The City's Last Remaining Outdoor Beer Garden

To be honest, while I’m more than thrilled at the prospect of studying abroad at a new place that I had never quite been to before, I had been rather terrified of the difference in food tastes between what I’m used to here in the United States and what I could expect in Prague. In that regard, this assignment came out more than a little useful. While I’m not exteremely picky (who am I kidding? I am extremely picky), I needed to know that my finicky eating habits would be alright in Prague. I did learn in the course of the past week or so that NYU does have listings for places that might be a bit more friendly to our Americanized pallet, or rather, mine at least. Prague, and well, most Eastern European countries in fact, put a very large emphasis on pork meat (I don’t eat anything that comes from a pig) and beer, or pivo in Czech (I hate beer because I think it tastes like dirty sewer water). Needless to say, when I saw that those were staples of Czech cuisine, I was freaked out because I thought to myself “What the hell am I going to eat?!”.

Luckily for me, the ambassador to the NYU Study Abroad in Prague program here at the Global Affairs office in New York was kind enough to send me the website for the most authentic Czech food place in New York, located in Astoria, Queens named Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden. So, I decided to make the trek to Astoria to try the food that I will be growing rather accustomed to in the coming months. So, once I arrived at the only remaining outdoor beer garden in New York City, I was attended to by a really sweet lady by the lame of Ivana (even the names were authentic!). I had the Chicken Paprikash, which was actually not too bad and somewhat reminded me of Indian cuisine. I stared extensively at the menu, and I came to realize that with the exception of pork products and sauerkraut, which I will never be able to make myself eat, no matter how adventurous I’m feeling food-wise, I found that most of the Czech food on the menu was something I wouldn’t be completely opposed to eating. They even had chicken nuggets! All in all, I was rather surprised at the variety and scope of Czech cuisine after all.