Sisters bring taste of Hungary so P’ville foodies don’t go hungry

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By Clay Coppedge

Special to the Pflag

The first settlers in Pflugerville would probably have felt at ease with the food served today at the European Bistro on Main Street, located in an historic old Pflugerville building.

Proprietor Anni Zovek, native of Hungary who came to America with her family in the wake of the 1957 Hungarian Revolution, opened the business eight years ago with her sister, chef Piroska Althauser. Althauser stayed behind in Hungary until moving to this country 13 years ago. Together, they offer diners a change of pace from usual restaurant and fast-food fare.

Zovek said that running the restaurant has been a bit of a challenge because of the European Bistro’s atypical menu, which focuses on eastern European home cooking and includes dishes like goulash, Polish meatballs, Ham Schnitzel German sausage knockwurst, and others.

“We have different cuisine than all the other restaurants. We are trying to introduce people to some different foods,” she said. “I think sometimes people are reluctant to try us because they are not familiar with this kind of food. People who come here once come back.

“Also, we want people to understand too that our food is not prepared ahead of time. Every dish is prepared from scratch, including the bread and the bread crumbs that are used for the German schnitzels. We want you to take your time and enjoy the experience.”

The restaurant is planning a special Father’s Day menu that includes Schhweinshaxe (pork knuckle), roasted and stuffed duck leg quarter, and veal cutlet dishes like Jagerschnitzel and Wienerschnitzel. That’s in addition to the soups and pastries, which are also made from scratch every day. Imported beers and wines from Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and elsewhere in Eastern Europe are also available at European Bistro.

Zovek and Althauser’ grew up with an interest in food and cooking. Their mother and grandmother had a restaurant in the town of Pozsony, now known as the Slovakian town of Bratislava. That common experience is the foundation of the European Bistro.

“My grandmother was a great cook,” Zovek said. “She had a farm. She lost two sons and her husband in World War II and so she had to tend the farm along with everything else. We grew up with good food always around. We would butcher a hog early in the morning and have it ready for the table by noon.”

In America, Zovek attended Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana and St. Mary’s College at Notre Dame University when the school had separate campuses for men and women. Althauser stayed behind and became a pastry chef in Europe. When Zovek took a job supplying food for the Northridge campus of Austin Community College, Althauser came to America to help her. A few years later, in 2002, they opened the European Bistro.

Priorto coming to Pflugerville, Zovek operated a team room called the Gingerbread House in Houston for six years and before that took care of the food for corporate airlines at Hobby International Airport. After graduating from college she ran an international restaurant in Muncie, Indiana for seven years.

That combined experience goes into the operation of the Pflugerville restaurant in the 110-year old building that was originally the home of the town’s mercantile company. An ice cream shop was right next door.

“We’ve gone back to the old ways,” she said.

The Bistro also includes a lunch menu with prices starting at $6.95. Zovek recommends a lunch visit for people who want to get an idea of what the food is like since most of the lunch items are small portions of what is served at dinner. There is a children’s menu and an alcove set aside for special occasions, like an anniversary or birthday. Customers can also listen to the piano music of Donald Hill on Friday nights and accordionist and vocalist Shirley Johnson on Saturdays.

“This is Old World cooking of Europe,” Zovek said. “There are a lot of details to tend to. Everything has to be fresh. That is one of our prime considerations, along with cleanliness and taking care of our customers.”

Zovek buys as much as she can from local farmers from places like the Sunset Valley Farmer’s Market where she can get items like fresh, home-grown Hungarian banana and mild peppers. The menu includes a number of soups, including borscht, a Russian beet soup, and a goulash soup.

“Soups are a staple on European tables,” she said. “There is a soup with every meal. Salads are usually part of the meal itself. Here, a lot of people prefer to have their salad first, and of course we are always glad to accommodate that too.”

For Zovek and Althauser, the key to bringing people back time and again is consistency because people who have a good meal at European Bistro expect to have a good meal the next time they go there.

“The food has to always be consistently good,” Zovek said. “The chef prepares everything and oversees everything to make sure it is fresh and the food is always consistent. That is very important when it comes to taking care of customers.”

The restaurant is closed on Monday and open from 5-9 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday.

For more information, go their website at europeanbistro.com or call 835-1919.