By Kyle Wagner
Denver Post Dining Critic

At Cafe Prague, the food is balanced between classic Czech dishes and lighter European fare.
(Post / Andy Cross)

A sleepy foothills hamlet noted more for its biker brunches and Harley happy hours than any real culinary scene, Morrison is pretty much the last place one would expect to find an upscale Czech restaurant.

But Cafe Prague moved from its original - and seemingly almost as unlikely - home in Georgetown in October, and since February has been packing them in, drawing Denver diners as well as the locals.

They might come for the elegant, dark wood, white-linen atmosphere, the dining room located inside a late-1800s building on the main drag through town, in what used to be an art gallery and a century ago was the Ross Hardware store.

You wouldn't know that now: The comfy, leather-lined banquettes and mural- lined walls make for swanky dining, and as the weather warms, the partially shaded patio along one side is appealing too.

The crowds also might come for the crisp service, which can bog down later in the evening when things get busy but usually is so tight and serious that at one point a server admonished a member of our party who seemed to be ordering out of turn: "Women first."

And, of course, they must come for the fabulous food.

That it's classic Czech fare with its heavy reputation, its sweet-and-sour cabbage and its bready trappings seems to give no one pause. We're talking schnitzel and dumpling