Warsaw's sidewalk cafe culture arrives and thrives once again with Spring
La Boehme got a beat on most everyone last Thursday when it opened its outdoor cafe, with an increase of about a third in what already was the largest outdoor seating area in Warsaw. It also is one of the nicest - except for all the cars illegally parked near the diners, on the plaza separating the Opera House and National Theater from the Citibank headquarters.
In fact, the strips of cafe-bars and restaurants on ulica Wierzbowa as it curves off of Senatorska, right at that Opera-Theater plaza, is shaping up as a big-time competitor to the rebuilt Old Town three blocks to the east.
ŇThere are more restaurants right here than anywhere except Old Town,O said Wojciech Kalinowski, a manager of the three, chic, high traffic restaurant-bars owned by interior designer Jacek Reszetko: Zanzibar, Rabarbar and Barbados.
In addition to La Boehme, there also are the pioneers of Wierzbowa, El Popo and the Chinese restaurants Ho Log and Empire's Palace, as well as the relative newcomer Leo's Pub.
Zanzibar and Rabarbar planned to open their sidewalk cafes last weekend, with standup bar-tables accommodating 20 or a bit more at Zanzibar and with 30 seats outside at Rabarbar, which also has a sizable restaurant inside.
If all goes well with the final round of city permits, Ňfor the first time we'll have a little garden cafe outside Barbados that would seat about 16 people,O said Kalinowski.
And don't get him started on permits. ŇThis is a three and a half month procedure you have to go through, with four different (governmental) bodies in Warsaw before you can get a garden permit,O he said. But once you have it, that's it, right?
ŇNo, it has to be done every year.O And why? ŇThis is a pathology left over from the communist era,O he said with a shrug. It costs Ňabout zl. 2,000-zl. 3,000 a month for the outside,O but the costs are offset by the fact that it brings in crowds. ŇPeople like to sit outside. In prewar Poland, at this site, you had gardens and lots of trees and cafes in front of the theater.O
Today, the sidewalk traffic helps compensate for the summer slump.
Unlike Prague, which draws 80 million tourists a year - mega revenue keeping the country afloat - Warsaw is chockablock with business travelers but only a miniscule number of the kind of tourists who search out cafes and bars. That means the growing number of cafes here have to depend on the Poles who live here, and they mostly leave for June and July for vacation and are big spenders in the fall. ŇThere are all those Christmas parties. It's the end of the financial year. There are those bonuses to be spent.O
He caters to what he says is a 30,000-strong expatriate community as well as to Poles still in town who jam the joints on Friday nights, dance at Barbados or listen, inside or out, to the jazz at Rabarbar.
Ą Ą Ą
That whole Senatorska-Wierzbowa area continues to show a huge transformation, with one development after another.
Next to the Citibank town-hall reconstruction, the Bouygues Polska contractors are putting the finishing touches on the reconstruction of the prewar Church of St. Andrews, which Pope John Paul II is slated to dedicate June 11.
The same day, he will preside over a mass at plac Pilsudskiego, between the Opera House, the Victoria and the Europejski Hotels and the elegant Saski Gardens.
The contractors also are making headway on another prewar reconstruction, rounding out that block, which will be an office building.
The cafe owners understand that next up will be the construction of a music theater on ulica Senatorska at the site of the onetime Wedel candy shop, with another theater planned behind the Grand Theater.
And maybe someone will figure out a better traffic pattern (congestion is formidable and newcomers will make it worse) and, heaven forbid, a way to build parking under the theater plaza which would free up the surface for trees, flowers and even more small cafes.
Ą Ą Ą
New on the Web: Time magazine's profile on ŇThe New Poland,O which starts out by talking about the Ňtransformation few would have dared to imagine.O
ŇOnce an object of pity, Poland now stands respected, even envied, by its struggling neighbors,O after a decade when the Poles have shaken off dictatorship, adopted democracy and Ňundergone Ôshock therapy' to rationalize their economy, replacing chronic shortages with unprecedented abundance.O
It has side features on Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek, President Aleksander Kwaćniewski, the need for Ňmore commercialismO to make Polish films successful and the challenges for the Catholic Church now that it is not the only voice in society.
Ą Ą Ą
Foreign correspondent Elizabeth Pond, a veteran of reporting in this region for several decades from her base in Bonn, Germany, has a new book out: ŇThe Rebirth of Europe,O which talks of the expansion east to incorporate Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. It includes considerable chunks on why Poland is successful.
In Washington for the anniversary celebrations of NATO, Pond was struck by the lead role played by President Aleksander Kwaćniewski on behalf of Poland, vs., for instance, Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek.
