3314 Monroe Street, Toledo, Ohio
**** - Four Stars (out of 5)
Budapest Restaurant is like a beautiful insect, frozen in amber and preserved for us to enjoy long after its natural lifespan has expired. While I could praise it as an unpretentious masterpiece of comfort food — indeed, it is veritable black hole of pretension, a place where the airs put on by modern restaurants come to die — it is more accurate to describe it as a museum to kind of restaurant, and to a Toledo, that no longer exists. Its decor is that of a simple luncheonette, with a plain floor and fake wood-paneled walls adorned with illustrations of horses interspersed with occasional Christian imagery. Most of the patrons are of an older generation, although the restaurant is child friendly, both in temperament and selection. Service is polite and friendly and, again, just slightly old-fashioned.
Nearly 50 years old after its founding in 1959, Budapest continues to serve simple, well-made Hungarian food at a good price. The food is lightly seasoned and (unlike most restaurants today) lightly salted, but filling and delicious. Both the chicken and veal paprikas come piled high as undifferentiated mounds of meat, flour dumplings, and mashed potatoes, covered with voluminous paprikas gravy. Don’t be put off by the appearance. The meat (whether chicken or veal) is so tender that it will dissolve in your mouth, while the dumplings are perfectly chewy and delicious. Do note, though, that despite the name of the dishes, the seasoning is quite mild, with only a hint of paprika, but you can ask for either powdered or hot paprika to spice it up. If you like spicy food, I highly recommend the bottled hot paprika, which tastes surprisingly like this Vietnamese hot sauce. The stuffed cabbage comes with a similar presentation, with the centerpiece cabbage rolls filled with tender ground meat. Here, the lack of salt may be a bit much, as you will probably find that the cabbage rolls need a dash of salt. The beef goulash is similar to a Western beef stew — and is your best bet for vegetables (carrots) at Budapest (other than the small iceberg salads they bring out with sliced white bread at the beginning of the meal) — but has a rich beefy flavor and the tender meat that is a Budapest signature. And don’t worry, you still get the dumplings, potatoes, and gravy, but now it’s on a side plate.
Whatever you do, don’t omit desert at Budapest. Selections vary by day, but the Hungarian crepes, filled with jam or cheese are absolutely delicious — if you try to share, you may find yourselves fighting over the last bites. (The strudel appeared similarly appealing, but I have not tried it.) The pies are also quite good — they come from Toledo’s Strachn Bakery (as does the white bread) and seem more like homemade than most restaurant pies — but I’d recommend going for Budapest’s own crepes or strudel, unless you have a big enough group to try a little of everything.
Dinner for two, with desert, will probably run under $40 (less if you have one of the coupons available in local papers). Special lunch pricing would allow you to sample Budapest for about half of that.
Budapest Official Website: Are you kidding?
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