Gabriella Burgess, Author at Prague Morning

The Czech Republic is preparing to sign a Declaration on Ukraine’s European Prospect in support of the country’s EU accession. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský told this in an interview with Yevropeiska Pravda, a Ukrainian media outlet.

“We are currently negotiating on the issue (of signing a declaration, – ed.) with Ukraine. And I am very optimistic about the results of these talks,” Lipavský said.

He stressed that if Ukraine does not stop carrying out reforms, joining the EU will become a “simple documentary formality.” Lipavský also underlined the most crucial areas, subjected to the reforms.

“The rule of law, judicial reform, anti-corruption spheres. This is a difficult task, yes, but we will repeat it again and again. Once you have a milieu that EU companies feel safe in Ukraine, you will see the robust growth of the Ukrainian economy,” the minister assured.

Seven EU countries have already signed Declaration on Ukraine’s European Prospect – Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Croatia, and Slovenia.

February 7-8, the Slavkov trilateral – Foreign Ministers Jan Lipavský (the Czech Republic), Alexander Schallenberg (Austria), and Ivan Korčok (Slovakia) – paid a joint visit to Ukraine to coordinate policies on deterring Russian full-fledged invasion.

The Czech Republic assured Ukraine of support amid Russia’s military escalation. Moreover, it became a leader in convicting ex-militants, who fought against Ukraine in Donbas.

Ukraine’s strategic course is defined and enshrined in the Constitution – the acquisition of full membership of Ukraine in the European Union and NATO. According to the latest polls, 67% of Ukrainians stand for the country’s joining the EU. Kyiv has fulfilled EU-Ukraine Association Agreement with the EU by 61%.

Together with Georgia and the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine is part of the so-called “Association Trio” – a tripartite format for the enhanced cooperation, coordination between the EU and these three countries. EU is Ukraine’s largest trading partner, accounting for more than 40% of its trade.

Ezra’s Bagels is a comfortable and homey cafe located in Prague 7. Chelsea Phillips and Giuseppe Catanzariti have only owned the shop since October of this year.

However, they’ve been selling bagels for over a year now through Facebook and online and the story of how it all started is quite a good one.

Chelsea is originally from New York and Giuseppe from Boston. “He’s like an adopted New Yorker,” Chelsea said, “we got married in New York the last time we lived in America was in New York”.

When Chelsea was pregnant with their son, Ezra, she was craving a bagel, “ I tried to find some all over Europe and I just could never find any,” Chelsea said, “so I asked a friend to bring a baker’s dozen (from the states) because I was just craving bagels, it was literally the only thing I was craving. And my friend forgot them on her counter next to her keys so I was super disappointed so Giuseppe said why don’t we just try to make bagels and I was like do you understand what a time process that is.”

So Giuseppe said they should just try to make some themselves. After they did some research they decided to make some bagels. “When I was a kid I used to tale field trips through bagels shops so I knew how to shape and roll the bagels but I’d never done the whole process.” They had to try different recipes a couple of times but eventually, they found the perfect recipe.

The couple moved to Prague four years ago in February. “We both had lived in Europe before we met each other, I lived in London, Ireland, and Germany. He lived in Cyprus, and then we both went back to America at around the same time and ended up meeting there, got married within eight months of meeting and then decided we wanted to get back to Europe.”

When asked if they owned a bagel place in New York: “No, we shopped at a lot of bagel places though.” Neither of them had any professional baking or restaurant experience prior to their cafe, “we spent a lot of time in cafes but never worked in them,” Giuseppe said. They both had online jobs as freelancers and so they decided to travel through Europe for three years.

“We ended up in Prague because of the location and the art and the community.”

Photo: Ezra’s Bagels

Their business set off after they posted their bagels on Facebook and a friend messaged them, “I need to buy some bagels from you,” and after that Giuseppe suggested they start selling them on Facebook just to see what would happen.

“It kinda blew up on us,” they said, “We thought we would sell one order a week but it was like five a day. Then the opportunity to get the shop opened so we jumped on it and went in blind a little bit.” The shop is now full of life and creative flow as the interior was designed to feel like home, or like a living room.

One of the things that makes Ezera’s Bagels so special is that they have craft fairs where they have singers and homemade art or candles being sold.

Photo: Ezra’s Bagels

“The big thing that was missing from our experience in Prague was a cafe where we felt like we could hang out. The community here was really nice to us so we wanted to give something back, we have this big space and we thought why not let people sell their homemade things, it’s just a nice way to bring people together,” says Chelsea.

If you ever find yourself craving warm, classic New York bagels, that are also 100% vegan.

Ezra’s bagels will surely supply it along with a home-like community of people who love art and homemade goods. “I make the bagels by myself one by one,” Chelsea said, so it’s clear to see these bagels are some of the best you can get.

Photo: Ezra’s Bagels

In the heart of Prague lie restaurants Cali Brothers, Burrito Loco, Agave, and Bohemia Bagel. These establishments all have one thing in common, and it’s Scott Kelly and his partner Glenn Spicker.

After interviewing Scott we got some insight into the inner workings of these establishments and how they came to be. Scott always knew he wanted to be a chef and went to culinary school in New York where he worked before relocating to Los Angeles.

Originally from California, he set roots in Prague “over 20 years ago” when he was on a trip through Europe. “I didn’t move here, I was just traveling,” he said, also adding “I was probably traveling for a year and a half, and just came to visit and came back and found a job,” and the rest is history.

“It just clicked, everything came together,” is his reply when asked why he moved to Prague. On his first day in Prague, he landed housing and a job. Scott has lived in the same neighborhood and hasn’t been out of work since relocating.

“From there I found other cooking jobs, I was a chef in Palffy palace for a while,” he added.

When asked how he met Glenn he laughed and said “Iron Door”, this is an infamous club in Prague and happened one fateful night 15 years ago.

Glenn Spicker and Scott Kelly

Glenn is from Connecticut and the reason they chose the name Cali Brothers is that “We both have California drivers licenses.” Bohemia Bagel was already open when they met but they launched Burrito Loco, Propaganda, and Agave.

Cali Brothers was originally a Czech restaurant 15 years before Glenn and Scott took it over. It is also the location of their central kitchen which also houses the bakery downstairs that makes all the bagels and bread.

The duo is looking to expand both Burrito Loco and Bohemia Bagel across Prague as well as other countries “We will probably expand Bohemia Bagel, we are looking at expanding Burrito Loco to Budapest, Bratislava, and Brno, but it’s only Prague for now,” he states.

After some time he decided to spontaneously move to Russia where he lived for six months. “I tried to run off to Russia and was working in Moscow for a while,” he said. He traveled there because he says “it was the most outrageous thing I could think of.”

Scott Kelly with Drews Karl-Heinz

He described arguing with someone and quitting his job on the spot so he could drive to Moscow “I just looked over at the cleaning lady where I was working while I was arguing and I said ‘Ya I’m leaving, I’m quitting, I’m gonna drive there in a Lada and I’m gonna work in Moscow and six months later I was in Moscow and working there,” he explained.

There he was a consulting chef spending his time elevating menus. However, while there he confessed to having a hard time getting paid. To add to the adventure he added, “I lost my passport so I lost my visa, then I couldn’t leave the country but luckily I had my Lada so I slept in my car until I got my exit visa.”

When asked why he came back and stayed in Prague he said “Everything came together, my first day looking for a job, my first day in Prague I found an apartment, I’ve lived on the same street for 20 years, I have never been out of work.”

If you get the opportunity to visit these fine establishments you’ll now know how they started and where they are going.

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