Where did the inspiration for Praq come from? Here's how Frank Tjepkema, the restaurant's designer sees it: "There are already a lot of places for childrenólike McDonald'sóbut nothing for parents," he says. Especially parents who go to trendy places, because those places are not meant for kids. And the children's places aren't meant for trendy people."
Tjepkempa, who's Dutch, designed a restaurant for trendy people with kids who run around. There the tables looke like cars, the banquettes make little tunnels, there's a pegboard wall and an art table. Now word on the food, but who cares? You're just going to go to the bathroom and puke it up afterwards, right? [Can you tell it was fashion week in NYC this past week?]
Check out Praq, it's on Amsterdam and...um, ok, it's in Amsterdam. No wait, it's outside Amsterdam, in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, somewhere between Schiphol and..OK, face it. You're not going there. There's a Burger King at the airport. Just give the kid some fries and get on the train.
Praq, a trendy restaurant in Holland you'll only read about, designed by the guy who also made that sweet bling bling thing that went around the blogs last fall. [metropolismag]
the bling bling thing, from 2002 [Studio Tjepkema]
I always like the idea of a place where I can go with the six-pack (my six nieces and nephews) where they are happy and I am happy. I am not happy at McDonald's...
There's a place not far from me in Cambridge that has haute cuisine, kraft mac and cheese and a play area. It's always packed - and really an inspired solution. However, I didn't know that the first time I went for brunch, and couldn't figure out why there were kids hanging from the chandelier.
We have something like this here in Boston, a restaurant in Cambridge on Huron Avenue called Full Moon.
The menu is aimed at adults -- risotto, a nice steak, a short but good wine list. There's also a large play area with a train table, a doll house, puzzles, and plenty of toys.
Since basically everybody in the restaurant is there with their children, there's none of the terrors of Here I Am In A Fancy Restaurants Mere Moments Before My Kid Cries or Flings Something.
It's loud, of course, but the kind of loud that covers a multitude of sins. And the food is quite good.
Cool - glad to see places like this starting up. My husband and I are hoping to one day do something like that - he's a chef and we both like to eat out, but haven't done much of it since our son got big enough to throw his food at the next table over ...;)