Red Corner: Jonesing for Czech Goulash

by Neil Woodburn on

After living in Prague for two years, I developed a love/hate relationship with goulash.

Although Hungary normally comes to mind when most people think of goulash, the Czechs lap up a slightly different version which they consider as much of a local culinary tradition as their fine pilsners.

I ate a lot of goulash while living there, and sopped it all up with pasty dumplings (another Czech specialty). I eventually grew tired of it but still found myself wolfing it down while frequenting hole-in-the-wall pubs that have been ladling the stuff out for seemingly hundreds of years.

After returning to the states, I found I actually missed the stuff. A short-lived restaurant in Los Angeles, Czech Point, briefly fulfilled my cravings until it eventually closed after changing ownership. I haven’t had good goulash since.

Thanks to a short article and a long recipe recently published in the Prague Post, I can now relive my culinary expat adventures. Of course, I won’t be able to replicate the smoky pubs and surly waiters, but I can close my eyes, take a bite, and be magically transported back if I try hard enough. Mmmm….

Prague’s Charles Bridge For Sale

by Iva Skoch on

As if Madonna is not causing enough stir with her European tour, she got herself wrapped up in another controversy.

Louis Vuitton invited her to perform at a party on the Charles Bridge before her September concert in Prague. She accepted. The controversy is not with Madonna this time, it is with the bridge. LV booked the 14th century Czech national treasure for a mere $54,000 from Sept. 6-10, just to throw a private VIP party.

It would require the city to close it to all traffic for those days. Starved for cash (and probably after a few bribes) the City of Prague actually said yes, until some historians and politicians raised a big stink about it.

In an article titled Material World, the Prague Post quoted a senator who said that the Charles Bridge is no “whore for sale” and compared renting the bridge to “holding an eating party inside St. Vitus Cathedral [the famous Gothic church inside the walls of Prague Castle].”

Enough people protested that the city actually had to call the party off, suggesting to LV that they can take the waterfront instead. Poor little VIPs. Must feel a lot like wanting a Louis Vuitton bag and settling for a Gap totebag instead.

Welcome Iva Skoch

by Erik Olsen on

We who have been here at gadling for a while are always happy to invite in new blood. It’s nice to have a fresh perspective to help liven things up a bit, to give the site a boost. We invite you to welcome our newest blogger, Iva Skoch, who hails from the Czech Republic and will not only be writing about that wonderful place, but pretty much any other place that tickles her fancy…and her fancy is very ticklish…or so I’m told. Ahem.

Anyway, Iva has done her first post today about, of all things, sex and violence in the animal world, a topic of interest to, well, pretty much everyone, I would think. She will be offering, too, a European look at travel, which I’m sure many of our European readers will be pleased about. So everyone offer a warm welcome to Iva!

Red Corner: Prague’s New Cubist Hotel

by Neil Woodburn on

Most people are familiar with Cubism through such legends as Picasso. The movement often stretched beyond canvas, however. This was especially true in Prague where a number of notable buildings were constructed using this school of design in the early 20th century.

The capital of the Czech Republic has just added another entry into their fine collection. The Marriott Courtyard has embraced the cubist style in their latest hotel which just opened last May. As you can tell by the above photo, the exterior has a little bit more of a modern twist than the more traditional cubist architecture seen around town, but it still makes a heroic effort to respect the country’s artistic past.

The sharp angles so typical of the movement aren’t just limited to the outside of the hotel. The interior, designed by Helena T. Dunn Interior Design incorporates the cubist style from furniture to wall hangings throughout the hotel’s bar, restaurant, lobby, and guestrooms.

Personally, I am quite surprised the normally bland Marriott chain would so whole-heartedly embrace such an avant-garde theme. I have yet to visit the hotel, however, and will have to reserve judgment until I make it back to Prague.

Museum piece or kitsch? If you’ve checked it out, let us know…

Red Corner: Cheap Eats where the Czechs Eat

by Neil Woodburn on

Prague was once a great deal. Everything was so cheap and tourists flocked here by the millions to lap up 40 cent beers and $1 plates of goulash. Good luck finding such deals in the center of town these days, however.

The influx of tourism has increased prices in the town center exponentially. Beers can cost as much as $4 in some tourist dives. Sure, this is still very affordable, but the wise tourist knows he’s overpaying for that sudsy beer or plate of goulash.

But, where can he find the real bargains? Where can he dig up those authentic Czech restaurants where only the Czechs go and where prices remain as they should for a sloppy plate of goulash?

Well, turn to the expats. The Prague Post, an English language newspaper catering to the foreigners in the area, has printed a pretty decent article on where to find food and drink priced for the locals.

Take, for example, XXX on Senová?né námeste, where some goulash and a couple of beers will only set you back $5. Hardly the prices of ten years ago, but still a great deal compared to the prices found in the more popular tourist dives.