We'd suggest it tastes great!
But you'd expect us to say that. So the question remains, "What's it taste like?"

Well…, it tastes like chicken, if it's chicken, especially if it's Eva's Roast Chicken! However, the point of abusing the cliché is to highlight the difficulty in describing flavors.

Many would say Czech food is "meat & potatoes" in nature. There's merit in that. Just don't take it as faint praise. Remember, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire united Central Europe commingling cultures and tastes, which explains why there's so much overlap between Germanic, Viennese, Bohemian, Slovakian, and Hungarian kitchen styles. Czech cooks were much sought out by the aristocracy during that era. Eva's grandmother, Josephine Dolejš, was one such house-manager/cook for a wealthy family. She traveled with them from Paris to Budapest to Prague and Vienna in between. This illustrates why we Czechs love our goulashes as much as Hungarians do, though we go lighter on the paprika. We also appreciate schnitzels, so much so one might confuse us for Germans or Austrians. And naturally French culinary art has always influenced refined European tastes. So expect an occasional hommage to Paris in our sauces and desserts.

In their book From Stroganov to Strudel, Great Traditional Cooking from Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, Catherine Atkinson and Trish Davies group these European cuisine's because, "The Foods characteristic of this area… are characterized by a robust style that is famous worldwide.
     "On an everyday level of eating and drinking, national tastes within Central Europe have tended to remain simple and relatively distinct. The wide availability of many typical ingredients… has naturally resulted in an overlap of cooking styles, and sometimes recipes of neighboring countries may vary only slightly in ingredients or method."

     Atkinson & Davies further specify Czech food tastes Jewish (or visa-versa):
"Much of Central and Eastern European cuisine is known to the West in the guise of Jewish cooking, dating from the time when many Jewish communities inhabited this part of Europe. Czech and traditional Jewish cooking, for instance, share a taste for goose and beef, as well as for carp served in sweetish sauces. … Pancakes, beans and fried cakes of grated raw potato figure in both cuisines. The Jewish Sabbath dish of cholent, bean and barley stew, is simply a kosher variation of the pork versions of the dish found everywhere in Central Europe. By the same token, Jewish recipes for red cabbage dispense with bacon."

In All Along the Danube, Marina Polvay practically cites Eva's grandma when writing, "To the Austrians and Hungarians, Bohemians… represent those talented female cooks who entered the Viennese and Budapest households, bringing with them culinary know-how in preparing meats, and, especially, marvelous desserts.
     "…[Czech] sausages are about the best in the world and are produced in an unbelievable variety. The American frankfurters erroneously called wieners actually originated in Prague." [„Párky v rohlíku“] She adds that Prague is famed for hams, as well [„Pražská Šunka“].
     Polvay concludes "…the claims to fame of Bohemian cooks are their inimitable feather-light dumplings and their scrumptious warm desserts. … Bohemian cooks reigned in Viennese kitchens, performing their own brand of culinary magic, while the Viennese convinced themselves that all the delicacies they were serving were their own original inventions."

High praise! Yet such endorsements still don't exactly explain what our food tastes like.

OK, for sure it doesn't taste spicy. Czechs consider pepper a strong seasoning to be used sparingly (and unhealthy for children). Caraway is a preferred flavor. A dash of "Italian Seasoning" might be expected, or sweet paprika, marjoram, sour cream, butter, or lemon juice. Sauerkraut is popular, as is sweet-and-sour flavoring (e.g., red cabbage „rot kohl“ to Germans). About the most savory traditional fare are kielbasas [klobása], ham, and smoked pork chops.

Because our restaurant is in "CzechoCalifornia," we accommodate patrons who want Tabasco for their split pea soup (or for whatever). We even offer a brunch item of Chorizo & Eggs with Czech Fried Potatoes, which is no way Czech, but who cares?!" „Mňyam, mňyam!“ Yum-yum!

But don't let that confuse you into thinking we've gone fusion. When we say it's traditional, it is. Czech Cusine's not broken which is why we fix it as it's meant to be prepared. Having written that, we hope this page helps you anticipate the fantastic meals awaiting you at Little Prague Bohemian Restaurant.

A word or two about beer:  it's essential.
Czechs call beer "liquid bread." That's how important it is to our culture. And when we say „pivo,“ we mean what North Americans call beer. Bohemia invented it (despite anything you may have heard elsewhere). Don't just take our word for it, take Michael Jackson's [The New World Guide to Beer]. It's all about the hops.
     "There are records of hop-growing in the region as early as AD 859, so it is possible there was brewing in Bohemia at that time....
     "The proud brewing history of Bohemia reached a peak in 1842, when Pilsen produced the world's first truly golden lager. The fame of this new, golden type of beer from the town of Pilsen [„Plzeň“] spread during the1850s, 1860s, and 1870s."
. . . . .
     "'Good' King Wenceslas of the Christmas carol is perhaps perceived as a figure of legend, but he was a popular leader of the Bohemians in the 10th century. He was known as Wenceslas the Holy, and later canonized...
     "King Wenceslas II granted brewing rights to Pilsen and Budweis. A later Wenceslas of Bohemia became German emperor in the 1300s. He forbade the export of hop cuttings from Bohemia, while also ordering that Burgundy vines be planted in Moravia. He was not a very effective ruler, but he was clearly a friend of the drinker." [bold added]

     "Several rulers of Bohemia have issued edicts forbidding, sometimes on pain of death, the export of hop cuttings. The export of the hop cones themselves is a different matter." [bold added]

Kinda harsh laws, huh? Well, what do you expect? We're talking about OUR BEER here! What the kings couldn't understand at the time was, like grapes, it's not just the variety of hops that makes the difference in flavor; it's the climate and soil in which they're grown. Bohemian grown hops are still essential to brewers around the world.

For the fun of it, we offer below some food related Czech proverbs. You'll probably find at least a couple similar to sayings you're already familiar with from your heritage. The commonality of these aphorisms shows the universality shared at the table.

--Uncle Otík

Rozumím tomu jako koza petrželi!
I'm as clueless as a goat in a parsley patch!

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