Czech Please

The bandwagon certainly seems to have eluded Operetta. I would be highly surprised if this place ever made it on to the Check Please TV show.

As I have noted before, there are two versions of Bohemian food in the Chicago area, the old "Bohunk" staples, mostly these days in Brookfield and Westmont, although Klas hangs on in Cicero. Then, there is the new school. Operetta is filled with young, strikingly thin for all the dumplings they eat, no-smoking ignoring, beer drinking, Czech speaking clientele. You think there would be no place finer for Hungry Rabbi, but he seems to be missing.

I am not sure if Operetta has gone through a recent change of ownership. They've spruced the place up slightly with black faux teak chairs and better flooring. The menu is also different. Yet, it stays the same. The grand thing about Bohemian cooking is from the oldest to the newest place, from immigrant to been here, the menu seems unchanged. We're talking firstly tons of food, almost all buried within some form of gravy, and if not gravey-laden, then fried. Secondly, we are talking ultra-Atkins repellent food. If you are not getting ten or so slices of light yet substantial bread dumplings, you are getting about five potatoes boiled and casually smashed on your plate. Of course, it all tastes good. There are three classic Czech beers on tap, a few types of slivowitz for variety, garlic soup to ward off the un-dead and pancakes for dessert. I cannot fathom why this place is not more popular.

Needless to say, my meal last night both tasted great and left me with tons of leftovers. On our table was a goulash, and two kinds of pork dishes. Each gravy was unique if not overly complex. One daughter got chicken in blue cheese and the other cheese sticks on steroids. When we were leaving, we noted that a woman at another table was eating these huge blocks of fried cheese, so they are not just for meat eschewing chowhounditas.

Operetta
(773) 622-2613
5653 W Fullerton Ave
Chicago, IL 60639

In googling the address for Operetta, I found this link from the Czech embassy for food places in Chicago and around the USA.

Vital Information wrote: I cannot fathom why this place is not more popular.

The joint was packed the night we were there (though that could have been due to 2 for 1 beer night...was it a Wednesday?). The feel I got from the place (and this is based on ONE visit) is that it's a neighborhood joint, popular with Czechs and other Eastern European nouveau Chicagoans. It was the smokinging-est restaurant I think I've ever been to -- and as you suggest, the food repels vampires and Atkins devotees, which may account for less than full houses on non-2 for 1 nights.

Hammond

When I said the bandwagon has missed Operatta, I just mean the bandwagon of Check Please watching type foodies. The place seems popular on other nights, and as unrelentingly smokey, even without 2-1 beer.

Rob

Vital Information wrote: I cannot fathom why this place is not more popular.

I think you answered your own question. I took my 100% Czech girlfriend-at-the-time there a few months ago, and after taking two steps in the door, we turned around and left. I doubt whether a non-smoker could tolerate more than a few minutes in there before getting sick to their stomach. It was so bad that I actually thought about contacting the truth.com folks so they could get some footage for a commercial!

If I get the taste for Bohemian food, I go to the Westchester Inn, in the strip mall at 31st and Wolf Road in Westchester.

And FWIW, I looked at the Czech Republic embassy website, and it astounded me that not a single restaurant was listed for Texas. The area south of Dallas, centered around Ennis, has a Czech population which rivals (and today may exceed) that in the Chicago area...

Mark