Czechoslovakian Restaurant U Zavarolu.

Lap it up at U Zavoralu

Queensbury’s Czech restaurant has hearty
central European cuisine and soups to go

Czechoslovakian Restaurant U Zavoralu, 707 Queensbury Ave.,
North Vancouver, 988-1331. Visa accepted. Open Tuesday to
Sunday for dinner. Closed Monday. Take the kids or call a

babysitter? You could do either.

Y DEAR old Dad, who knows about such matiers,
says there are not enough puns in this column.

So before we get
started, | invite readers to exorcize
from their systems all the puns us-
ing the word Czech. I‘!l supply the
Table Hopping laugh track, which
has been borrowed from a recent
Doug Collins column: Ha Ha, Ho
Ho, He He...

Feei better? Good, because it’s
cold, wet and grey out there, and
Table Hopping staff are howling
for some real food, some real
meat-on-the-bones chow, to fill
the void.

This is a job,then,for cuisine
from central Europe, where the art
of rib-sticking was born.

The Czechoslovakian Restaurant
in the small commerical backwater
of Queensbury Avenue has been a
good purveyor of that stodge-
heavy cookery for ihe past 16
years.

And it remains, like the sturdy
food it serves, unchanged and
unrehearsed.

The Czech is a delightfully
quirky family-run centre of hearty
soups and robust meat-and-
dumplings entrees. No one dining
at the Czech leaves with room for
seconds, though many leave with
litres of the restaurant's great
soups which are available to go,
warm or frozen, but that is another
story and this is a sentence getting
far tao long.

The restaurant's interior is deco-
rated in the florid style of a central
European hunting lodge.

Its bar is comparatively large for

Timothy Renshaw
TABLE HOPPING

the size of restaurant it services
and is stocked with an unusual
variety of bottles and liquors.

The top shelf is dedicated to
stivovitz, the high-octane plum
brandy that traditionally fuels
Czech celebrations and should be
handled only by those schooled in
its use.

The restaurant’s wine list is also
unusual. A dozen bottles in the
main selection range from $11 up
to $36, but a half dozen specialty
wines feature such viticultural aris-
tocracy as a 1981 Chateau Palmer
Margaux for $150 — an impressive
bottle to stock, but surely not ane
that the average diner would
down with a Szegedin Goulash.

Better to stick with a bottle of
Bull’s Blood (Egri Bikaver, $12.50),
the full-bodied, spicy Hungarian
red, which is best consumed while
wearing a gypsy bandana and
Russian cossack boots.

l accompanied my beaker of

NEWS photo Mike Wakelleld
CZECH this out...Vera and Denny Zavoral present a toast to their loyal clientele at their

Bull’s Blood with a special Roast
Goose dinner ($16.80).

It came with an opening bowl of
Ragout soup that had a thick
vegetable broth and chunks of
goose liver — a delicious way to
dispatch winter chills.

The goose followed (insert goose
pun of choice}. Ha Ha, Ho Ho, He
He.

Aboard the plate were slabs of
dense white dumplings sprinkled
with browned onions; traditionai
red cabbage, steamed and
prepared with vinegar, sugar and
cloves; and a solid chunk of bread
stuffing.

The roasted goose meat was
covered in a savory brown sauce.
Goose meat, like duck, has a fatty
outer layer, but it has a delicate
flavor and a deer dark color.

Combined with the spongy but
substantial dumplings, the cab-
bage and a side of pickled cu-
cumber slices, the entree was a

“triumph of substance over style.

Also recommended: Svickova
($14.90), a traditional Czech dish
that features a fine cut of beef
stewed all day in Hunter sauce
and presented with dumplings and
cranberries.

Your dessert should include a
solid wedge of Sachertorte ($3.90),
Franz Sacher's immortal Viennese
chocolate gateau cut with rasp-
berry jam.

At the Czech it comes topped
with a dollop of whipped cream
and should be washed down with
a Turkish coffee for maximum ef-
fect.

Your meal at the Czech will be
accompanied with a sound track
of oom pah pah music and
perhaps casual conversation with
your matronly hostess, Vera.

See Three page 29

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100 Centennial Way, Burnaby Reservations 299-1 155

“The Beach Side Cafe continues to set the pace for
West Vancouver restaurants, combining a sumptuous
recipe of fine foods, sophisticated neighbourly
surroundings and crisp service!” = _ ratty Renshaw

925-1945 1362 Marine Dr., West Vancouver