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October 6th, 2008
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A feast of a fest

By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
June 25th, 2008 issue

Get some ice, a splash of vodka and a little orange juice. Then sit on a park bench with your drink and a tray of raw oysters — ah, the brunch of champions.

Like many Westerners, I find it difficult to understand the Czech fascination with weekend cottages. Escape from civilization Saturday and Sunday, after all, and you miss out on Euro 2008, baseball games and other distractions that make life tolerable.
Within the city limits, you find good restaurants, shaded patios, park benches, shopping. But locals give this up in exchange for cabins barren of life’s conveniences.
Enter the Prague Food Festival, a compromise between cultures.
Instead of Honza throwing pork on an old grill, you have the country’s most impressive chefs — guys like Andrea Accordi (you know, with the Michelin star), Ari Munander, Phil Carmichael, Zdeněk Pohlreich and Roman Paulus — cooking celebrated dishes. Bartenders from U Pinkasů wait to serve you beer. Stands sponsored by Monarch wine bar pour the best of France and Moravia.
You just sit around in the grass or walk the shaded trails around Žofín, eating and drinking. Then, when you tire of all the gorging, it’s an easy tram ride back to the flat.
After spending Sunday afternoon wandering through the gourmet festival, I think this was what organizer Pavel Maurer had in mind when he lamented the half-hearted showing by an earlier event.
The Czech Beer Festival drew sparse crowds to a less than appealing site for pints of overpriced brew. But it’s important, Maurer explained a few weeks ago, to keep Czech culture in mind when putting something like this together. So, for about the same price as a drive into the countryside, one could park among trees on a riverbank, pound down a few drinks and eat as much as possible.
Foodies sampled mussels from Auberge de Provence, fresh oysters provided by Sushi Bar, chef Munander’s curry, the much-talked-about dishes prepared at Maze and, of course, Michelin star-quality risotto loaded with asparagus and morel mushrooms. The drinks? Beer, of course, and plenty of wine, but also such extravagancies as grappa and screwdrivers.
To hell with dripping pork fat and some cramped, overly rustic cottage.
My food critic DNA makes issuing blanket praise near impossible. But at a Thursday night pre-party, Prague’s elite showed up to support Maurer.
Luminaries included … heck, I don’t know. Czech celebs aren’t my forte. Besides, I found myself pinned against the grappa bar for much of the evening, unwilling (and then unable) to move.
On Saturday, lines wrapped from Slovanský ostrov, home of this year’s activities, along Masarykovo all the way to the Mánes Gallery. And it was much the same Sunday.
Now, food festivals generally offer tasting portions. But most events stick these on plastic plates, hand out disposable “silverware” and pour wine into unbreakable cups.
Prague’s event, however, proved to be a little more upscale: glass, real plates, that sort of thing — even your own fork (which cheapskates could return for 20 Kč, or $1.30).
Perching on a stone wall in the midst of a crowded park isn’t the most comfortable way to enjoy chicken in a spicy Thai sauce, mind you. Auberge de Provence’s decision to serve mussels (not the easiest critter to consume while standing) will probably benefit local dry cleaners. The fashion show proved bizarre at best. And swarms of insects threatened to turn evening meals into a swat-fest for protein-phobic visitors.
But bugs, stains, alcohol, casual seating arrangements and perhaps even the curious outfits — they’re all part of a typical cottage experience, right? And at three vouchers for a mixed drink (approximately 75 Kč), the prices seemed almost bucolic.
Somehow, Maurer managed to pull it off, staging an event fitting for Czechs, yet still drawing foreigners.
Beer fest folks could learn from him.

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


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