 |
|
| Contact Us | Classifieds | Search: |
Purchase online
BOL Online
|
Rags to riches The apotheosis of the lowly burger
Staff Writer, The Prague Post Jan. 13, 2005 It's like some kind of Horatio Alger story: First there was the lowly hamburger, a simple, hardworking meal most commonly spotted in dirty, down-at-heels diners. Then, by dint of sheer luck and the McDonald's corporation, it achieves international renown, is celebrated in books and films, and even earns a walk-on role in Whit Stillman's 1994 film Barcelona. At the end of its rags-to-riches story, the burger is dressed up with fancy buns and expensive condiments to the point where we can't even recognize the humble grilled patty it was just a few chapters earlier. The culmination of the burger's apotheosis probably took place a couple of years back at New York's DB Bistrot Moderne, which unveiled a $50 burger made with ground sirloin, stuffed with sauteed foie gras and topped with shavings of black truffles. Then a Las Vegas restaurant upped the ante via a $60 version made with Kobe beef -- which comes from coddled, massaged, beer-drinking cows -- and topped with Madeira sauce. Thankfully, there's nothing quite so outrageous here in Prague, though hamburgers do run the gamut from the almost-inedible versions on Wenceslas Square to high-end classics at some of the city's best restaurants. In an interview with Filmmaker magazine, Stillman once said that the poor quality of hamburgers in Spain had locals thinking that burger-gulping Americans must be stupid, adding, "But they have no idea how delicious they can be." If, like the burger-defending American expats in Barcelona, you'd like to show your friends just how good a burger can get, here are four of the city's very best, listed in order of preference. It's worth noting that Jama's "American Burger" is available at this price only on Tuesdays, when the restaurant also serves Mexican, Swiss, French, Cajun, Chihuahua and Jerked versions. (Full disclosure: Jama owner Max Munson is The Prague Post's wine columnist.) Surprisingly, our overall favorite was the least expensive high-class burger in the city: the savory and sweet, 167-Kc (about $7.50) flavor-bomb at Vinohrady's excellent Mozaika.RATING PRAGUE'S BURGERS Our take on the city's high-grade hamburgers, listed in order of preference
Evan Rail can be reached at erail@praguepost.com
|
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.