Prague Is Stepping Up Its Thanksgiving Game This Year

A whole new crop of Prague restaurants will be serving turkey and all the trimmings to homesick and hungry Americans in the Czech Republic in 2017.

Is Thanksgiving, like that other calorie-amped American holiday Halloween, seeing a rise in popularity in the Czech lands?

Matoušek credits the increase in Thanksgiving options to the restaurant boom the Czech capital has experienced in the past five years.

Chickin’s inaugural Thanksgiving celebration will include free-range turkey from a farm in Sedlčany as well as vegetarian chicken patties.

Greenlee’s partner and bar co-owner Alexandra Boldina, says their decision to organize the event arose out of necessity: “Last year it was kind of a challenge to find a place to celebrate Thanksgiving,” Boldina told us.

She says that so far their guest list is almost entirely Americans who “don’t have the opportunity to cook at home and just want to go to someplace for a traditional dinner.”

At California Republic, that tradition will taste like grandma’s kitchen, down to the green bean casserole and dinner rolls.

Chef Jan Pýcha who honed the Thanksgiving classics during a recent stint in Houston says that he believes more and more Czechs have begun to embrace international holidays.

Chef Pýcha aims to give Prague’s American community a taste of Czech hospitality via his turkey with pecan stuffing and marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes, served in a homey setting near the grounds of Průhonice chateau.

Max Munson, owner of the Czech capital’s first American bar and grill Jáma, established his feast in 1994.  He says that it has become a long-running annual custom for Czechs and Americans alike.

“The majority of our guests are mixed Czech-American couples and families. We will get some students and tourists, but most are Prague based. And each year we have a few all-Czech tables.” Maybe that’s why they’ve since added honey-glazed ham to the menu?