Page 16 - Summer 2022 Taste Magazine

CHEF PROFILE •Tamas Benkovics • Sunnyside Café
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restaurant, serving freshly made dishes for breakfast, lunch,
and dinner six days a week. My partner and I Eva Katz opened Sunnyside in 2014 in north Sarasota near the airport. It soon became a favorite breakfast and lunch destination for Sarasota’s Sapphire Shore and Indian Beach neighborhoods. Sunnyside is a small 40 seat indoor/outdoor restaurant, serv- ing food prepared from scratch in our open kitchen, including homemade bread, burgers, cured salmon, sausage... we crack every egg to order! Our Eggs Benedict is legendary!
The restaurant is open Tuesday through Friday 9 AM – 3 PM, Saturday and Sunday 8 AM – 3 PM, for breakfast and lunch, and open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday 5 PM – 9 PM. Our menus include classic American breakfast and lunch items with a European/Hungarian kick. For dinner we also feature Hungarian specials. We recommend guests make reservations for dinner by calling 941-359-9500.
Background
I was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary. I started to work
in the restaurant business at an early age. As a 12 year old boy
I was very bad – I crashed my father’s friend’s car and had to
pay for it, so I went to work at the very busy local lakeside restaurant. In two months, I made more money than my parents together. Of course, I fell in love with this industry. Next year, when the summer break began, I immediately want- ed go back to work at the same place. The owner said, “go to the kitchen.” I never left! For high school I attended one of the best culinary schools in Budapest. I graduated with a chef and restaurant manager degree and began working at some of the finest restaurants in the city. I was in the army as a chef after school time. It was necessary in Hungary by the socialist country
In 1995 I got my first head chef job in a very popular artist restaurant. From that time, I became a head chef 7 years at Pest-Buda restaurant at the Royal Castle in Budapest, and then at the iconic wild-game restaurant Aranyszarvas. I cooked for celebrity actors (Robin William, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael York, Arnold Schwarzenegger), race car drivers like Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost, members of the Japanese royal family, and even for Pope John Paul II. I catered celebrations for many European soccer teams and celebrity wed- dings.
In 2005 I moved to Fort Lauderdale and started to work in a Hungarian restaurant. I quickly realized that the Hungarian food served in restaurants here in the U.S. had nothing to do with authentic Hungarian food, probably the same experience that Italian chefs relocating here have. It was horri- ble, and embarrassing. I resolved to open a real Hungarian restaurant if I got the opportunity to do so.
After five years I moved to Sarasota and began working in a popular Italian restaurant where I met Eva Katz. We worked together for years, and in 2014 had the opportunity to open Sunnyside Café together. Then, in 2017, my dream of creating an authentic Hungarian restaurant in the U.S. was realized when we also opened Tokaj, in Sarasota’s Gulf Gate village. At Tokaj, we were serving true Hungarian food and wines for years until the Covid-19 crisis hit. We realized that, because of the situation, we could only keep one of the restaurants, and chose Sunnyside because of the available outdoor seating and more oppor- tunity. Eva with her skill made the Sunnyside like a little pearl, looking awesome, homey and European. With my food, it became a very busy popular restaurant in Sarasota.
In this same year I got the Medal for Hungarian Gastronomy from the Hungarian Gastronomy Association, for successfully promoting traditional Hungarian food and wines in the U.S.
What are your specialties?
Of course, making Hungarian dishes like Goulash every day at Sunnyside Cafe. Other than that, we are very proud to use all local ingredients and fresh meat, fish and vegetables every day. Everything possible is made from scratch at the restaurant. We make our own bread, sausage, cured salmon, and all of the dressingsandsauces,includingourHollandaise,onthepremises. Whencreat- ing our dinner specialties, I use the freshest ingredients and try to make top quali- ty food every day. Our goal is to make Sunnyside a high-quality dinner destina- tion in addition to our thriving lunch and breakfast business.
Most memorable meal?
If I have to choose one, I would say a dinner for Jozsef Beres (a Hungarian inventor who successfully worked on cancer treatment drugs), his 80th birthday party. I made all the dish- es from wild game: wild duck, pheasant, venison, fresh- caught fish like trout, walleye, and freshwater catfish.
I am also very proud to have won the international outdoor cooking competition 2004 in Gödöllő Hungary against 104 teams from all around Europe. I made Catfish Paprikas, with homemade pasta mixed with Farmer cheese and crispy uncured bacon.
For a meal out the Delmonico steak at Bern’s Steak House in Tampa was exceptional. With the tour in the wine cellar it was a great experience in my life.
Favorite wine or drinks?
I really like fresh white wines on the fruity side. If I had to choose a single favorite, the Sauska dry Tokaji Furmint 2010, of course from Hungary. The wine really lets you an experi- ence why Hungarian wines are so unique.
Favorite local restaurants?
Antoine’s - Chef Angela makes the best French/Belgian food that I have ever tried. Her mussels, duck and filet mignon... just a different expe- rience when you go there. It’s a small, local, family owned restaurant. Andrea’s- I believe this is the best Italian restaurant in town. Best homemade, handmade pasta. No question about it. Always a great experience with great service. Kasa Sushi - I love his rolls. Xing is a very highly educated sushi chef. He knows everything about fresh fish and seafood. His lunch bento box is almost the best lunch deal (after Sunnyside lunches, of course) in town.
Your day off what do you do?
What is that? I mean a day off? Running a restaurant is a 24/7 job. But if I have time I love to run around playing with my dog Berci, and really enjoy researching new foods and like to design almost everything from houses to styles.
What are your hobbies?
Computer work and cooking. I know it sounds crazy, but I really like to cook and grill at home. Sometimes I go to my best friend Eva’s house, and we cook traditional dishes together. And I love to play with dogs, too.
If not a chef, what would you do?
That’s a very hard question... I have no idea! Maybe a retired general with all their money? Making my home better and better day by day.
How is your restaurant dealing with Covid-19?
All our employees are vaccinated, we sanitize menus and tables between guests, and we have a sanitizer station in the restaurant. We also have decreased our number of tables and increased our outdoor seating area on our patio. Unfortunately, we lost Tokaj because of Coronavirus. I still think about it, and still dealing the loss.
What do you see as a future of your restaurant?
We are trying to focus on our dinner. We want to make it as popular as our breakfast and lunch service. We have lots of followers at Sunnyside and from Tokaj. I want to bring more fresh food experience to the neighborhood and the whole community. And trying to promote true Hungarian cuisine is always a big goal too.
Who would be your favorite dinner companion?
I have one. Eva is my best friend also the best companion for dinner. We like same wines, but she loves fish, and I love meat. So, we always try lots of different things on the very few times when we have the time to go out for dinner.
If I had to make a second choice, I’d pick chef Gordon Ramsey! I really want to meet him to compare experiences, and to talk about the future of gastronomy.
Sunnyside Café
4900 North Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, 941-359-9500 www.sunnysidecafesrq.com
unnyside Cafe is a welcoming European home style
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