Yessi Café Revisited (Closed)

"My salad days, when I was green in judgment..."
- William Shakespeare, "Antony and Cleopatra"

Back in the early days of Czech Please, I wrote a post about the relatively new Yessi Café. I've been back a few times, and I have a few more things to add.

For summer, they've added an outdoor eating area. On a nice day, it is a good place to grab a bite and do some people watching. There are waiters and waitresses providing table service, or you can order your food at the counter and take it to a table.

One of the most positive developments is the addition of a salad bar. There's a wide variety of items to choose from.
The choices include: lettuce, ruccola, couscous, peapods, pickled red onions, raw red and yellow peppers, roasted peppers, shredded carrots, red beans, new potatoes, tomatoes, corn, sun-dried tomatoes, cucumber, mushrooms in oil, capers, bacon, croutons, and several types of dressing, like Dijon or pesto.

You can fill a plastic container to take away whatever you want for what I consider the bargain price of 119 CZK.

Their pre-made sandwiches and baguettes are a little too dull for me, but I keep going back because they have a build-to-order option that I love. They have a good selection of different ingredients to choose from.
I can get a little chaotic behind the counter as orders come in, but I've been lucky that it usually isn't too busy when I've been there.
On my last visit, I got a baguette with pulled pieces of chicken breast, ruccola, sun-dried tomato spread, and mayo. It was great.

The bread is fresh, the ruccola has an almost smoky flavor, and the mayo softened the almost-sour intensity of the sun-dried tomatoes.

The only weak point is that the chicken breast is a bit tough and bland. It could use some salt at least. I don't have the receipt, but I think it cost around 100 CZK.
On another visit, I did decided to pick up their pre-made BLT for 89 CZK. Honestly, I won't be doing this again.

They give you two kinds of bread, light and dark. Both breads are thick and heavy. The mass of bread vastly overshadows the amount of bacon, lettuce, and tomato. The tomato slikes are very thin, and there is very little lettuce. Bacon that has been cooked hours earlier is always going to be a challenge.

The interior portion tasted OK, but the bread was dry and something of a chore to eat.

Yessi Café also has coffees, teas, desserts, smoothies, and light breakfasts.You can see their take-way menu and lots more pictures of the place here.

Based on my last post, someone thought I didn't like Yessi Café, but that's not true. I will keep going back as long as they have that fancy salad bar and continue to build baguettes with whatever I point at behind the counter.

Yessi Café
V Celnici 4
Prague 1
Tel. (+420) 222 212 585

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Harlequin Billiard Club

"To play billiards well was a sign of an ill-spent youth."
- Herbert Spencer, English philosopher and political theorist

Bad childhood? Want to shoot some pool, have a drink, and maybe a quick bite?

One option is Harlequin Billiard Club. It has a convenient location, not too far from Wenceslas Square.

There are a lot of tables. The Harlequin website says there are 16, most of which are pocket billiard tables. My photo is pretty dark -- the website has plenty of better ones.
There are also a few carom tables (no pockets) and one snooker table. If you don't have your own cue, you can pull one of Harlequin's off the wall. Many are not in the best condition.

Most of the billiard tables cost 111 CZK per hour. The snooker table costs 120 CZK. When you want to rent one, just talk to the bartender.

On tap, there is only Krušovice 12 degree for 27 CZK (according to the website -- I lost all my receipts recently).

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of choice on the beer front. They do have Pilsner Urquell in a .33 liter bottle for 30 CZK, or Corona 70 CZK. A bottle of non-alcoholic beer is 30 CZK.

There are basic wines like Rulandské bílé and Frankovka. There is also a long list of different spirits and soft drinks. At the bar, you can buy small snacks like nuts and such.
There is a food menu. I didn't go for the food. To be honest, nothing appealed to me.

It is full of Czech standards: Pickled sausage (utopenc) for 30 CZK, pickled cheese (Nakládaný hermelín) for 55 CZK, a Greek salad for 89 CZK, and various combinations of pork, chicken, and bacon for 100-200 CZK. There are a few types of potatoes for 30 CZK.

I only saw the menu in Czech, so I don't know if it is offered in English. The menu (Jídelní lístek) in Czech is also on the internet.

Harlequin also offers games of chance -- electronic slot machine type games (herna) in the long passage from the street to the large back room with the tables. The machines might make it a little confusing when you first walk when you are looking for a pool hall.

But that's not my kind of gambling. A beer on a game of eight-ball is good enough for me. And I did play well on my last visit. I just hope my mother doesn't find out.

Harlequin Billiard Club
Vinohradská 25
Prague 2
Tel. (+420) 224 217 240

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Staročeská krčma

We first started going to Staročeská krčma (Old Bohemian Grill) back in 1999. The place next door, which is connected, is called Bar Fontana. We loved it for its great meat, great cooking, and casual, rustic atmosphere.

Then, several years ago, the cooking and quality went down hill, and we stopped going. Recently, a colleague told me things had improved, and there is a new menu. We decided to give it another try.

Staročeská krčma is on a quiet residential street in Prague 6, about halfway between the Hradčanská and Dejvicka metro stops. The interior has exposed wood beams, tables with benches, and dripping candles. There is firewood stacked up along the walls.
It used to get crowded and you'd have to share a table with other diners, but it was empty on a holiday evening. They do allow smoking.
Another source of smoke, the good kind, is wood fired grill in the middle of the relatively small dining area. Years ago, there was no enclosure at all for the fire, but the smoke got out of control, and they put bricks and mortar around it. We once actually saw the fire go out of control when the chef left the room. Very entertaining.
Not everything is cooked on fire, so if you want something grilled, make sure you order from the correct part of the menu.

A meal starts with a basket of nice Czech bread and a ramekin of škvarky. This is rendered, ground pork fat for spreading on the bread. There is a cover charge of 20 CZK a person.

The grilled Argentine rump steak came with scalloped potatoes and a whole head of roasted garlic. The chef comes out and cooks the meat over the fire. The potatoes were good, and the gravy, made with meat drippings, was excellent. The steak absorbed very nice flavor from the wood smoke.
It was a thick cut, with relatively little fat. I asked for the meat to be cooked medium. It acutally came out medium-rare, which is how I like it. But, too often, I've had Czech waiters telling me I could have either rare or medium, so I gave up trying.

On the negative side, this was not a very tender piece of beef. The effort required to cut and chew left us wondering if it really did travel all the way from South America. The texture was more similar to the Czech cut, roštenka. It is one of the more expensive items on the menu at 299 CZK.

I drank Gambrinus, which costs 28 CZK for a half-liter. V had Cabernet by the glass. They charge for each .1 liter, and a glass is .2 liter. I had to do some math, but it worked out to 66 CZK a glass. A .3 liter bottle of Mattoni mineral water was 25 CZK.

The menu is also written in English if you need it, but I don't think the staff speaks much of it.

Neither of us were very hungry, and both of us ordered the same thing, so I don't have much more to say about the food at this point.

After we went, I did speak to my colleague who recommends Staročeská krčma, and lives close by. I agreed that it had gotten better, but expressed my disappointment about the quality of the meat we ordered. He insisted that the tenderloin pepper steak is the best choice on the menu, which is also a bit cheaper.

Though I wasn't totally happy, I do have a warm place in my heart for this place. I told my colleague, I'd try the pepper steak next time. And there will be a next time.

Staročeská krčma
V.P.Čkalova 15
Prague 6
Tel. (+420) 224 321 505

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