Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 25

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (carolina bob)

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:00:28 GMT

ChiTownDiner

Sorry...reference was to Carolina Bobbo!

No problem. I'll see that he gets the message...

I really enjoyed my meal at Jozsa's; unfortunately Mr. Forgetful ( who, me? ) forgot his camera back at buffetbuster's place that evening, so I don't have any photos for my eventual trip report. I'll figure out some way around that by then, though.

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (ChiTownDiner)

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:36:03 GMT

Sorry...reference was to Carolina Bobbo!

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (carolina bob)

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:33:01 GMT

ChiTownDiner

i am not as computer savy as Carolina Bob.

CTD, you must be referring to another Carolina Bob, 'cause computer savvy sure as heck doesn't describe me.

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (buffetbuster)

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 08:25:18 GMT

Kudos to Ralph for the idea of going to Jozsa Corner, setting it up and writing a fine report. Dinner was wonderful! Growing up in a household where a lot of Eastern European cooking was served, this food brings back a lot of great memories. And every dish we ate was absolutely delicious. There wasn't as much food as when I went previously with my family, but there was still plenty. And I have no doubt, that I, by far, ate the most.

Haven't had time to download my photos yet, but will do that tonight and hopefully, get a few posted.

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (mr chips)

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:39:09 GMT

The food looks great. Hope you all had a great time

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (mayor al)

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 11:40:34 GMT

Ralph,
It sounds like a great place for a special family celebration. Hope all goes well for your weekend roadtrip.
AL

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (ChiTownDiner)

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 10:12:58 GMT

Ralph and Joe -

Thasnks for the aditional info and the link. I must have missed that write-up and even did a search (but probably screwed that up). i am not as computer savy as Carolina Bob.

Thanks again...and great photos and a write-up!

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (Greymo)

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 10:07:51 GMT

Thanks for the great report........this sounds like a a really fun place to go. That is a lot of food!

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (Ralph Melton)

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 09:34:03 GMT

ChiTownDiner

We need some background here...you'll be the only folks dining? How big, how long open, what kind of menu, why the small group thing only?

Quick answers to these, in case it wasn't clear from others' messages:
- I thought that we would be the only folks dining, because dinner was by appointment only. There were actually two other groups there as well.
- It's been open since 1988.
- The menu is Hungarian. For dinner, it's served family style, and we weren't offered a choice of dishes. (Though Lori was consulted about her food preferences.)
- The "by appointment only" is because it's a small place--seating is two long tables, with total capacity of about 24. And it's really a small operation; the only staff present was Alex and his daughter.

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (Ralph Melton)

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 09:28:17 GMT

I'm posting a quick report, because if I don't post right now, I don't know when/whether I'll get to it.

From the outside, Jozsa's Corner looks unprepossessing:

Inside, though, we met Alex Bodnar, the proprietor, and found him warm, welcoming, and convivial. He was surprised at how early we were; we apparently had some misunderstanding of our appointment time, but that was no trouble. Before speaking with him, I had feared that he would have a heavy unintelligible accent, but his accent was nearly homeopathic.

The dining space inside is a living room with two large tables:

Our first course was langosh (Hungarian fire bread so named because it's dipped in hot oil before baking) topped with cheese and herbs. This was really good.

With it came an appetizer plate. The stuffed grape leaves were quite good--there seemed to be cheese in the filling. The sausage was clearly a close relative of pepperoni, but it seemed a little sharper or tangier; I'm not sure that it was pepperoni.

As we were eating that, he brought out a purple cabbage salad, which he recommended eating atop langosh.

Second course: halushka, Hungary's form of noodles and cabbage. This was good stuff, in league with Pierogies Plus:

He brought out mushroom goulash, which he recommended eating atop the halushka. It was tasty and a bit spicy. Apparently I neglected to photgraph it.

Third course: braided peasant bread and Transylvanian goulash. The braided bread was a sturdy, dense bread; the goulash was a filling combination of braised pork and sauerkraut. He mentioned that the wax peppers atop the goulash came from his own garden.

