Osteria da Clara Revisited

"Few things are more tempting to a writer than to repeat, admiringly, what he has said before." John Kenneth Galbraith

Hard to believe, but it has been more than a year since we first visited Osteria da Clara in Vršovice. That was shortly after it opened.

It's a small, Tuscan-inspired place just around the corner from our flat.The British chef and owner, Glen Svarc, used to live and cook in Florence. But he has Czech roots.

We've eaten there many times over the past year, but the menu changes every few months, so it always stays interesting. Some things we didn't love. But there have been a number of dishes that I have severely missed after they were taken off the menu.

So, when I saw the menu once again had a couple of our favorites from when the restaurant opened, we headed over.

And we were turned away. This restaurant, with more or less eight tables, is quite often full now.It wasn't that way in the beginning when I first wrote about it, but it has gotten a lot of positive press, including from the very popular Czech food blog, Cuketka.cz.

I wouldn't advise showing up without a reservation, especially on the weekend.However, we did turn up without one on another night. We were lucky and scored the last free table.

Soon, the breadbasket arrived. It contained wonderful warm focaccia and some sliced quality bread.The focaccia, lightly sprinkled with salt and rosemary, came with an assertive olive oil.

This was not available on our very first visit. I find it irresistible and have a hard time not ruining my appetite by consuming too many slices while waiting for food.

Which leads me to another thing you need to be aware of. When the restaurant is busy, the kitchen and the service can really slow down. Patience is required.We started by sharing a bowl of the soup of the day, tomato bread soup (85 CZK). It was a large portion, and they thoughtfully split it into two bowls for us.It was creamy and the flavors were very balanced. Just the right amount of salt brought up the essence of the tomatoes nicely, along with the basil. The little pieces of soaked bread gave it a pleasant texture and substantial heft. It was almost a meal in itself.

On a second visit, I tried prosciutto, scamorza, pere e noci, otherwise known as Parma ham, smoked cheese, pear, walnuts, rucola, and radicchio with lemon and olive oil (115 CZK).Fantastic. The Parma ham was fresh, moist, and tender. It was a very generous portion. The buttery slices melted in my mouth. The warm, gooey mozzarella-like cheese was a decadently delicious companion.

Perhaps it was luck, but the pear was the sweetest I can remember. My biggest regret was that there were only four slices. I cut it into small pieces and rationed them out so I could have some with each bite.

On that visit, V had zuppa di cozze -- mussel soup (139 CZK). She said the mussels themselves were just OK.They were clean, but some were on the small side, perhaps because the season had passed. No "r" in the month of May.

However, she really enjoyed the tomato-based both under the shells. It was strong, very garlicky, and spicy. The soup had the flavor of the mussels and the sea. There was a slice of bread soaking at the bottom of the bowl.

For a main course, I had one of my all-time favorite dishes, the fettine di maiale in saor -- pork fillets with pine nuts, raisins, caramelized red onions and balsamico (259 CZK).It lived up to my fond memories. The three pieces of pork were pounded flat and very tender. They were dipped in flour and cooked in wine. Very rich.

I like dishes with sweet notes. This was perfect for me. But V's tastes don't always run in the same direction. As I was raving about how good it was, she teased me.

"It's a cake."

"Oh, come on."

"Flour, butter, sugar, nuts. Cake."

"Let them eat cake."

On the second visit, I thought ordering something I hadn't tried before might be better for you, the reader. But me, the eater, couldn't resist another chance to have the fettine di maiale.But this turned out to be an educational choice for us both because it came out differently than other visits. This time, the chef had a heavier hand with the balsamic, moving it more into the sour camp than the sweet. I preferred the way it was the first time.

Also the vegetables changed on different nights. Both times there were sliced potatoes and carrots. The carrots are some of the best I've ever had.

They were cooked in Marsala wine and have a smokey flavor that I think comes from pancetta. They still had some crunch. Good for the health, but I don't want to know how much butter and olive oil they go through every night in the kitchen.

One time, there was zucchini. Another time there was fennel. You never know what you are going to get. But I appreciate that the vegetables are included in the price of the main course. No extra add ons for side orders.

V ordered a favorite dish from a year ago, the spaghetti alla zingara (139 CZK).This pasta excited her the first time she tried it because of the fresh ginger in the mix, a non-classical but creative idea. Per the name, it has a spicy zing.

This time, she didn't love it. She wished for more sauce, there was too much olive oil, and it was slightly overcooked. That said, the portion was huge. She could only finish half at dinner and took the rest home.

