Welcome to East Side Toledo’s best kept treasure: Tony Packo’s Café! With a unique history, mention in television, and incomparable souvenirs, Tony Packo’s is a fun place to spend an evening and get lost. In this case, get lost with Lisa.
How it Began
Step back in time to the early 1900s, when a young boy of Hungarian parents is born on the eastern side of Toledo, Ohio. Not a place you would think one who would ultimately sore at business would start out in life – but life is sometimes funny that way.
Tony Packo, learning the restaurant trade from his brother who owned a local tavern, opened his own establishment in 1932. He and his wife Rose were given $100 to start a sandwich and ice cream shop that year. Naturally, given the time, as depressing as was, $100 to start any business was nothing to sniff at in those days.
During the time Packo’s was open and running, he created a unique flavored sandwich. By adding a spicy chili to the sauce, he used this to enhance the flavor of a Hungarian sausage known as Kolbasz. Due to the sausage being so big, and not fitting on the rye bread he was using at the time, he cut the meat in half. This became his signature dish, and forevermore has been known from coast to coast as the “Hungarian Hot Dog”.
Truth be told, as a dual citizen of Hungary, I can say there really is no such thing as a “Hungarian Hot Dog”, and if we were to get real technical about it, kolbasz is certainly no hot dog. It is indeed a sausage. And it is indeed a longer sausage. However, Tony Packo’s Hungarian Hot Dog does take the cake in length. A massive foot long piece of pork, it’s quite the bang for your buck. And a challenge fitting it into your mouth!
The M.A.S.H. Up
But Packo’s history and famous fare isn’t the only thing that is most notable about this place. You may have been around when M.A.S.H. was still on the air, but in case you weren’t, it was a very popular television series during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. One of the characters on the show referenced Tony Packo’s and their great Hungarian hot dogs in several different episodes.
This is why the restaurant now holds many M.A.S.H. related items and sells souvenirs with the show’s logo.
And the food? While the menu is relatively short, the portions are not small by any means. From their Hungarian Paprikas Csirke (Chicken Paprikas), to their roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy there are several things you must try. Not just the iconic signature dish – the Mother of All Dogs. Holy Toledo, is it big!
And while the only thing I’m privy to telling you about the “secret” sauce is there are sevveral
“special Hungarian spices” it truly is a unique flavor. A little bit of chili, a little bit of spicy and a little bit of Hungarian – it’s not exact what’s in there, but I’m guessing paprika must certainly be apart of the mix.
The most unique thing about Tony Packo’s? I mean, aside it’s Hungarian origins, the special sauce and M.A.S.H. putting it on the map? Perhaps Burt Reynolds starting a trend that has now become a tradition followed by every guest of Tony Packo’s.
In 1972, while appearing in a play in Toledo, at the behest of Tony Packo’s daughter, Burt came to the restaurant to enjoy some hot dogs. Once he was finished, and when asked for his autograph by the owner, Reynolds grabbed a hot dog bun and signed it. So began the long standing tradition of bun signing at Tony Packo’s. Even I had the opportunity to do so while I was there.
Why It’s Fun
Not only will you find the food to be a treat from your day to day dining, but you might want to try their drinks as well. I loved their cocktails, but beer might be more your thing. If so, I’m told their two private labeled beers (Packo’s Golden Ale and Packo’s Premium IPA) are brewed by local brewery Earnest Brew Works. Additionally, they also feature drinks made with spirits from Toledo Spirits.
And my favorite part of Tony Packo’s? It was the ambiance, the waitstaff and the souvenirs. The experience alone of getting to be in this historical restaurant, having such a friendly manager wait on me while I was there (ask for Kiki – she will take good care of you), and taking home some truly unique and treasured souvenirs was my favorite part of the evening.
I would definitely go back to Packo’s if for no other reason, the environment and have a little bit of Hungarian in America in a fun and laid back setting.
Dying to try that foot long sausage known to those in the Old Country as Kolbasz, and at Packo’s as the Hungarian Hot Dog? How about their spicy fried pickles? Go ahead and stop in and enjoy the atmosphere yourself. And when you do, make sure to let them know that Lisa sent you!
Get Lost with Lisa 