A Local Toledo Favorite

I've said this time and time again; the best part of my job is visiting parts of the United States that I would typically not have a chance to visit.  The reason why this is so important to me is because I get introduced to local favorites, more specifically local food.

While I indulged myself in the best barbeque in the world while traveling to Kansas City, Kansas over the last year, nothing prepared me for today's delight: Tony Packo's in Toledo, Ohio.  Throughout the course of the day's meetings my colleagues raved over the Tony Packo hot dogs, complete with the Tony Packo chili.  While I enjoy a good hot dog and am game for a good chili dog, it wasn't until they mentioned chicken parikash that I almost fell over in glee!  Hungarian paprikash?  There's a restaurant in America that serves this delicious, homecooked, Eastern European comfort food??  I had to go.  Lucky for me, my colleagues agreed!

To say the experience did not disappoint would still not do the experience justice.  At first glance at the menu I discovered cabbage rolls.  I swear I died and went to holubki heaven!  I had the pleasure of meeting Tony Packo himself... well, the third generation version who now runs the restaurant group in Toledo.  After treating ourselves to an appetizer of fried pickles, Tony ordered us a feast.  Chicken papikrash, chili dogs (complete with smoked sausage he orders out of Dearborn, Michigan), chicken and traditional style chili and sides of Tony's sweet hot pickles (more on that later) and chicken sandwiches.  It was a feast that would have made the Romanovs jealous.  The chicken paprikash was perfect - chicken that melted in your mouth and a sauce that wasn't overburdened with too much cream.  It almost felt... healthy!  Almost. 

The chili was incredibly tasty (both versions) and truly made the chili dogs along with the great texture of the sausage.  We didn't even make it to the chicken sandwiches before we just simply overstuffed ourselves.  Warning: if you find yourself making the trek to Tony Packo's, make sure you come very hungry.

But back to those sweet hot pickles... I think they are simply the best pickles I've ever had (and yes, they run alongside or perhaps even beat Philly's Di Bruno Brothers half sours).  This blend of pickles and banana peppers gave a fantastic crunch - it was love at first bite.  The name of the pickles say it all for the taste: it starts off sweet with a hint of hot and you complete your chew.  These were so good I purchased a jar of them before leaving the restaurant.  Is your mouth watering yet?  Don't worry - you don't need to make a midnight roadtrip to Toledo to get your own jar of these beauties; they are available online.

I can't wait for my next visit to Toledo so I can once again indulge myself in the ultimate comfort food for this Lithuanian-Slovak halfbreed.