"In order to grow higher, we need to unite in recipes and in our view of Czech cuisine," says Vasek Kouba.
Good beer and honest cooking
We serve beer that's fresh, right to the last sip, and real home cooking. Lokál is a place where good beer and honest food matter.
Vasek, what is your job role?
Officially, it's called Kitchen Manager at Lokál, because I'm more concerned with management than actual cooking. Initially I wanted to keep it half and half so I wouldn't give too much away to the craft, but few people can fully commit to both management and cooking. This is something that affects a lot of businesses today. The chef is often the one who cooks the best, but that's not enough. A person in such a position should be able to deal with people, delegate work properly, understand pricing. In all this I try to be a support to our operations.
What exactly makes up your daily schedule?
I deal with re-pricing food and finding new products, farmers and suppliers to set up collaborations with, including logistics, and communicating with them on an ongoing basis. I'm also available to the chefs to help with inventory, menu structure, or how to put a team together. We have our own staff at Lokál, but I'm the buffer where the actual questions and problems come together. I also oversee the introduction of new recipes and changes, each of which must be agreed upon by all or at least most of the chefs. Changes under pressure are not sustainable in the long term. In addition, I gather inspiration and suggestions for us and organise trips abroad so that we don't get stuck in place and keep moving forward.
What steps should Lokál take in the future?
The mission is to cook Czech cuisine as it is, honestly and with home-grown ingredients. That's why we're constantly improving the quality of our ingredients, and specifically the vegetables, which have presented a challenge for several years. It will take us time to learn to prepare them better, and give them the same recognition as meat. We also have to align ourselves with the greengrocers and get used to the different planning, the fluctuations in the seasons and the complications that naturally arise. Many variables come into play! It is all the more important that there is someone between the restaurant and the farmer or distributor who listens to everyone involved and is able to resolve conflicts. In the case of Lokál, that someone is me.
How do you manage to build cooperation with farmers?
The key is to vouch for them and deliver on our promises, even when one or the other of us finds ourselves in a difficult situation. This builds mutual trust. An example are potatoes from a farmer near Pilsen, who supplies Lokál for part of the year. We had a bad season with him when the weather spoiled his harvest. The first shipments were fine, but after a few weeks the quality dropped rapidly and it became clear what a mess it was. He grew the whole crop just for us, so if we hadn't taken it away he would have lost a chunk of his livelihood. But at the same time, he didn't deliver the raw material that we agreed on, and that's when the cook has to accept that nature does what it wants to do despite human effort. In the end, we bought all the potatoes, and today we know that if we want to have great produce in our kitchens, we have to support our suppliers as much as possible.
With the volume required by Lokál - nine restaurants in total - that must be quite a challenge...
It has to be said that high volume does not exclude quality, and sometimes it is an advantage. If I order ten kilos of eidam a month from Struhy farm, our agreement will be different than if we buy two tonnes of cheese. At that moment, we are more interesting to the producer and become his priority. Farmers are grateful for a secure outlet, and we appreciate their efforts to improve and accommodate us. Here I would like to mention Hanka Součková, who tried to grow Czech grenailles for us, and bought a potato line and a warehouse for vegetables. Finding suppliers who are able to cater to us will always be a challenge, but once we meet and finalise the terms of purchase and shipments, it's a win. Almost! Then we have to nurture the relationships and develop together, like we've had to do with our frying cheese. At Struhy, they have come a long way to get to an eidam that suits our kitchens, and we are far from the end still. For us chefs, this experience is an essential school of commodity knowledge.
What brought you to Lokál in the first place?
I originally studied nuclear physics, but I've been close to food and cooking since I was a kid, and at one point - despite considering another job at the time - I decided I wanted to be a better cook. And since the hobby courses didn't meet my expectations, I signed up for the Kuchyn. But there was no room for me in the team, so chef Marek Janouch suggested that if I was serious about Czech cuisine, it would be worth asking around at Lokál. Soon Martin Filip, the then head chef of Lokál U Bílé kuželky, contacted me and I started working there in 2018 as a temp. I liked the team and the work there and soon it became a full-time job.
