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July 20th, 2008
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The wow factor

An Old Town café lives dangerously
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By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
April 16th, 2008 issue

Wow


Kozí 5
Tel. 222 313 091
Open Mon.-Thurs. 10 a.m.-midnight
Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-2 a.m.
Sun. 10 a.m.-midnight

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

JAN PŘEROVSKÝ/THE PRAGUE POST
How many artificial dalmatians died so customers could dine at Wow?
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FROM THE MENU



Potato gnocchi 120 Kč
Foie gras terrine 390 Kč
Salmon carpaccio 170 Kč
Duck confit 240 Kč
Spicy pork ribs 190 Kč
Salmon steak 240 Kč
Way back in cooking school, someone now slinging pots and pans in Wow’s kitchen failed the critical “How much vinegar goes into béarnaise?” quiz.
Or perhaps they confused it with Hollandaise. If so, bushels of excruciatingly sour lemons apparently plunged into his or her version in a desperate attempt to end it all. The puckering result obliterated a plate of gnocchi with spinach. Although exceedingly creamy, the sauce’s intense bite made it impossible, by taste alone, to determine whether the oblong dumplings were based on potato or flour.
The same béarnaise, this time cut with mustard, draped itself over salmon steak with a strangely serrated crust. The meat slipped apart at the seams, allowing nice ribbons of fat to set high expectations for the flavors to follow. But aside from dabs of bittersweet caramelization along the edges, the fish lacked character.
Both plates sound a cautionary note to any restaurateur fond of grandiose or promising names. When a place adopts a name like Perfect — that less-than spot off Revoluční — or Wow or something similarly ostentatious, it’s akin to Gary Hart challenging the media to find evidence of any hanky-panky during his 1988 bid for the White House. People will take up the invitation, and eventually catch you on a bad day.
And the world ends up with Bush vs. Dukakis — in other words, a sad joke.
But perhaps Wow’s owners felt they were up to the challenge. The kitchen arranges liver paté with a pear half, poached and briefly seared, and a balsamic reduction. While the foie gras comes across as a little too delicate in flavor, the approach is right on. Sweet and vaguely tart, the fruit picks up on faint meaty traces, luring them forward. At the same time, the pear’s acidity slices through the paté’s rich mouth feel. The sauce, meanwhile, works the same kind of magic as forest berries.
Salmon carpaccio features sheaths of mild fish drizzled with creme fraiche, resting on a film of herb-infused lime juice. It’s a beautiful combination — cream subduing darts of citrus, wrapping the sour taste in a thick, sweet cloak, turning a common starter into something memorable.
But that’s not all.
The kitchen arrays salmon slices around a centerpiece of gently boiled egg, julienned and seasoned with kosher salt. Egg is a traditional accompaniment with salmon (and caviar) because it supports the flavors of opulence.
Now, I’ve heard a few reports of illness from people who tried this starter. It may have been a one-time occurrence, however. On this occasion, certainly, the carpaccio proved harmless — and impressive.
Still, décor contributes more to the wow factor here than food service. The duck confit, for instance, presents tender meat with a pronounced wild and gamey flavor. But the kitchen undercuts this near-perfect expression of a French classic by ladling on an ill-conceived jus. Maybe they went a little crazy with citrus again, for tart elements jab their way through the musty reduction, not only tipping everything off balance, but lending the duck a strange Thanksgiving turkey-and-gravy character.
“Spicy” pork ribs draw their heat from bottles of a prickly Asian sauce, the same stuff one can buy at Albert. It burns nicely into a sweet, peppery crust. But you know the restaurant merely purchased and poured — no skill involved.
Besides, in places it cooks into a candied shell. And meat subjected to scorching under the sauce ends up dry and stringy, even difficult to slice.
The ribs are plated alongside a mound of mashed potatoes studded with potato chips. Guess it would be considered over-the-top to stick chips into mashed potatoes filling the hollowed jacket of a baked potato, huh?
Wow lives up to its name mostly in the décor — a room full of color, flash and faux skin. The kitchen has its moments, but still has a long way to go.

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


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