Zoltan Imre is a Transylvanian math teacher and accountant who followed his passion for cooking to Hollywood. He honed his skills at the Hollywood and Encino farmers markets. Last year, he opened Zoltan’s Transylvania Bakery in Little Armenia, and thanks to support from his landlord, he’s on the verge of re-opening on the ground floor of the Hollywood Downtowner hotel as the expanded Transylvania restaurant. Imre is hoping to open by early March, at which point he’ll offer savory dishes like goulash and chicken paprikash. He also specializes in barbecued sausage, sirloin, lamb and pork, all seasoned with “Transylvanian flavors” like tarragon.

Imre also plans to bake traditional Transylvanian tortes and poppy seed rolls. At the bakery, he produced doughnut-like rotisserie sweetbreads called kürtös, but those will be too time-consuming to replicate at the restaurant.

Zoltan has played up the Dracula angle in his decor, incorporating Dracula’s castle and mounting photos on the orange walls of movie actors playing Drac, including Bela Lugosi. Guests of the Hollywood Downtowner may even receive a complimentary Transylvanian breakfast.

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1. mattatouille, February 27, 2009:

   you mean..romanian food? could be a hit.

2. Joshua Lurie, February 27, 2009:

   You’ll also find some Hungarian dishes on the menu. Apparently Romania and Hungary have both staked a claim to Transylvania over the years.

This entry is filed under LA Culinary Compass.