El Barrio de Ángel

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
-Michelangelo

We recently had a chance to try El Barrio de Ángel, the Argentine steak house in Smichov.

Not everything was a work of art, but there were some very good dishes and we quite liked our lunch there.

The restaurant is part of a growing steakhouse renaissance in Prague.

It is located on a rather unfortunate, busy road with a tram line, within sight of the Novy Smichov mall.

The Anděl metro station is also just a few meters away.

Once off the street, you walk down a steep, twisting staircase made from large, rough-hewn logs.

At the bottom, you enter another world.

It is a large, subterranean space with tons of exposed brick, dark hardwood floors, and sturdy, El Barrio-branded furniture.The large restaurant is divided by brick arches into several different sections.

With one or two exceptions, the restaurant has a minimum of steakhouse kitsch.

It is the antithesis of Prague's other famous purveyor of Argentine beef, La Casa Argentina, which I wrote about last year.

El Barrio de Ángel has an open kitchen, and you can see and hear and smell what's going on if you get one of the tables nearby.

For a starter, I got the empanadas carne or Argentine meat pies (99 CZK).

They came out piping hot.

The first of the two empanadas was filled with ground beef mixed with olives and had a spicy kick.I really enjoyed the first one. However, the second one was not the same. It was filled with more ordinary and less flavorful ground beef.

I had wanted to try the chimichanga de pollo (99 CZK), but it wasn't available.

V got a rucola salad (129 CZK). It comes with a few cherry tomatoes, red onion, and Parmesan cheese. The salad was pretty basic, and she was given olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dress it herself.She ended up putting in too much vinegar (which I didn't mind, really). But we both thought it would have been better if the restaurant provided some kind of dressing.

The Argentine "Patagonia" burger was made, as you would expect, with very fine, quality beef. It is quite similar in consistency to the burger I had at Potrefená husa.

The low fat content of the ground meat makes it very dense and even seem a bit dry, even though it dripped fat on the plate. I didn't see exactly how it was cooked, but they chef may brush on some butter.

It was very well-seasoned, with a perfect amount of salt. V detected what tasted like cumin in there. The beef was the pièce de résistance here.But the bun was a crime. The supermarket-bought bread robbed this burger of its potential greatness. The beef patty was large and the crumbling little bun just didn't have the right proportions. A small saving grace was that it was nicely toasted.

The burger came with lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayo pre-installed. I'm not a big fan of mayo on burgers and would have preferred to have a choice.

Ketchup was not brought, so I asked for some. It took a while for the waitress to return with it, and I only got a tiny dish.

I didn't want to send the waitress off on another ketchup run, so I rationed what little I had between my burger and fries.

There weren't so many fries, but they were big, crunchy, and hot and, in the end, just enough.

The burger is not perfect, but at 149 CZK, I'd definitely call it a good deal.

For example, Ultramarin makes a very good burger (with a similarly bad bun) and that one now costs 220 CZK.

The Potrefena husa burger has great, smoky ground beef and a good bun, but that one goes for 297 CZK. Both of those burgers come with bacon and cheese, while El Barrio's does not.

For a main course, V got the small 300 gram rib eye with "chimichurry" sauce for 319 CZK. This one was plenty large, but there is a 600 gram version available for 599 CZK.

Anyway, she loved it. She thought it was better than the rib eye at La Casa Argentina. A steak I had there lives on in my mind as the best I've had in Prague, so I'm not so sure. But I don't want to take anything away from El Barrio de Ángel's rib eye. It was excellent.V ordered it rare, and it was cooked perfectly. I was a little disappointed that the first slice she cut for me had a bit of chewy gristle.

But every bite after that was terrific, tender and smoky, with a clear flavor you will not find in Czech beef.

The only other fault, easily fixed, was it needed a few extra shakes of salt.

V got a side order of marinated grilled vegetables (55 CZK).

These were served cold. It was mostly onions and peppers, and a little eggplant.

