Czech Plaza still serving Bohemian fare

BERWYN – Every morning, Ladislava Drozda puts on her apron and starts rattling pans and turning ingredients into a symphony of smells that make the mouth water. The dishes she prepares are from her homeland.

For decades, the near west suburbs were home to many restaurants serving Bohemian food and delivering the next best thing to a meal served in Prague.

Czech Plaza, 7016 W. Cermak Road, is one of the last of those restaurants in the area serving Czech cuisine, and anyone who has had roast duck served Bohemian style, or koprova, and, of course, stuffed cabbage, will understand why it is called cuisine.

But times have changed, and with them, the community’s palate.

Zdenka Manetti, daughter of owners Ladislava and Jarodslav Drozda, is hostess at Czech Plaza. She is just one member of the family that works at the restaurant. The Drozda’s grandsons and granddaughters have worked as waiters and waitresses. Their son, Jack, and his wife, Betty, help out, as well as Manetti’s husband, Cicero Water Department Director Lido Manetti.

Drozda and her husband, Jarodslav, bought the restaurant in 1989. It opened in 1962 and traded hands at least once before. Ladislava is the cook and Jarodslav is the butcher, Manetti said. Czech Plaza is still drawing in those with a taste for Bohemian favorites, but Manetti said there are challenges to face.

“With this neighborhood changing so much and all, the Czech restaurants are falling to the wayside,” she said. “It’s hard. A lot of the older Czech customers passed away. Their children sold their houses and moved away. The seniors used to be our bread and butter. But the younger people come back and say ‘we came here with our grandma and grandpa.’”

Czech Plaza still draws many seniors from surrounding communities. In February 2013, the restaurant was featured on the popular restaurant review program “Check, Please!” on WTTW Channel 11, the local PBS station.

“That really helped,” Manetti said. “We had a great turn out; a lot of positive feedback from people. They were surprised how much food they got for so little money.”

Younger people are coming who have now heard of Czech food, and there also is a growing Hispanic clientele.

“We have quite a few Hispanic regulars coming in,” Manetti said. “They’ll order the breaded pork tenderloin, but they want hot sauce on the side. That’s fine. Any way they like it.”

Manetti said she believes the restaurant’s success has a lot to do with the fact that her parents have dedicated their lives to the restaurant and have a very dedicated staff as well.

“I believe because we’ve been a family, we’ve left the recipes and the portions as they were,” Manetti said. “The portions and the quality of the food are the same.

“Ma and Pa little places are disappearing quickly,” she added. “But my parents are healthy and will be here for a long time to come.”