Fourth course: chicken paprikash, tender chicken in a savory broth with noodles. This was excellent, one of the highlights of the dinner:

It came with vinegary cucumber salad:

I got a blurry picture of Alex singing "Happy Birthday" as he brought out dessert to one of the other groups:

Dessert was a combination of langosh, dried apricots, dried cranberries, and chocolate chips, all topped with powdered sugar:

The food was quite good, but it was really the atmosphere and the chances to talk with Alex that made this an outstanding night. (And the company was delightful; we had buffetbuster and his friend Bonnie, Carolina Bob, GeoNit, icecreamchick, and me. GeoNit arrived late due to a confusion about the time, for which I apologize again). We will definitely be back.

As we left, Alex taught us a Hungarian blessing that was a favorite of his grandmother's. I don't remember the Hungarian, but the English translation was "May you live so long that your earlobes hang down to your ankles."

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (mayor al)

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 23:09:03 GMT

I hope the group attending tonights meet up will report in soon. This place sounds and looks wonderful.

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (joerogo)

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:31:06 GMT

ChiTownDiner

We need some background here...you'll be the only folks dining? How big, how long open, what kind of menu, why the small group thing only?

ChiTownDiner, check out BB's review http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/tm.aspx?m=456130&high=jozsa's Fantastic place!

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (ChiTownDiner)

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:54:15 GMT

We need some background here...you'll be the only folks dining? How big, how long open, what kind of menu, why the small group thing only?

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (Ralph Melton)

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:20:07 GMT

One advantage of an appointment-only restaurant: it will be easy to find the Roadfooders, since they'll be the only guests in the place.

Jozsa's Corner is at 4800 Second Ave in Hazelwood.

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (buffetbuster)

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:59:45 GMT

Ralph-
Outstanding! I'm very excited we all get to eat there.

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (Ralph Melton)

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:34:32 GMT

I have now spoken with Alex. We have an appointment for six people for Jozsa's Corner for 7pm on Friday, June 25. I'm excited!

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (carolina bob)

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:39:16 GMT

ChiTownDiner

Is he related to Carolina Bobbo?

Nope. We don't allow his kind in the family.

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (ChiTownDiner)

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:16:47 GMT

Is he related to Carolina Bobbo?

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (buffetbuster)

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:14:37 GMT

Ralph-
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. The trip to Omaha-Kansas City limited my time on the internet. It will just be CarolinaBob and I for Friday night.

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (Ralph Melton)

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:14:02 GMT

I've now called Jozsa's Corner twice, but talked with an answering machine both times. I still hope that we can make an appointment there; I'll make a final decision on Thursday.

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (GeoNit)

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:04:59 GMT

Put me on the dinner list! -- GeoNit

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (Ralph Melton)

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:12:31 GMT

In addition to getting the date wrong, I forgot to specify a time. So, I shall pick a time of 6:30pm.

I'm sure I'll post this and immediately think of something else I forgot.

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (buffetbuster)

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:11:14 GMT

Ralph's idea of a get together at Josza's Corner is a good one. Hopefully, owner Alex will be able to take care of us. And, hopefully, CarolinaBob likes Hungarian!

Not sure how many yet. Let you know as soon as I can.

Re:Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 2325 (billyboy)

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:09:41 GMT

I'll be 354 years young in June of 2325, but I'll still be hankerin' for some great Roadfood. Although I may need some help holding the camera steady at that point to be able to take photos that are "food porn" worthy. I'd pencil it in, but I don't think the calendar for that year is out just yet!!

Pittsburgh RF Dinner, June 25 (Ralph Melton)

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:49:00 GMT

buffetbuster, icecreamchick, and I have been planning another Pittsburgh Roadfood dinner, for the evening of Friday, June 25. We have hopes that Carolina Bob will join us as well.

Here's the current plan:
If possible, we will go to Jozsa's Corner, because I have been entranced by buffetbuster's writeup in http://www.roadfood.com/F...=hungarian&mpage=1 . Jozsa's Corner is only open in the evenings by appointment, so we can't quite be sure right now that we'll be able to go there.
So we have a fallback plan: if we can't go there, we'll go to Del's in Bloomfield.

If you're interested in joining us, please let us know in this thread. In a day or two, I'll call Jozsa's Corner to make an appointment with that information about how many diners we'll have.

Edit: Corrected the date to June 25.