Sunday, April 7, 2013

Local Czech food with locals!

When it came time for a final Czech meal, I really wanted to try out a more decidedly local restaurant. Oh boy, everyone had the same idea.

U Parlamentu is a favorite among locals and now travelers alike for they serve authentic Czech food with local beers at bargain prices.

Service is fast for what it is. There were only two waitresses I saw servicing the entire floor and it was very packed!

We started off with the crispy garlic bread - normally you think toasted bread with butter and garlic minced - baked to a buttery goodness, no?

Czech garlic bread
Not according to the Czechs. Their bread is browned and very crispy. You get garlic cloves - 3 of them - 1 for each slice of crispy bread. The garlic has to be mashed against the toast until you feel there is enough garlic flavor. There is no butter with it. Once you get the garlic juice onto it though, it tastes pretty good.

Pork medallions with sauerkraut and bread dumplings
The best part of this simple Czech meal was its pork, which is really good in Prague. Very moist, tender and  the sauce's blandness is matched by the sauerkraut's pickled taste. The bread dumplings were just like montau - chinese steamed bread! I found it reminiscent of home.

Marinated beef in creamy sauce
Barb was not too impressed with this dish at all. It was too bland for her and there was nothing to cut that - not even sauerkraut.

Service was a bit short but we got cheap, traditional Czech fare fast. 

Valentinska 8, Prague 110 00, Czech Republic (Praha 1)
tel. 420 721 415 747

Italian in the city...

In a city full of restaurants, notably Italian and French restaurants, il Corallo Trattoria shouldn't stand out with its tight and crowded seating and old tiled walls.

And yet it does! It is not just because the new owner has a long history with the restaurant - with his wife having worked there under the previous owner and he is a unique personality.

This little gem is popular with NYU students due to proximity, price and taste.

This restaurant has many dishes! Too many choices makes ordering very hard!

It took us (former and present co-workers) quite some time to decide on the main courses because everything looked that good!!! I thought I made a choice but on the back was pizza!!! We opted out of the pizza because there were just so many pasta dishes.

We split an order of Crostini Pomodoro which is homemade bread toasted topped with fresh chopped tomatoes, pinoli nuts, fresh ricotta cheese and fresh basil. It was very delicious even though we had bread with olive oil and vinegar to start.

Then we split two plates of salad...the same salad but I forgot to note the name of the salad. Sorry!! But it wasn't truly anything special.

The specialty of this place seems to be its ingenious white sauce which is both light and creamy! It seems to be the standard for at least three of their delicious pastas.

Fettuccine Maremonti
This was my dish - Fettuccine Maremonti, fresh green noodles with wild mushrooms and shrimp in a light tomato sauce. The noodles are real noodles - thick noodles - hearty noodles that went well with a slightly tart but light tomato sauce. The shrimps were perfectly cooked - not overdone and there was a lot of fresh mushrooms - but the ratio of mushroom to shrimp to sauce was too much. I could not finish my whole dish at all.

Taglierini Sorrento 
My co-workers got theTaglierini Sorrento - fresh thin black noodles with shrimp, lobster meat, scallops, clams, fresh chopped tomato, parsley, olive oil, white wine and garlic sauce and this was simply divine - I think should I be in the neighborhood again - I'd get this dish to go - along with others. Squid ink is an ingredient that few people really use well - but here - in Il Corallo's expert hands, it is a lovely way to have your noodles and add a rich rounded flavor to the rest of the seafood in this dish.

Fettuccine Piemontesi
My friend enjoyed her Fettuccine Piemontesi - fresh green noodles with chicken and mushrooms in a cream of truffle sauce. Here again, il Corallo, shined. Their delicious green noodles were absolutely filling - and the white cream sauce is always divine - light and creamy yet a perfect compliment to the hearty noodles. This would be the other dish I'd have to take home.

Fettuccine Buttera
And this was quite enjoyed as well - the Fettuccine Buttera - fresh noodles with italian sausage, spinach and toasted pinoli nuts in an olive oil and garlic sauce. The Italian sausage was delicious in the light sauce. The nuts complimented the dish as well as the sausage did. But the best was yet to come.

Farfalle Di Spiaggia
This was il Corallo Trattoria's crowing achievement. This - Farfalle Di Spiaggia - bow tie pasta with lobster, shrimp, fresh green peas, and avocado bits in a cream sauce with parmigiano and romano cheese. Again, they excelled at making their cream sauces. This bow-tie pasta was tender and held the cream sauce well. The lobster and shrimp was cooked just perfectly and tasted just fantastic with the sauce. I didn't notice too much avocado or green peas so the balance was actually rather perfect. This is my very last dish to take home. In fact, I definitely want to have this dish the next time I come to il Corallo Trattoria - by no means, will I not return!!

The service was pretty attentive but if you get there with more than 2 people, the wait would be 30 to 40 minutes. The turnover might be fast but they don't really rush their customers out the door. At least, not this night. The owner was very nice and the server was patient when explaining their specials of the night as well as some of the dishes/pizzas that weren't being served that night.

All in all, while I wouldn't suggest a date night here - it is a great place to meet a friend for good, cheap Italian pasta and wine.

I almost regret writing this but they don't need my words for their place - they're plenty busy enough!

Il Corallo Trattoria on Urbanspoon

II Corallo Trattoria
176 Prince St, New York, NY 10012
212.941.7119 
Sunday through Thursday, 12:00 pm–10:30 pm 
Friday & Saturday, 12:00 pm–11:00 pm