In this cookbook you'll find recipes from Novak's Hungarian Restaurant, which opened in Albany, Oregon on April 25, 1984 and closed nearly 40 years later, on September 30, 2023. It was founded by our parents, Joseph and Matilda Novak, who fled Hungary when their lives were threatened due to involvement in the anti-communist uprising in 1956 (which took place just a few months after they married). Their amazing story, Hard Work and Faith, the Journey of Joseph and Matilda Novak which includes the history of our restaurant, is available online. While we all contributed to the menu and helped in various ways, Karen was the one who committed to working with our folks at the outset. She was who encouraged them to start the business, eventually joined with our brother Joey to open Novak's Little Budapest in Ft. Collins, CO, took over the reins of the restaurant in Albany in 2003, and was there throughout to the end, with twin sister Matilda when we closed. This book does not include every recipe we ever served, and you may be surprised to find items that are Not Hungarian-but there's a reason for that! When we opened in 1984, there was precious little in the way of "ethnic" food here. Just the usual fast-food Mexican, pizza, and Chinese. We thought it would be wise to include something on the menu that people would have heard of - so our Chicken Cordon Blue was there from the start. We also added seasonal recipes that were instantly popular, with folks looking forward to them every year. Novak's a Legacy of Love includes "secret recipes" which were loved by our clientele and are here shared for the first time. There are many Hungarian cookbooks out there. Ours is very specific to Novak's Hungarian Restaurant, which is rooted in our mother's simple, straightforward and yet delicious style of home-cooking. In Hungary, our restaurant was known for serving the finest Hungarian food in the US. Our food was/is made with lots of love. We're pretty sure you will taste it, even in these recipes.