But there have been pastas on the menu that were really terrific. One was on the menu a couple of months ago -- a penne with tomato sauce and Italian sausage.It was perfectly al dente. I had actually planned to save some of it for lunch the next day, but I enjoyed it so much, I finished the whole thing.

And I need to mention another penne dish from a previous menu that I still dream about. It was made with mascarpone cheese, pumpkin, and pancetta. Creamy, savory, and sweet.

"It's dinner and desert," was my enthusiastic assessment after I had cleaned the plate. I can't wait for it to appear again.

I usually drink Pilsner Urquell. They only serve it in .33 liter bottles (35 CZK).Bottles of Mattoni mineral water were 30 CZK each. V had one of the house white table wines (35 CZK per glass).

The wine list is one of the really great things about Osteria da Clara. It is all Italian, the prices are relatively low, and we've had quite a few good ones.

The cheapest on the list was 195 CZK and the most expensive was 595 CZK. But there were also wines by the pitcher -- .2 liter, .5 liter, or 1 liter -- that are even better bargains.

For dessert, we shared a house-made tiramisu (99 CZK). Loved it.The topping was so light, I was doubting that was mascarpone. The savoiardi or lady fingers were soaked in a strong espresso.There were chocolate chips and a drizzling of strawberry syrup.

Above all, it was not too sweet. What was most interesting is V does not like tiramisu. I expected her to take one bite and the rest would be for me. But she thought the flavor and texture were quite special. She ended up consuming her full share.

Not content with one sweet ending, V ordered us two shots of Becherovka as a digestif (60 CZK each).

Even though it is outside the tourist center, I regularly recommend Osteria da Clara. Two well-traveled colleagues raved after I sent them over. A diplomat and his wife loved it. My stepfather seriously wanted to eat there every night. After all my referrals, only one person came back not appreciating it.

Just don't raise expectations to unrealistic levels. As noted above, it is not perfect. Not every dish is a winner. Service can be haphazard. The kitchen is not always consistent. But there is a large share of quality.

It's clear the chef's heart and soul is in his work. I've found nothing else quite like it in the city.

And along with original and often delicious dishes, Osteria da Clara has one more key ingredient -- great value.

It's a place that this writer repeatedly returns to, admiringly, again and again.

Osteria da Clara
Mexicka 7
Prague 10 - Vršovice
Tel. (+420) 271 726 548

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Osteria da Clara

"He who knows little, quickly tells it." Italian proverb

Osteria da Clara is a little, new Italian place with modest prices and lofty culinary aspirations.It took over the space once occupied by Valleta in Vršovice, just over the line from Vinohrady.

I thought Valleta, loved by some, was a reasonably-priced, if imperfect attempt at adventurous and creative cooking. It was interesting and different but never excited me.A couple of visits to Osteria da Clara the first week after it opened has me interested. And at least two dishes got me excited.

There were imperfections, but I think (and hope) those can be attributed to the restaurant's newness.

The small dining room has changed in subtle ways from the Valleta days, with a nicer chairs and rearranged tables. But there were only around eight of them.There was also a better looking, stained wood cover for an overhead air vent. But they should get rid of the beat up, old couch near the front door. It brings down an otherwise clean-looking space.

Meals began with chewy, crusty bread. It came with a strong olive oil that had a pleasant, ever-so-slightly bitter finish.

For a starter during a solo outing, I had the crostini misti (95 CZK).

There were three different offerings on the plate. Toasted bread covered with chopped chicken liver, toasted bread with chopped tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, and basil, and warm polenta topped with melted cheese.

Amid the crostini, there was white bean salad with red onion and a bit of tuna. This unadvertised addition was also offered as a separate starter (95 CZK).I'm a chopped chicken liver fan. In the old days, I used get tubs of it at a New York deli and make sandwiches. I enjoyed this version.

The chopped tomato bruschetta was basic but tasty. I thought the addition of the sun-dried tomatoes was a good idea.

I believe the polenta had a blue cheese on top. It was a small serving, but enough -- it had a pungent kick.

On the second visit, I ordered the insalata di pollo antica -- chicken salad with walnuts, raisin, and orange (95 CZK). There were a few rucola leaves and splashes of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.The chicken, served cold and shredded, was nicely prepared. It could have used more seasoning. All the ingredients were fresh and good quality, but I thought the dish didn't pull together as a whole.

Looking back, I'd have cut up the chicken, orange, and rucola into smaller pieces at the start, tossed them together, and added a touch more dressing. But maybe that's just me. I did this as I was finishing it and enjoyed the salad much more.

I tried the calamari caldi con barbabietole -- warm squid with beetroot, leaks, white wine and cream (115 CZK).The squid were tender, but unspectacular when considered on their own merits. However, the sauce was the star here.

