The Transylvania Restaurant: Dyckman’s Culinary Evolution

Hungarian and German specialties were once served at this Dyckman Street eatery.

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Taco Bell, 175 Dyckman Street, 2019.
Taco Bell, 175 Dyckman Street, 2019.

In 2019 a Taco Bell opened on Dyckman Street.  No longer would Inwood residents have to leave the neighborhood to sample Double Chalupas, Quesaritos, and Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes. 

But—decades ago—diners in this uptown commercial space craved items from a wildly different menu. 

Transylvania International Restaurant, 175 Dyckman Street, Riverdale Press, May 25, 1972
Transylvania International Restaurant, 175 Dyckman Street, Riverdale Press, May 25, 1972.

Various waves of immigration in the 1940s and 1950s lent an eastern European flavor to Inwood’s dining scene. 

And—in the early 1970’s—175 Dyckman Street was host to the Transylvania Restaurant; which specialized in Hungarian and German dishes.

Transylvania Restaurant Riverdale Press, November 23, 1972.
Transylvania Restaurant Riverdale Press, November 23, 1972.

The Dyckman Street eatery was the sister restaurant of the popular Tik Tak Hungarian Restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. 

Despite a name change, Tik Tak specialties were “still goulashes, paprikas and schnitzels served in gargantuan portions” when reviewed in 1975. (NYT’s, June 27, 1975)

Tik Tak Hungarian Restaurant, East 77th Street and Second Avenue.
Tik Tak Hungarian Restaurant, East 77th Street and Second Avenue.

Other menu items from the Transylvania Restaurant’s sister establishment included brains with scrambled eggs, onions and paprika, Wiener schnitzel, veal shank, mushroom fritters with tartar sauce, hash browned potatoes and a full list of Hungarian wines. 

The menu, while tasty, was not for the timid.  “Nobody watching his weight,” the Times warned, “would be fool enough to come here.”

Sage advice that likely holds true today.

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