A bittersweet ending to a 23-year legacy: Rózsa and János Jonas prepare to hang up their aprons

Rózsa arrives at the small but cozy downtown restaurant between 6 and 7 each morning and begins prepping the dumplings, cabbage rolls, and crepes. János often goes to pick up supplies first thing in the morning, so he doesn’t arrive until 8 or 9.

Rózsa and János work in a synchronized way. János makes the signature chicken paprikash, the restaurant’s most popular dish, and Rózsa makes the accompanying homemade dumplings—her hands have developed permanent calluses from so many years of making them.

Each dish is a collaborative effort between the couple, all made with love.

After almost 24 years, it’s a smooth routine—but it’s one that is coming to end by spring or summer.

It’s a bittersweet announcement for the Hungarian couple who have been operating the Jonas Hungarian Restaurant side-by-side for all of these years.

Almost a quarter-century of cooking with TLC

But it’s time for the couple to retire after almost a quarter of a century in the business, the one they started when they arrived in Canada in 1997 from Hungary chasing János’ dream.

Armed with János’ culinary skills from operating gastro-style pubs in Hungary, the couple had opened the restaurant tucked away at 937 6 Ave SW by 1999. And the rest, as they say, is history.

“Because we are old,” Rózsa laughs when asked why they’re retiring.

It’s an exciting prospect, but there is still a hint of sadness in her voice; she knows it’s time to hang up the apron but that doesn’t make it any easier.

“I am confused and really, I’m scared. Just because it’s a very new chapter and I really enjoyed that. We made lots of friendships,” she tells the Calgary Citizen.

“If you are coming here, you feel you are coming to grandma’s kitchen. So, I’m kind of grandma and you’re coming to my kitchen and I behave like grandma. It feels like home, we are very family oriented.”

The customers are everything

Rózsa knows the customers will be sad to see them go, but she says they are also supportive.

“They’re sad but they’re also happy for us,” she says, adding the customers were the backbone of the business.

“We really would like to thank the customers for the unbelievable support we got from them. They offered loans during the pandemic to help us. That’s how close we are with our customers.”

Since the announcement, the small restaurant that seats 44 diners has been packed, speaking both to its popularity and the support from loyal customers.

It’s especially bustling between noon and 3pm for the lunch rush, and over dinner from 6 to 9pm.

The last of its kind

Customers such as Melinda Lundy will be sad to see the only Hungarian restaurant in the city close if no one carries on the legacy.

“Their food is fantastic, it reminds me of home. There’s really no other place that offers true grandma’s home cooking,” Lundy says.

Loyal customer Michelle Forsberg and her family have been dining at the restaurant since 2007 when they were on the hunt for Hungarian cuisine.

“Back in 2004, my husband, my mother and I backpacked through central Europe and we all agreed that the food we had in Budapest was the best,” she says.

“We wanted to find a place similar to what we had and we were very happy.”

When they first discovered Jonas, they were living in Didsbury so they could only go twice a year. In 2016, they moved to Airdrie and started going more often.

A bittersweet goodbye

Now, the couple lives in Calgary and orders lunch from Jonas often. They plan to spend Valentine’s Day there.

“We love going there. Rózsa is always asking about our daughter and absolutely loves it when we bring her in,” Forsberg says.

“We love how it’s so small and intimate. We always say that it’s one of the best-hidden spots in the city, and it’s always our first recommendation.”

The couple is excited for the Jonas family to start their next chapter.

“We are sad to see the restaurant close, but they have been around for so long and it’s time for them to retire, so it’s a bit bittersweet,” Forsberg adds.

The next chapter

Ideally, Rózsa and János want to sell to someone willing to carry on the restaurant’s legacy.

That is important to the couple, explains daughter Janka, who used to work at the restaurant in the kitchen and as a server. She says it’s a bittersweet milestone for the family.

“It’s a super close-knit community that the restaurant created around itself. There are no other Hungarian restaurants in the city and there haven’t been for a very long time,” Janka says, adding the beloved “hole-in-the-wall” restaurant has been a go-to spot for many in the community.

“It’s been a bit of a hub for European food lovers.”

That’s why the family would prefer the restaurant continue serving Hungarian or European food in its next iteration.

“That would be the ideal situation. I think my parents feel a little guilty abandoning the business,” Janka says, adding there has been some interest but nothing has worked out yet.

The goal is to be retired by the summer, but that depends on how long the process takes.

What do the husband and wife plan to do in retirement?

“Relax, maybe have a holiday. Downsize the house, so you have to look for new furniture,” Rózsa says.

“And I definitely have to go home and visit Hungary, I haven’t been in five years.”