Prague Fashion Week

Just thought I would also post some Czech Fashion, since I am half Russian and half Czech. My grandparents on my father's side were from Prague, and when I was a teenager my dad would always take me to a Czech Restaurant in Manhattan called the "Praha" which is Czech for Prague. The food was absolutely delicious and my dad said it was just like his mother would make.

It mostly consists of pork or beef meat with sauce and a side dish, the most common and liked being dumplings. Dumplings (“knedliky”) are the Czech traditional side dish made from wheat or potato flour, boiled in water as a roll and then sliced and served hot.

I used to love Svičková (read “svitch-co-va”) which is a beef dish prepared in a brine with a delicious sour cream gravy. Another favorite of mine was Boiled Beef in Dill Sauce. I know it doesn't sound appetizing but it was tender and tasty!

Czech Pancakes (Palačinky – read “Palachinky”), filled with ice-cream, jam or fruits and coated in whipped-cream, almonds or sugar along with Poppy Seed Strudel were my favorite desserts there.

My father passed away in 1982 and a year after the Praha closed down. It would have surely broken his heart to have arrived there to find the "no longer in business " sign in the window. And no Czech Restaurant has ever come close. I will always remember how we would go to the Praha where the waiters were dressed in starched white shirts with starched white tablecloths, but my Dad would have his little transistor radio with him, (held together by rubber bands) so he could listen to the Off Track Betting results of the horse races. He also asked every waiter if they were "Bohunk" (the familiar word for a Czech person), and seemed a little disappointed when they said no. He always made us guess the amount of the check, just for fun, and it was fun to watch my Dad make his "you're close" and "you're not close " faces when we would start calling out numbers.

This classy restaurant was a special place for this working class "Bohunk" and his daughter and son in law (after we were married, the tradition of going there continued).