There wasn't much going on, flavor-wise. We probably wouldn't get those again.

The chimichurri sauce was just OK, with the flavor of marinated peppers and a lot of oil.

We also tried the grilled corn on the cob for 55 CZK.It was pretty good. It was well salted and buttered, with a few black marks from the grill. The only issue here was it got cold quite quickly.

We recently ate at Ambiente on Manesova, and I saw that they charged an astounding 114 CZK for grilled corn.

The lively Argentine music on the sound system awakened some Latin memory for V.

She ordered a bottle of Corona beer with a slice of lime.

Later, while looking at the menu, she regretted it when she saw it cost 85 CZK.

She regretted it even more when she saw that there was wine by the glass for around 50 CZK.

Many bottles of Czech wine were selling for around 200 CZK.

Most of this wine list will not break the bank.

They were out of their Cabernet by the glass during our visit.

The dessert list is quite short, and they didn't have the chocolate fondue with fresh fruit (99 CZK) when we were there. They were out of a lot of things on this day.

On a whim, I ordered the house-made flan with dulce de leche (45 CZK). The menu's English translation called it "Home-made jelly with caramel."

I was expecting the usual cup-shaped factory flan, so I was very nicely surprised when it came out and saw it was the real deal and really made in-house.

It was quite sweet and eggy. The first bite, without any of the accompaniments, didn't make a big impression at first. Then, I tasted the dulce de leche.

Yes, it's basically caramel, but it was perfect. It tasted exactly like the dark, naughty bits of Haagen-Dazs dulce de leche ice cream.Yum! I enjoyed it more with every bite, and I was very sorry when it was all gone. It was simple, but one of the better desserts I've had in a long time. I will confess that, if I could, I'd eat a giant portion of the dulce de leche all by itself.

I went back for a second visit and had it again. For some reason, the portion was definitely only half the size. I thought about complaining, but I didn't have the picture of the first flan in front of me so I could be sure.

However, desserts aren't what will bring customers into this restaurant. For most, it's all about a good steak.

While they didn't get every detail right, they did get the most important one. That was a fine rib eye, nicely grilled. We'll be back for that.

So, if any of you meat-minded Michelangelos want to carve up some well-marbled Argentine beef, feel free to give El Barrio de Ángel a try.

El Barrio de Ángel
Lidická 42
Prague 5 - Anděl
Tel. (+420) 725 535 555


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Bakeshop Praha

"Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us, for a minute, the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time."

-Albert Camus

Al really needed to lighten up a bit.

Plenty of beauty lasts longer than a minute. My certainty on this point follows a recent, extended visit to the most beautiful food shop in Prague.

I'm talking about the newly-reopened and lovingly-remodeled Bakeshop Praha on Kozí, near Old Town Square.

It's just gorgeous. Good enough to eat.

The Art Deco signage, the taut awnings over creamy white walls and glowing windows, are especially impressive after dark.

Well-designed lighting works its magic. This place is ready for its closeup.

I stepped inside and saw that the beauty was more than wall-deep. The shop is now twice the size it used to be, and twice as good.

The spycam pix are a little blurry, but you can see there is still a small counter with stools if you want to eat in. The shiny, black and white tile floor is really well-done and adds a great deal of style to the room.

On the opposite side, where the shop expanded, is where you will find the refrigerator case holding the sandwiches, salads, and bottled drinks.

This self-service is a big improvement over the old Bakeshop Praha, where you couldn't see the sandwiches behind the glass and plastic packaging, and you had to be helped by the staff to get them.Some highlights from the sandwich menu are curried egg salad (95 CZK), hummus wrap with fresh mint and coriander vinaigrette (95 CZK), avocado BLT on a baguette (110 CZK), red pepper pesto chicken on rosemary bread (150 CZK), and goat cheese with rucola and tomato on walnut bread (145 CZK).

They have a sandwich called a "Sloppy Joe," which is turkey breast, coleslaw, Swiss cheese, and spicy Russian dressing. It costs 125 CZK.

