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Welcome to MetroGuide.Network's Toledo DiningGuide, a directory of restaurants and related restaurant information for Metropolitan Toledo, Ohio. Use MetroGuide's DiningGuide service to find Toledo restaurants by location or cuisine.

Toledo -- where actor Burt Reynolds was first to sign a Tony Packo's hot dog bun for its Front Street wall now lined with more than 1,000 autographed rolls -- is known for a remarkably high quotient of eateries per capita, dishing up a kaleidoscope of ethnic fare from Indian, Italian, Greek and Mexican to Polish, Lebanese and beyond. Packo's, of course, is the icon eatery launched in 1932 by a Toledo factory worker with a $100 loan from relatives. Struggling at first, the Depression-era restaurant got rolling after dime sausage sandwiches were sliced, slathered in secret sauce, with each half marketed at a more palatable nickel. Reynolds kick-started the fun bun thing in 1972 when performing at a nearby auditorium. Global fame followed in 1976 when Jamie Farr -- a Toledo native playing the cross-dressing Corporal Max Klinger in television's M*A*S*H -- delivered an episodic line: "If you're ever in Toledo on the Hungarian side of town, Tony Packo's got the greatest Hungarian hot dogs. Thirty five cents ... ." Old Country cuisine purists understand there's no such thing as a Hungarian hot dog. But Packo's Hungarian dogs are hot in Toledo, where the versatile restaurant line-up around town extends from Fricker's @ the Field, serving up "world famous wings" for Toledo Mud Hens play, to a barn of a place called The Barn, specializing in buffet spreads. Durty Bird is a high-flyer for nocturnal after-game entertainment, and the Crazy Horse at Raceway Park serves prime rib, steaks, and chops amid harness racing frenzy. Grumpy's Deli in the Warehouse District handles yens for eclectic fare while Gumbo's Bayou Grille on Main Street dispenses pure Cajun from jambalaya to etouffee. Beirut sets the standard for Lebanese and Middle Eastern favorites washed down by imported liquors, beer and wine. Romanticists head to Fifi's, with lilting piano on weekends, or to Eileen's Wine & Martini Bar, a cozy spot downtown at the riverfront. The Toledo Zoo's neon-lit Carnivore Café turns the tables, putting patrons, instead of animals, behind cage bars. Schmucker's, on Reynolds Road, has pulled some 20 varieties of soul satisfying pie from the oven since 1948, while Cousino's Navy Bistro at The Docks downtown seduces with hazelnut crème brulee amid nautical atmosphere. Finally, Tony Packo's, on Front Street, in Sylvania, and elsewhere, joins Toledo's downtown revitalization, expanding in spring 2006 with Packo's at the Park, peddling ever more Hungarian dogs, chili, chicken paprika, stuffed cabbage, strudel and dumplings. As Farr now says in syndicated reruns, "If you're ever in Toledo ... ."

DiningGuide Toledo is part of MetroGuide Toledo, offering guides to shopping, hotels, entertainment and more for the entire region.

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