The mixture of the wine and cream, along with the added calamari flavor, had us soaking it up with our extra bread. Only the bland beets were a disappointment.

For a main course on my first visit, I got the fettine di maiale -- pork fillet with pine nuts and balsamic vinegar (235 CZK). I absolutely loved this.The thick, brown coating on the meat tasted like a lovely Marsala wine sauce. There were unannounced raisins, giving it natural sweetness. Fresh sage took it to another level. Fantastic.

I asked the waitress about the sauce. After consulting with the kitchen, she said it was actually made with table wine, but that the carrots were cooked in Marsala. The carrots were perfect -- warm, but still with some snap in them.

There was cold, anise-influenced fennel and a small amount of cold, roasted eggplant, red pepper, and zucchini.

The roasted potatoes had potential, but weren't as good as they could have been. Also, the pork was just a little tough.

On the second visit, I had a bite of the spaghetti al zingaro, which is made with ginger, chili, garlic, tomato, and marjoram (129 CZK).It had the zesty zing of fresh ginger and the spicy bite of the chili. I'd never tasted a pasta quite like it before, and it took me a few bites to get used to it. We complimented the chef when he came out of the kitchen.

I also took the opportunity to ask him if the menu will expand, since it is pretty short.

He said probably not. The plan is to make changes every two weeks. But he said he'd make the spaghetti al zingaro any time, on request. Nice guy.

My sources tell me he's British, worked in restaurants in Florence, had a Czech girlfriend and... you know how that goes.

Anyway, on this second trip, I ordered the scaloppine dello chef (235 CZK). It was thinly sliced, tender pieces of beef topped with a Gorgonzola cheese sauce and, if memory serves, fried fennel.It also came with the great carrots and better-prepared roasted potatoes. The dish was OK but didn't grab me nearly as much as the pork dish.

Things I didn't get to try: breast of guinea fowl with pancetta, olives, and orange (285 CZK) or the fish of the day (285 CZK).

The wine list reminded me of Al Pacino -- short, cheap, and Italian. With all due respect, padrone. I mean that in a good way.

Wines by the .2 liter glass were all 35 CZK. A .75 liter bottle of Chardonnay della Venezia was only 175 CZK, while a bottle of Chianti Colli Senesi was 375 CZK.

There was no beer on tap. They had .33 liter bottles of Pilsner Urquell and Budvar for 35 CZK.

I ordered dessert on both visits.

The first was a homemade tiramisu (95 CZK). I'm not a big connoisseur, but this one was really good.The ladyfingers were soaked in plenty of real espresso and liqueur, and each bite revealed chunks of dark chocolate inside. The strawberry was ripe and finely sliced. Yum.

On the second visit, I had the panna cotta with brandy and orange (95 CZK). There was an orange sauce but not a lot of brandy flavor. Still, this sweet, creamy dessert tasted heavenly.There was one problem. Ice crystals in the middle. I mentioned it to the waitress, and she confessed the freezer had broken down some time earlier. Such are the opening week kinks in a new restaurant.

I wasn't thrilled about it, but I'll say this. It was good enough that I really want to try it again (without the ice crystals).

Yes, we'll be going back, even though it wasn't perfect. And not just because we live in the area.

I thought that pork was one of the best dishes I've had in a long time and felt the same way about the zingy spaghetti.

It also helps that the prices are probably 30% less than what you'd pay for similar cooking in the center, especially since side dishes were included.

Now, old school restaurant critics might wait for a restaurant to be open for a month or two to let some issues get smoothed out before writing a review.

In the blogosphere, we play by different rules. But they are not new rules.

It is not widely known, but we often use old Italian proverbs as our guides.

Osteria da Clara
Mexicka 7
Prague 10 - Vršovice
Tel. (+420) 271 726 548
Email: daclara (at) seznam.cz


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Valleta (Closed)

*News update: Valleta has closed. The space has been taken over by an Italian restaurant, Osteria da Clara. You can read about my visit here.

"Sometimes I'm so sweet, even I can't stand it."
-Julie Andrews

Valleta is a sweet little spot in Vršovice, tucked into a side street on the Vinohrady border.

A sweet, gray-haired Czech man waits on the tables.

The prices are pretty sweet.

The restaurant serves cuisine that is international, adventurous, original, and, yes, on the sweet side.

The dishes from the old menu there used to be even sweeter, which was why we weren't regulars. We live close by. But from the beginning, Valleta had its fans.