I have to say, I did not love it. The bread had dried out and was a bit stale. The turkey was pretty dry. The coleslaw was fairly flavorless -- pretty much just shredded cabbage and carrot. I didn't detect much mayo. The dressing was my favorite part -- it had a nice kick.

It was also pretty small. For the money, I'd go for a Culinaria sandwich, which are pretty good, but for the most part, do not earn the top marks of sandwich arts and sciences.

Also in the refrigerator, there is eggplant "toastini" made with feta cheese and olives. It was loaded with soft, creamy cheese, but this really overwhelmed the eggplant.

The first few bites were pretty good, but with the olives thrown in, it was far too salty. It's not that big a sandwich and I didn't want to finish it.

I think they need to work on the balance of flavors in these sandwiches.

I didn't try them but you can also get a chicken Caesar "toastini" for 125 CZK. Or a ham and cheese toastini or tomato and cheddar toastini for 95 CZK.

Of course, Bakeshop Praha is famous for its fresh-baked breads. Almost all are sourdough -- there's a wide variety: walnut, potato dill, rosemary olive oil, black olive, multi grain, bagels or baguettes.

There's also white and wholewheat sandwich bread and they even do challah with poppy and sesame seeds.

They keep a number of salads on ice and on display. On the menu there's a Moroccan carrot salad with garlic cumin dressing, a baby spinach salad with goat cheese, candied walnuts, apple, and red onion.One I'd like to try is the spicy Thai salad with baby spinach, rucola, cucumber, carrots, chili, and peanuts in a spicy Thai vinaigrette. I assume not all salads are prepared in advance, so if you have your heart set on something, it is probably good to call ahead.

Then there are soups -- Tuscan white bean, corn chowder, and roasted eggplant to name a few.

They have at least six types of quiche. A mini-quiche is 80 CZK. One of my favorite savory items is the goat cheese pie with fresh tomato and herbs. A slice is 160 CZK. And I'll warn you -- the crust is something of a butter bomb.Lets move on to the sweet stuff. There is a list of cakes on the Internet menu -- I wish it were longer.

A slice of a devil's food chocolate cake with rum and espresso is 90 CZK. A whole, standard-size cake is 900 CZK. Not cheap, but sounds good. All cakes also come in a "large" size.A New York cheesecake with hazelnut biscotti crust is 80 CZK a slice, and 795 CZK for a whole one.

There's a separate menu for pies and tarts. Take your pick: French apple tart, star chocolate pie, death by chocolate and more. Prices are similar to cakes.I'm a fan of their loaf cakes. Most are 40 CZK for a slice. There are varieties like lemon buttermilk and banana walnut. But my favorite is the Kahlua chocolate. It is wonderfully moist, even after sitting on display for a while.

They've has also joined the cupcake trend sweeping the world, thanks to places like New York's Magnolia Bakery. At Bakshop, they are 55 CZK.Small cookies go for 15 CZK and big cookies are 35 CZK.

But perhaps the treat I've had most often is their caramel coconut almond brownie for 25 CZK. They may look a little small, but these things are dense, chewy little energy boosters.

In the end, I'd say I spent a good 10 minutes just staring at the beauty, architectural and edible, that Bakeshop Praha has to offer. I could have stretched it out longer.

I did feel some despair after I left, but that began with the memory of having to read Camus in school. In French.

Now that was unbearable.

Bakeshop Praha
Kozí 1
Prague 1
Tel. & fax (+420) 222 326 823

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Culinaria

"To enjoy the things we ought, and to hate the things we ought, has the greatest bearing on excellence of character."

-Aristotle

Culinaria is a fancy food shop that people hate to love and love to hate.

At least the people I know.

The gourmet emporium has a long list goods for sale, especially American and British, that are hard or impossible to find anywhere else in Prague.The list includes Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Doritos, Newman's Own salad dressings and tomato sauces, Hershey's chocolate syrup, Oreos, Cheerios, HP Sauce, Coleman's Mustard, and Walker's crisps.