ŇThat's because he's generally considered to be seen as a good spokesman for Poland,O the NATO insiders and analysts told her.
In fact, the strips of cafe-bars and restaurants on ulica Wierzbowa as it curves off of Senatorska, right at that Opera-Theater plaza, is shaping up as a big-time competitor to the rebuilt Old Town three blocks to the east.
ŇThere are more restaurants right here than anywhere except Old Town,O said Wojciech Kalinowski, a manager of the three, chic, high traffic restaurant-bars owned by interior designer Jacek Reszetko: Zanzibar, Rabarbar and Barbados.
In addition to La Boehme, there also are the pioneers of Wierzbowa, El Popo and the Chinese restaurants Ho Log and Empire's Palace, as well as the relative newcomer Leo's Pub.
Zanzibar and Rabarbar planned to open their sidewalk cafes last weekend, with standup bar-tables accommodating 20 or a bit more at Zanzibar and with 30 seats outside at Rabarbar, which also has a sizable restaurant inside.
If all goes well with the final round of city permits, Ňfor the first time we'll have a little garden cafe outside Barbados that would seat about 16 people,O said Kalinowski.
And don't get him started on permits. ŇThis is a three and a half month procedure you have to go through, with four different (governmental) bodies in Warsaw before you can get a garden permit,O he said. But once you have it, that's it, right?
ŇNo, it has to be done every year.O And why? ŇThis is a pathology left over from the communist era,O he said with a shrug. It costs Ňabout zl. 2,000-zl. 3,000 a month for the outside,O but the costs are offset by the fact that it brings in crowds. ŇPeople like to sit outside. In prewar Poland, at this site, you had gardens and lots of trees and cafes in front of the theater.O
Today, the sidewalk traffic helps compensate for the summer slump.
Unlike Prague, which draws 80 million tourists a year - mega revenue keeping the country afloat - Warsaw is chockablock with business travelers but only a miniscule number of the kind of tourists who search out cafes and bars. That means the growing number of cafes here have to depend on the Poles who live here, and they mostly leave for June and July for vacation and are big spenders in the fall. ŇThere are all those Christmas parties. It's the end of the financial year. There are those bonuses to be spent.O
He caters to what he says is a 30,000-strong expatriate community as well as to Poles still in town who jam the joints on Friday nights, dance at Barbados or listen, inside or out, to the jazz at Rabarbar.
Ą Ą Ą
That whole Senatorska-Wierzbowa area continues to show a huge transformation, with one development after another.
Next to the Citibank town-hall reconstruction, the Bouygues Polska contractors are putting the finishing touches on the reconstruction of the prewar Church of St. Andrews, which Pope John Paul II is slated to dedicate June 11.
The same day, he will preside over a mass at plac Pilsudskiego, between the Opera House, the Victoria and the Europejski Hotels and the elegant Saski Gardens.
The contractors also are making headway on another prewar reconstruction, rounding out that block, which will be an office building.
The cafe owners understand that next up will be the construction of a music theater on ulica Senatorska at the site of the onetime Wedel candy shop, with another theater planned behind the Grand Theater.
And maybe someone will figure out a better traffic pattern (congestion is formidable and newcomers will make it worse) and, heaven forbid, a way to build parking under the theater plaza which would free up the surface for trees, flowers and even more small cafes.
Ą Ą Ą
New on the Web: Time magazine's profile on ŇThe New Poland,O which starts out by talking about the Ňtransformation few would have dared to imagine.O
ŇOnce an object of pity, Poland now stands respected, even envied, by its struggling neighbors,O after a decade when the Poles have shaken off dictatorship, adopted democracy and Ňundergone Ôshock therapy' to rationalize their economy, replacing chronic shortages with unprecedented abundance.O
It has side features on Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek, President Aleksander Kwaćniewski, the need for Ňmore commercialismO to make Polish films successful and the challenges for the Catholic Church now that it is not the only voice in society.
Ą Ą Ą
Foreign correspondent Elizabeth Pond, a veteran of reporting in this region for several decades from her base in Bonn, Germany, has a new book out: ŇThe Rebirth of Europe,O which talks of the expansion east to incorporate Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. It includes considerable chunks on why Poland is successful.
In Washington for the anniversary celebrations of NATO, Pond was struck by the lead role played by President Aleksander Kwaćniewski on behalf of Poland, vs., for instance, Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek.
ŇThat's because he's generally considered to be seen as a good spokesman for Poland,O the NATO insiders and analysts told her.
