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Home cooking in Vršovice

Almost hidden from view, Da Clara serves simple Italian fare
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By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
April 2nd, 2008 issue

Da Clara


Mexická 7
Prague 10-Vršovice
Tel. 271 726 548
Open Mon.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.

Food **
Service **
Atmosphere *
Overall **

KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
Don't blink, you'll miss it: a good new osteria in the old Valleta space.
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FROM THE MENU



Minestrone (lunch) 29 Kč
Stuffed zucchini 95 Kč
Rigatoni ragu (lunch) 92 Kč
Penne Amatriciano 139 Kč
Scaloppini 235 Kč
Pork fillet 235 Kč
Tiramisu 95 Kč
“Just like mom used to make.”
Although the phrase sometimes plays a sardonic role — as in, “that burnt toast is just like …” — its more innocent form lauds the memory of simple, satisfying comfort meals, the kind prepared at home.
Ladle basic ragu over a helping of rigatoni, and you’ll get the idea: no fuss, no ceremony and definitely no sprig of flat-leaf parsley or cursive swirl of balsamic around the plate. Unless, of course, your mom was into that sort of thing.
Home cooking obviously depends on the cook, especially at restaurants touting their meals with that sobriquet. Unfortunately, all too often in Prague, neighborhood joints — even those claiming Italian heritage — steep soggy, overcooked pasta in watery sauce, skimping on meat then tossing on handfuls of dry herbs to compensate for its timorous character. Doubtless some residents even consider this proper technique, decades of wrong apparently making it right.
So they will likely question Da Clara’s know-how. Which is too bad.
The kitchen (or more accurately, the guy who does all the cooking) turns out al dente rigatoni with a tacky, naturally sweet edge. This twinge of flavor is all that’s needed to set apart a thick and husky beef ragu. The penne alla amatriciano also pits perfect “to the tooth” pasta against a dense sauce, tart and sweet from tomato — a simple affair, the only note of intrigue coming from bits of pancetta lurking here and there, momentarily tugging flavors earthward.
This antidote to haute cuisine occupies the old Valleta space, a truly off-the-beaten-path destination once known for chef Filip Blažek’s inspired creations. Almost hidden on a Vršovice side street and often overlooked, Valleta nevertheless deserved better than a slow death.
It’s the same with Da Clara. New owners kept the room’s nondescript charm, moaned a little about the location, and exchanged Blažek’s unique menu for a limited selection of Italian standards.
Aside from a decorative array of sun-dried tomatoes and squirts of sauce, the restaurant’s stuffed zucchini represents another triumph of the uncluttered. Two halved vegetable shells are filled with hearty minced meat dusted with cheese — nothing to it, really. By not cooking the zucchini down to mush, however, the kitchen creates something easy and pleasing at the same time.
Tender slices of pork covered in a reduction that smacks of balsamic, spiked with raisins and pine nuts, is a well-considered entrée, fruity and tart with rough background flavors shadowed by mellow traces. It’s an interesting dish that manages to shrug off high-brow deconstruction.
I ordered something a little fancier — guinea fowl wrapped in pancetta — but no complaints.
Service flubs occur because of the restaurant’s mom-and-pop nature. During lunch, the waitress/hostess/bus girl apologized as I waited. With three other tables occupied, the chef was hustling to keep up. One lonely evening, with no other guests to mask backroom noise, we heard the sudden hiss of sizzling meat as our main courses hit the grill.
Yet to improve on the expediting process by, say, installing touch-screen electronics or a multistation kitchen would be to destroy Da Clara’s basic sincerity.
So you accept the occasional oversight: chewy, slightly overcooked beef scaloppini blunting the efforts of a sharp, soapy and herbal blue-cheese sauce; minestrone presented as a thick puree, weighted down by beans and short on several of the usual ingredients, like tomato, herbs and pasta. It’s a minestra more than a minestrone.
Besides, Da Clara stores a few surprises, such as crusty home-style bread brought to the table with a bottle of astoundingly fruity olive oil, a brisk, sweet balsamic and — don’t fall from your seats — a dish. Outside of Prague’s fine-dining establishments, this must be the only place in town where guests can actually pour oil, dot it with the aged vinegar, and swipe pieces of bread through the lively concoction.
Unlike Valleta, Da Clara aspires to little more than basic, hearty meals. But, like its predecessor, Da Clara deserves more recognition than it will likely receive at this out-of-the-way location.

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (2/04/2008):

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