I saw a small bottle of vanilla extract, which we use in a lot of recipes, for 200 CZK.

This list just scratches the surface. For example, they also carry a few Asian items. There is a longer rundown of goods on the website under the "Other Products: Imports" menu.

This type of selection is a dream come true for many expats. So, what's not to love?

Well, since Culinaria has a near monopoly on the sale of some of these products in Prague, they are priced accordingly. While I understand the mostly astronomical prices, I can also hate them.

One day, I had a powerful desire for Philadelphia brand cream cheese. Culinaria was selling small tubs of the spreadable version, imported from Italy. The price: 129 CZK.

Oof! White gold.

Confession: I bought some. But only because I already had a bag of cinnamon raisin bagels from Bohemia Bagel Express. I had already visualized toasting them in the oven and covering them with real cream cheese. A Czech cream cheese substitute was not part of the dream.

Unfortunately, I was recently told that Philedelphia brand cream cheese has started appearing in regular markets around the city at a fraction of the Culinaria price.

Since I was in the full throes of an American breakfast obsession, I also bought two boxes of Bisquick to make American pancakes.

They were 99 CZK each, which was a little easier to swallow. You can get quite a lot of pancakes out of one box.

I suppose it is possible to make pancakes with regular flour, milk, eggs, salt, and some rising agent. But there is a reason they calling it "branding." That Bisquick logo was burned into my brain long ago, and it brings back some fond memories.

Culinaria also sells baked sweets. I once had a very nice cappuccino cake. It had a sinful buttercream icing that had a powerful coffee kick.

Almost all the cakes, pies, and tartes are 69 to 79 CZK. There do a variety of cheesecakes, including strawberry, peanut butter chocolate, and apple walnut.

Or you could get Black Forest cake, Death by Chocolate cake, and Devil's Food cake.

Want to tarte it up a bit? They make a caramel honey nut tarte, a lemon tarte, and even an Earl Gray tea tarte.

Feel a little fruity? How about an orange cake, a maple pecan fig cake, a banana pie, or a key lime pie.

The wildest sounding dessert on the menu is the Asian Chocolate Wasabi Ginger Cake. Personally, I wouldn't buy it without getting a sample taste first.

They also do carrot cake and a variety of cookies. Around Thanksgiving, you can get pumpkin pie and they even sell canned pumpkin. Whole cakes cost between 759 and 869 CZK.

Culinaria also makes a number of pre-prepared meals on one side of the shop to eat in or take out. I used to get some of their salads, like Asian noodle salad. But they don't seem to have the ones I like in the refrigerator case anymore.They also have more serious foods like Beef Wellington, poached salmon with dill and lemon, pork with soy and ginger, and barbecue glazed chicken thighs. I haven't really tried these offerings. I can only say they look pretty good.

On the other side of the shop, there is a coffee bar. An espresso goes for 35 CZK, macchiatos and cappuccinos are 55 CZK, and cafe lattes are 60 CZK. You can get it on ice for 55 CZK.

Next to the coffee bar is a refrigerator case with cold drinks. There, you can find exotic American beverages like Arizona iced tea and Canada Dry ginger ale. There are some very fancy bottles of water. I don't recall the prices, but it ain't cheap.In the same case, there are sandwiches. These are what I stop for most often at Culinaria. They don't have a wide variety that are ready-made -- sometimes there are just three or four to choose from.

There is a menu with a long list of sandwiches that can be made to order. But when I was told on one visit that it would take 10 or 15 minutes to make, I said forget it.

Anyway, some of the pre-prepared sandwiches are pretty good. I just have to depend on luck that one I like will be in there.

I'd say my favorite is the Chicken Toscana for 129 CZK. It is made with smoked chicken breast, Fontina cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, lettuce, and pesto mayonnaise.

