Fullerton Restaurant Feeds a Hungary Bunch

Guests got a taste of Hungary on Sunday when the board of directors for the International Visitors and Protocol Foundation of Orange County staged a Hungarian dinner.

About 100 people, many of them Hungarian, turned up at the Aurora restaurant in Fullerton to enjoy Hungarian music, song and food. The $40-per-person event was held in honor of Andras Marton, the first consul general appointed by Hungary to head its new consulate in Los Angeles.

Coming to America

“We set up the consulate in Los Angeles because it’s very close to Orange County,” Marton joked. Hungary also has embassies in Washington and New York.

“This is the third embassy in the United States. It’s a beautiful gesture,” Marton said. “We look on it as an acknowledgment of a freely elected Hungarian government.”

Marton, a Hungarian actor who has appeared on the stage, television and film, arrived at the dinner with his wife, Adrienne. He carried a stack of CDs with Hungarian music to entertain the crowd. Later, when addressing the guests, he recalled being approached by an American woman who thought Hungary was in the United States.

“From that small, bitter experience I recognized the need for a Hungarian consulate.”

Guests exchanged news about Hungary and talked politics--a topic that isn’t forbidden at international dinners.

“We wanted to feature Hungary because it’s a very strong country in Eastern Europe,” said Eva Schneider, chairwoman of the dinner.

Red, White and Green

Guests sat at tables adorned with green napkins and red and white cloth--”our national colors,” explained one Hungarian guest.

Aurora owner and chef Leo Holczer usually serves Northern Italian and continental cuisine at his restaurant, but for the dinner he researched and prepared an authentic Hungarian menu. Dinner included cabbage strudel, consomme with green peas and dumplings, chicken paprika and cucumber salad, and crepes filled with sweet cheese for dessert.

After dinner, Klinga Toth wandered among the tables singing Hungarian folk songs.

The foundation, a private agency that raises funds for the Orange County Office of Protocol, presents an international dinner about once every three months to spotlight a country, according to Gayle Anderson, foundation president.

“The dinners are designed to expose our members to different cultures,” she said.

Also among the guests were Geza Entz, Hungarian minister of ethnic and minority affairs; Fred Schneider; Mary Bonino Jones, Orange County chief of protocol; Orange County Supervisor Thomas Riley and his wife, Emma Jane; Supervisor Don Roth; Leonardo Flores; Laszlo and Klara Heredy; Carl and Pat Neisser; William and Elaine Redfield; Jack Stranberg; Clair and Elinor Weeks, and Mel and Nancy Weinstein.