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A walk in the park

New venture in Vršovice is well worth a taste
Restaurant Review | Search restaurants | Archives

By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
September 19th, 2007 issue

Park

Vršovická 1a, Prague 10–Vršovice
Tel. 267 310 999
Open daily 8 a.m.–12 p.m.

Food **
Service **
Atmosphere ***
Overall **

Jan Přerovský/THE PRAGUE POST
The aptly named restaurant offers woodland views, a bright room, some good food and picnic meals to go.
FROM THE MENU

Caprese 85 Kč
Minestrone 49 Kč
Cream of zucchini 35 Kč
French fries 30 Kč
Spaghetti carbonara 95 Kč
Tournedos of beef 275 Kč

A restaurant born with two popular siblings and a time-tested strategy behind it should have it easy.
Park belongs to the same family as La Bodeguita del Medio and La Casa Argentina, New World attractions built on the dining-out-as-a-happening concept — a notion applied with great success to the torpid warrens of suburban America by the likes of P. F. Chang’s. By emphasizing a rollicking atmosphere along with vaguely exotic dishes dialed toward midrange tastes, such establishments ensure good times.
Granted, Park’s space inside a modern multi-use facility at the bottom of Havličkovy sady will never pull the same foot traffic as La Bodeguita or La Casa. But Park boasts a lounge area, music, ping-pong and a playground for family gatherings.
And it’s not a bad restaurant.
Cream of zucchini soup offers one indication of the kitchen’s skills. The surest way to destroy zucchini’s delicate flavor is to overburden the bowl, spiking it with more dynamic ingredients. This, however, is a beautifully restrained soup. Tiny clips of red pepper, along with other vegetables, and dashes of pesto-laden oil fold into the background under coats of rich cream.
Pasta carbonara is cooked just to the point of al dente — another promising sign. Frail carbonara clings to the tacky strands, while lightly cured bacon lends gentle flavors without compromising the equally delicate taste of egg and cream. Slices of mild onion and a few shavings of relatively timid Parmesan complete another cushy ride.
Apart from the lack of black pepper flecks essential to “authentic” carbonara, it’s an impressive interpretation of the classic dish.
If Park were able to maintain this level of performance, it would inevitably reach within striking distance of the treacherous fine-dining scene lying just beyond the valuable ground occupied by its trendy upscale brethren. But small flaws yank it back to earth.
Despite obvious training and a genuinely friendly wait staff, service broke down frequently during my first visit. They blanked on the appetizer order and pulled the old “must pay with cash” routine, despite all the credit-card logos stuck to the door. On a subsequent visit, they begged for plastic after failing to round up enough change.
The potentially stellar kitchen also faltered.
In the very center of beef tournedos, where a medium-rare sliver struggled under the dead weight of overcooked meat, tender fibers of muscle, husky in flavor, testified to the quality of the product. The rest sat sulking on the plate, gray, tired and dried-out — although I must say that the plate itself looked good, with a swirl of pepper sauce and splashes of sea salt.
The kitchen’s attempt at minestrone resembled on one occasion a strange liquid pizza (there is a pizza menu), with the broth overtaken by sweet basil and other herbs in a sweet-tart tomato base. Parmesan shavings eventually cut through some of this saccharine edge.
But these miscues are forgivable. The minestrone contained nice, spoon-size chunks of vegetables and perfectly cooked pasta. Most Prague kitchens overcook meat to some degree, with local tastes for dry, stringy cuts reinforcing the habit.
Botching a simple caprese, however?
Vapid tomatoes vied with disappointing pizza-quality mozzarella, some slices heavy and almost gritty, others resembling processed cheese loaf. For relief, there was some honey balsamic — or more accurately, honey dabbed with vinegar — a violently sweet accompaniment marked by a few harsh, sour notes on the crest of each bite. Thin “homemade” pesto couldn’t keep pace.
Still, that amounts to a few lapses and just one outright collapse.
And Park offers several advantages over La Bodeguita and La Casa: more reasonable pricing, a menu designed for broader appeal, breakfast service until 11 a.m. and the option of picnic lunches.
Easy? Perhaps not. But it really is a happening place.

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (19/09/2007):

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