The box says it was on a "crispy baguette," but it does lose some crispness while on display. It was still pretty good bread.The chicken was a little dry, but the pesto-mayo and tomato put it back into balance. And I really love sun-dried tomatoes. I'd say this is one of the best pre-made sandwiches in Prague.

The only competitor would be a sandwich at Yessi Cafe, where they can be made to order and there are a wide variety of ingredients to choose from. I wrote a post and an update on the place.

Culinaria also makes a pretty good chicken salad sandwich for 99 CZK. It comes on a good dark bread with lettuce and tomato. The chicken seemed freshly cooked and chopped.

They went heavy on the mayo, which I actually liked. I don't love a dry sandwich. The tomato slices are thick, but it does make it hard to eat, since they fall out a bit.I've heard a few comments from people that service at Culinaria can be slow or sometimes less than friendly. For my part, I've usually gotten prompt service. But for the kind of money they charge, I want to see smiles people!

V really doesn't like this food shop because, as she says, everything is overpriced, the salads she tried weren't so special, and the service was unpleasant for her.

There are things I don't like about the place. There are a few, like the sandwiches and desserts, that I do like. It is a very nice looking shop.

So, I still stop by from time to time to see if they have a Chicken Toscana ready to go or just to look at a Bisquick box. Perhaps, I enjoy it more than I ought to.

But, I wouldn't say everyone ought to enjoy Culinaria. Maybe, it just goes to show, once again, that V's character is far more excellent than mine.

Culinaria
Skořepka 9
Prague 1
Tel: (+420) 224 231 017
Monday to Friday 8:30-20:00
Saturday 10:00-19:00
Sunday 12:00-17:00

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Ristorante Rialto - Brno

This rather ordinary looking building, not far from the center of Brno, is actually quite special. There are two reasons for that.

First, in the 1970s, it housed the maternity hospital where V was born.

Second, it is now the home of Ristorante Rialto, which prepared the best meal we have ever had in Brno.

The dining room is nicely done, with tasteful furniture, exposed wood beams, and hardwood floors. But it is not super fancy.

Little, except perhaps the small parking garage in the back, remains to remind one of its former incarnation.

There is also a very pleasant outdoor seating area. It has a wooden deck lined with plants and different styled chairs.

We went for a weekend lunch, and it was almost a bit too hot under the awning. But, lucky for us, the sun ducked behind some clouds and a breeze picked up.

The deck looks out on a garden with beautiful plants and a lush, green lawn. The back of the restaurant looks out on a residential area with a number of villas.

There is also a more primitive garden next door with an apricot tree in the middle. This is V's kind of garden.

Only two other tables were occupied, so we had a very quiet, peaceful time, and practically the full attention of our friendly and efficient waiter.

The meal started with a nice bread basket with three kinds of bread - dark, French, and a rustic country white. All were fresh and crusty.

We received a bottle containing both oil and balsamic vinegar, which could be dispensed with an atomizer spray pump at the top. The only problem here was we did not get bread plates, so there was no convenient way to combine the olive oil and bread.

Then came an amuse bouche of salmon mousse terrine with chunks of salmon, bitter red leaf lettuce, and a little balsamic. It was a light, refreshing start on a hot day, though nothing too special.

If you are wondering why all the food photos have a bit of an orange tint, it is because the sunlight was filtering through the colored awning overhead.

For a starter, I wanted to keep things light and cool, so I ordered the pickled rolls from aubergine (eggplant) stuffed with goat cheese mousse (Nakládané rolky z lilku plněné pěnou z kozího sýru) for 160 CZK.

The three eggplant and goat cheese rolls sat on leaves of crisp endive. I wish there were more. They were two bites each. In the middle of the plate was a salad with more of those red leaves, with shaved Parmesan and a light dressing. On the side were sprigs of rosemary and fresh parsley.

