I’ve watched a fair number of episodes of M*A*S*H, but I wouldn’t call myself a huge fan. I can’t remember Jamie Farr’s character, Corporal Klinger, mentioning Tony Packo’s Cafe in Toledo, but the Internet informs me that he did so in seven episodes. In fact, it was this that made the place famous.
The Internet also informed me that it’s one of the best restaurants in town, so we stopped for lunch when we were in town to visit Fort Meigs.
It’s been around since 1932, serving Hungarian hot dogs and other ethnic foods. I went with the Hot Dog Combo #1 — a “world-famous Tony Packo’s hot dog with mustard, diced onions and our drippingly delicious secret sauce”, a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a bowl of mac and cheese. I’m pretty sure the “secret sauce” was just chili, which isn’t my favorite hot dog topping, but everything was undeniably delicious.
My wife got the Cabbage Combo #1 which had a stuffed cabbage with paprika dumplings. It doesn’t sound good to me, but she loved it.
Years ago, Burt Reynolds stopped in for lunch. The owner asked him for an autograph, so Burt grabbed a hot dog bun and a marker. This started a tradition, with every celebrity signing a bun. Cute, but not a good idea. The buns crumbled to dust over time. Since then, they have custom made Styrofoam buns for celebrities to sign, and they’ve hung these all over the restaurant. We weren’t asked to sign.
Here’s one of the buns Jamie Farr signed. I think I spotted four and I didn’t even begin to look at all of them.
They only have two of the original autographs on bread buns remaining — Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale. These are on display in a special case.
I can only recall being anywhere near Toledo once before since I was a kid, but if I’m ever in the general vicinity in the future, I’ll go back to Tony Packo’s.