The Prague Post's old restaurant critic gave Valleta a very good review a few years back. He even recommended in a later, cleverly titled CNN.com travel article.

The restaurant has a new menu these days, and while there were still some cloying aspects, there was also more balance. Not everything worked with every dish, but almost all had something good about them.

The chef is Filip Blažek, who learned his advanced skills while working in Barcelona. My understanding is that his dad is the waiter and front-of-house man.

The dining room changed since our last visit, with more stylish touches added to the single-room dining area. It is not a big place, with just a few tables.

I started with the marinated lamb kebab skewer with goat cheese timbal and pistachios (95 CZK). The lamb meat was ground up, mixed with spices, and cooked on wooden sticks.The lamb was quite flavorful. It was well-salted, not sweet. The fried onions were the sweet part, along with a piece of fresh pineapple and a slice of pear were on the side.

The goat cheese tasted similar to feta -- which can be made with goat's mile, but was not very goat-like. And it was very salty. The cheese was served between slices of eggplant. I didn't really see or taste the pistachios.

V had the "Oriental Bangkok" prawns with mango-sesame salad and an oriental mustard sauce (115 CZK). There were three decent-sized prawns, which seemed a fair for the price. They were well-prepared and had good flavor.The dish came with a mound of thinly sliced sweet/sour mango in the center, topped by rucola. Very nice.

I think I had the winner of the main courses: Grilled veal slices with sun-dried tomato, melted mozzarella, and avocado tempura in an orange-basil sauce (200 CZK).The veal was very fresh and very tender. It was well-seasoned. Sun-dried tomatoes aren't the most gourmet cooking ingredient, but I really like the sour bursts of flavor they bring.

The avocado tempura was something I hadn't seen before. It wasn't a classic tempura batter and they were a little greasy, but I liked it nonetheless.

Side orders are extra. I had the grilled triangle of crepes and mushrooms with fresh sage (45 CZK). They were OK, but really more like spongy cake slices than crepes.

I love fresh sage, and it went very well with the veal. The basil in the veal's sauce stayed in the background.

V ordered a special: A Moroccan tagine of Nile perch in a sesame-olive sauce with grilled fennel and lemon zest (190 CZK). She got the recommended side of cous cous with vegetables and spices (35 CZK).She said it was pretty good, but didn't love it. The sweet water perch was a little too fishy tasting for me.

There were some fried greens on top, but she couldn't figure out exactly what they were. We both thought the cous cous was good.

No menu is available on the Internet so I'll tell you a few other offerings. There is a wine-braised lamb shank (225 CZK), duck leg tagine with grilled pear and orange zest (180 CZK), duck breast with apple-fig chutney (230 CZK), and rabbit in a mustard sauce (220 CZK).

On the sea-side of the menu, there is butterfish in a seaweed sour cream sauce (220 CZK), honey-cumin glazed salmon (190 CZK), sea bass fillet over fennel puree and orange sauce (215 CZK), and a catfish cake with crab meat spring roll (180 CZK).

Other side dishes include risotto with caramelized ginger (45 CZK), grilled polenta with fresh basil (45 CZK), and roasted potatoes with garlic and cherry tomatoes (35 CZK).

With both decided to have dessert, which is unusual. Usually, we just share one. I had the chocolate brownie with ginger and banana in a spicy, white-chocolate soup, served with strawberry ice cream (90 CZK).It was interesting. There was just a little spice that built into a pleasant heat. But the flavor of chocolate was not strong enough for my taste. The ice cream was nothing special and the color was a little too neon.

V got the frozen parfait of poppy seeds with sour cherries (85 CZK). This is not something I'd order. But V loved it. She said it reminded her of a dessert from her youth.There were no cherries so there was an unannounced substitute of what I believe were marinated apricots on the side (I didn't taste them).

At the end of the meal, we decided that we liked the current menu enough to come back and try more of it. But take that with a grain of salt.

The location, a short walk from home, certainly is a big positive factor for us. The cuisine is creative, but its sugary sides might not appeal to everyone.

But if you love la dolce vita and want try a different take on haute cuisine, the bill at Valleta won't leave a sour taste in your mouth.

Valleta
Mexická 7
Prague 10–Vršovice
Tel. (+420) 271 726 548

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Thai's Asian Food Shop

"Great acts are made up of small deeds."
-Lao Tzu

At my home, at this very moment, sits a pot of homemade tom kha gai soup. V makes it a few times a year. Love the stuff.

But cooking Asian specialties at home in Prague is not so easy. Getting the proper ingredients has often required a scavenger hunt around the city and occasionally necessitated the import of ingredients from abroad.