V got the seared scallops on a skewer with limes, zucchini basket, and tomato risotto (Špíz z mušlí Svatého Jakuba a limetek s cuketovým košíčkem a tomatovým rizotem) for 330 CZK.
The scallops were perfectly cooked and tasted great. Again, we wished there were more than two, but quality over quantity is a pretty consistent feature of the fine dining circuit. The zucchini was cut spaghetti style, sitting in a thin flour-based shell. I really liked the risotto -- it had a very strong essence of tomato.

As a main course, I had the roast shrimp "Aglio olio" with cuttlefish ink risotto (Pečené krevety "aglio olio" se sépiovým rizotem nebo bylinkovou rýží) for 590 CZK. Rice with herbs can be substituted for the risotto.
The shrimp were cooked just right. The outer crusts of the shrimp were golden-orange and slightly al dente. But the inner portions of the meat were very tender.

The risotto was delicious, especially after I squeezed some of my lemon over it. It was also slightly al dente, and had a very light amount of cuttlefish ink -- no black teeth. It had a complex flavor and I thought, for a moment, it was mixed with cheese, but the waiter assured me it was cream. A touch of wine perhaps?

V ordered the mixed salad with chicory shrimp and calamari (Míchaný salát s čekankou, krevetami a kalamáry) for 250 CZK. She loved it.It came with three warm shrimp, along with grilled calamari rings. V was glad the seafood was served warm, as it always bothers her when hot food is placed on top of cold lettuce, causing it to wilt. It had a dressing similar to the earlier appetizer salad. There was a mix of several kinds of leaves and endive. She thought this dish was the best value for money.

We decided to go for broke and share a dessert. For some reason, I have a craving for anything with ricotta cheese, so I ordered the "mousse from ricotti au gratin with lemon cream in pistachio sauce" (Mousse z ricotti gratinovaná citronovým krémem na pistáciové omáčce) for 150 CZK. I meant to tell the waiter we would share the dessert, but I mistakenly said "Na půl, prosim" (pronounced "nah pool, pro-seem"), which actually means "split in half, please."

The dessert took a long time to arrive. When it did, the waiter explained that the conscientious chef tried to split it evenly in half, but it did not stand up well to cutting, so he had to make a second one. I felt a little guilty, but appreciated how much he cared about making us happy.

It was worth the wait. I've never had a dessert quite like this one. It really wasn't so much like a mousse. It was denser. The sweet ricotta was studded throughout with pistachios. It was topped with a lemon glaze that was slightly browned like a crème brûlée.

On the side, there was an essentially unsweetened green puree of pistachio. It was fairly intense by itself, but dabbed on a fork full of ricotta, it was perfect. The fresh but somewhat tart fruit also made for a great combination. There was a piece of chocolate on top. It lacked the required intensity, but I was more than happy with everything else.

We want to try the other desserts next time, but wonder how we will be able to avoid ordering our first love.

For drinks we had Mattoni sparkling mineral water for 30 CZK, .25 liter bottles of San Pellegrino still water for 40 CZK, and V had a couple of .2 liter glasses of a very nice 2003 Moravian Riesling from Mikros, I think, for 120 CZK. No beer for me, I was driving.

There was also a cover charge of 30 CZK a person.

Look, this was an expensive lunch. The total bill came to 2100 CZK with tip. Is it worth the money? I can only say that we really enjoyed our meal - the food, the atmosphere, the service - and we left for our trip to Macocha with smiles on our faces. That's worth a lot to us.

I'd say we enjoyed this meal more and paid a lot less for it than our last meal at Kampa Park. Ristorante Rialto compares favorably with the best Prague has to offer.

With the prices as high as they are, we won't be visiting every time we are in Brno. We still have our second favorite place for quality dining in the city, Brabander, which is quite a lot cheaper. But we are already trying to think of special occasions, so we can go back and try other dishes.

Given the history of the building, V's birthday in December would certainly be appropriate. I just don't think we can wait that long.

Ristorante Rialto
Veveří 125
616 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Tel. (+420) 541 235 035, 541 235 040
Monday - Saturday, from 11.30 to 24.00
Sunday, from 11.30 to 15.00

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