What lessons did you learn?
I took the basics of the craft from home. My mother routinely made all kinds of soups, sauces, dumplings... and I later cooked for myself both at home and at children's camps or for friends. But it was at Kuželka that I truly understood the importance of gastronomy. Suddenly I was "feeding" more guests and felt a different responsibility for the food we serve. I've never minded to work a lot and in my free time I used to look under the hands of the chef Michal Houšek, alias Píďa, who takes care of the ready-made dishes at Kuželka. Maybe that's why I was promoted to sous chef a year later. Those who want to can rise up quickly, but they have to have an inner drive and often invest in their future outside of work.
How does a newcomer learn the kitchens at Lokál?
First, they'll be chopping a few buckets of onions, and if it passes, we let them start cooking. After a week or so, we'll see how they approach the ingredients and what level they're at, and we'll adjust the training plan accordingly. Another "test" awaits the on side dishes, where dumplings, rice, potatoes, cabbage are prepared. Some people quit at this stage because they realise how difficult this discipline is. And those who persevere are moved to the minute stations and from there to the serving area, where the chef issues the ready meals, reports the orders and checks on the others to make sure the food tastes and looks as it should on the plate. The cashier position is exceptional. It's not for everyone!
So who does it belong to?
A hot food cook only prepares the ready meals the day before, and as high up the hierarchy as a chef or sous chef. They'll have mastered the various types of onion base for different sauces and also a good roux, which is the defining link in the local cuisine. It takes chefs at least two years to work their way up to this position. It takes time, training and patience! At Lokál, we're focusing a lot more on the basics and the ready-made now, because in order to grow, we need to stabilise and consolidate in recipes and in our view of Czech cuisine.
Why are you putting energy into unifying recipes?
We've gotten to the point where there are dishes that have a kind of "national" definition, we all know them and we honour their form. For example, with beef tokana, it doesn't matter so much whether you cut the meat into cubes or noodles, but sirloin steak is sirloin steak. And the same goes for Znojmo sauce, Spanish bird and others. other typically Czech ready-made dishes. That's why they should be identical across all our locations, although it's clear that the recipe won't guarantee exactly the same result. Furthermore, each Lokál has its own identity to some extent and therefore some dishes may differ.
How does it work when defining a Lokál recipe?
The chefs meet regularly at UM on Národní street. Each time we taste and evaluate samples of selected food, preferably from all the Lokál pubs, and we re-cook the winning recipe to make sure it's really the best. Meanwhile, we debate ingredients, suppliers and discuss the topics that fire us up the most. The unified recipes then serve as "learning material" for sous chefs and line cooks who receive in-house training with professionally senior colleagues. This creates a space to explore Czech food and its preparation methods in depth.
How do you see Czech cuisine after years in the trade?
I think it is complex, artisanal and therefore challenging. For this reason, it is essential that our chefs look up to it. Because when you really like something, you don't see problems as obstacles and you can overcome them more easily. Personally, I look at Czech cuisine from the perspective of Lokál, which is to cook as was done before, to pass on the culinary heritage and ideally not to invent anything new, just to improve what is ours.
What era do you mean when you say "before"?
I think it's simply that we're fixing socialist cuisine, which suffered losses between the 1960s and the 1990s. In pubs and in homes, semi-finished products were celebrated as a sign of progress, meals were meant to fill you up, and as a result of standardisation, sauces were unnecessarily thickened and portions were too large. At Lokál we are returning to a cuisine that is less filling, but more nutritious and with as many vegetables as meat. We're not changing the techniques, but the approach to the ingredients and the quality of the food. When I started cooking professionally, I wanted to influence as many people as possible and the way they eat and live, and through Lokál I can do that.
