Mishi’s also serves savory strudels and palascintas — Hungarian crepes — and a few other savory dishes such as gulyas — beef goulash.

As an 8-year-old kid, Cooke remembers making beef goulash, a soup with vegetables and meat, and putting every spice in it that he could find.

But tough, stringy sauerbraten disappointed; so did lukewarm beef goulash merging chunks of tender meat, undercooked carrots and potatoes in a lively, tomato-paprika sauce.