquell and we were on our way back to Wien.