U Kucharzy - Warsaw, Poland

Ahh Eastern Europe.  Home of my forefathers who splayed across a land with a moving target border and ambiguous family history.  Somewhere they trudged and it may be called Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, etc.  Two summers ago, I had an amusing and unstructured trip through Prague, Krakow, and Warsaw with an exciting drive - some may call it "death-defying" like our hotel concierge in Prague - from Prague to Krakow (we trained to Warsaw).


Having no exact agenda and 24 hours in Warsaw, I reached out to a very peripheral friend from college who i reconnected with on ASW for a dining suggestion.  Without hesitation, she suggested U Kucharzy (conveniently located across the street from our hotel, the Bristol).  

The story goes, a famous Polish restaurateur was searching for his next venue and checked out the restaurant of a closed grand hotel, Europejski Hotel, which he hated - it was huge.  But, he looked at the kitchen and realized, this is it.  The kitchen would be the kitchen...and the restaurant.  For those of you who love the experience of a chef's table, it doesn't get much better than this - every table, is essentially a chef's table.  And for those without a direct view of the kitchen, the final preparation of all dishes happens table-side with a mobile-kitchen-like cart.  Most dramatic and delectable was the steak tartare, prepared from a slab of beef and seasoning ranging from mushrooms to capers, with very sharp and precise knife skills... 

insane knife skills

We feasted on the game-y cuisine with great enthusiasm!  Venison, Goose, Wild Boar with beets, dumplings, and cranberry and cabbage slaw.  

plating of the tartare

flambee action on our cranberry-cabbage reduction

the goose (pre-sides)

the wild boar

digging in - dumplings for our starch

Taking in our front row view of the kitchen

their specialty foods shop

And then we toured the premises as we shut the place down.  We became friendly with the manager, cousin of the owner.  He had actually lived in manhattan and was scouting a place to open a NY-based Kucharzy.  Unfortunately, the skyrocketing rents of 2006/7 made the endeavor, near impossible.  I felt sad for them, but secretly - i have to admit - a wee bit happy.  A delightful discovery as such just feels that much more special when you can't just hop in a taxi to experience it...