But Thai's Asian Food Shop is making things a whole lot easier. Even more so for us since it moved from Gorazdova in Prague 2 up to Francouska in Prague 10.The shop is just two small rooms, but in that limited space, you'll see a respectable selection of hard-to-find stuff.

In the front room, there is a freezer holding a wide variety of seafood. There are some treasures in that chest.You will usually find one kilogram packages of frozen shrimp (prawns). These are special for a few reasons.

First, a bag only costs 250 CZK. That is about half of what a similar-sized bag of frozen shrimp will cost you at the fancy shop, Seafood, on Zborovska.

The shrimp at Thai's Asian Food Shop have been cleaned and shelled and frozen -- uncooked. That last part is key. These shrimp are terrific for cooking.

The pre-boiled shrimp you'll find elsewhere are problematic if a recipe requires that you put them on the stove. Heat will often cause them to shrink and get hard.

The pre-boiled shrimp are fine if you want an instant shrimp cocktail after they defrost.

I saw frozen, uncooked shrimp at Tesco this week, but they were uncleaned, with shells and heads on.

In this front freezer, there was another fantastic catch: Barbecued eel. I'd never seen it for sale before at a market. The big unagi costs 250 CZK. This seemed like a great bargain to me.

Previously, the best deal I'd found for barbecued eel was at the Japanese restaurant, Miyabi. There, it costs 390 CZK. It comes with rice and miso soup, but the eel is half the size of the one I bought at the shop.

I defrosted the eel when I got home. Since it was already cooked, I heated it up in the microwave. It was absolutely delicious. Such fine meat. I mixed up a little sweet soy chili sauce on the side and ate the whole thing.I regretted not buying the second one I saw in the freezer. I went back the next week, but it was gone. I was told they'd get more the next day.

In the front freezer, there are many other types of seafood, including cuttlefish, small shrimp, mackerel, and fish balls.

Next to this freezer, are two stand-up coolers that have a wide variety of Asian roots and greens for cooking.For tom kha gai soup, you can get galangal. This ginger-like root is one of the harder to find ingredients in Prague.They also have packages of kaffir lime leaves. This is one of my favorite flavors in Thai cooking.The shop has lemon grass, Thai basil, cilantro, green peppercorns, bean sprouts, and several things I had never seen before.

Trying to figure out what some things are can be a bit of a challenge. More on that later.

There is another freezer in the back room.We picked up some frozen spring rolls from there. These were vegetarian. I fried up a few.

They were very simple, just filled with shredded sour cabbage. But I'll say they were very good.

I can't tell you how many times I've had spring rolls that had off-tasting filling. Not a problem with these. The had a fresh, clean taste.The shelves in the back room are filled with a great variety of products you won't find too many other places in Prague.

It really is quite impressive how many things they fit into such a small area.

There are rices, beans, noodles, and nuts.

There are all kinds of sweet sauces, soy sauces, oysters sauces, curry pastes, and soup mixes.

There are cans of exotic fruits and vegetables, and jars of little fish. I can't begin to name them all.

There are many things I think I'll probably never try. But then V will find some exotic recipe calling for something I've never heard of before, so you never know.

You can even find some soybean pudding or more ordinary rice pudding if you want.

On a recent visit, we came back with several items we needed for our cooking.There was masaman curry paste (59 CZK), unsalted peanuts (39 CZK), a liter of coconut milk (59 CZK), sweetened cream of coconut (39 CZK) -- they also have unsweetened, Indonesian tamarind soup paste (39 CZK), and hoisin sauce (45 CZK).

One favorite little snack we found was their wasabi broad beans. They're not cheap at 65 CZK for a can. But these are the most addictive little things I've found in a while.

Someone shared their wasabi peas with me recently and I found they didn't taste as nice. T

These flat beans have plenty of that great sharp, sweet flavor.

One problem at Thai's Asian Food Shop is the man I always see working there. He is friendly enough. But he doesn't speak English. Or Czech. So, don't expect him to answer too many questions.

But if you speak Vietnamese, then you are in luck.

Another problem is that they do run out of things I must have like cilantro and eel.

It is possible to make a trip to the shop on the Vinohrady-Vršovice border and come away disappointed.

But I'd say these are minor problems that are far outweighed by the benefits. There are a lot of goodies there. Even I am surprised that I've had so much to say about so little a space.

Yes, Thai's Asian Food Shop is small, indeed. But it is a great act to follow.

Thai's Asian Food Shop
Francouzská 66
Prague 10
Mon-Sat: 10 am-8 pm
Thu: closed
Sun: 3 pm–8 pm

Dedicated to Max and Will

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