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The Hungarian
Kitchen Restaurant
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WYANDOTTE -- The old Hungarian section of Detroit, Delray, was a lively place in
the late '40's when Rose Butka ran the kitchen at Rose's Bar on West
Jefferson near West End Avenue. The vibrant gypsy spirit of the
neighborhood lasted throughout the '50's. It was beginning to fade in
1960, so she packed up and moved to Wyandotte to open a modest
establishment simply called Hungarian Kitchen.
This time, there was no bar, just a restaurant preserving the old-fashioned menu of goulash and paprikas. I doubt that Hungarian Kitchen, a true survivor, looks much different today than it did back then. Sure, the folk art murals, the only gesture toward decor, are faded, the vinyl tablecloths well worn, the atmosphere almost studiously unpretentious, but otherwise, the storefront's two rooms and its down-home Hungarian cooking remain the same. Hungarian Kitchen has always been, as its name clearly indicates, about food and little else. This is a place that is dedicated to sturdy home cooking, from the handmade dumplings that come with everything from stuffed cabbage to boiled beef and chicken paprikas, to the flaky apple or cheese strudel or whipped cream-frosted torta that finish off a meal. Ambiance? Well, isn't the wonderful fragrance coming from the small kitchen enough? Rose Butka, now 86, and retired for only a couple of years, turned the place over to her son Julius (Bud) and his wife, Connie, but she still comes in to help make dumplings, says her daughter, Rose Butka Toth, who for years helped her mother and has now retired herself. She, too, still stops by, but only to sit at one of the tables crammed at every angle in the rooms to sip coffee and chat with the staff and the customers, some of whom are there literally every day for their favorite dishes. And that includes the best chicken paprikas I've ever had, half an Amish chicken, bones and all, bathed in a delicate sour-cream sauce tinted pink by paprika and heaped with dumplings, some small, some larger, showing that they weren't churned out of a machine but shaped by human hands. The chicken is tender, moist and complemented perfectly by the sauce. There are probably as many versions of chicken paprikas as there are Hungarian cooks, but this one would be difficult to surpass. The signature dish is available every day, as is beef goulash and stuffed cabbage, but there are also specials each day, served like clockwork: Wednesday, liver and onions; Thursday, meat loaf; Friday, fresh perch and Szekely goulash (pork and sauerkraut stew); Saturday, breaded pork steaks and chicken livers with onions. On Sunday, poultry takes over as star of the show, including, of course, chicken paprikas, roast chicken with Hungarian bread, egg and chicken liver dressing, mashed potatoes and natural gravy, chicken livers and onions and roast duckling. The only dish at the $9 level is Sunday's roast chicken. And just to make the chicken domination complete, the soup is chicken noodle. The only thing not prepared fresh daily in the kitchen is the bread, which is ordinary, as are the shredded lettuce salads that come with the $7 complete lunches. Some of the same suppliers that started delivering to Rose Butka when she opened her restaurant in 1960 are still bringing meat and produce to the door. Talk about tradition. |
| This article has been reproduced on this website with the previous permission of the Detroit News in 2003, and remains their property. |
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