Lunch Off the Menu at New Budapest Blue

If life really is what happens while you’re making other plans, Ilona Simon and her crew at Budapest Blue have been livin’ large. Consider: Just a few weeks after the Blue – Simon’s new venture inside Ohio City’s former Halite -- launched lunch service, two key members of her team, daughter Vera Durejko and partner Leonard DiCosimo, were put out of commission by nasty falls. “I'm like a coach whose first-string are all on the injury list, and there's no second string ... how can you still play the game?” wonders Simon, whose other gig is Independence’s highly successful martini and wine bar, Budapest Blonde. As a result, lunch service is now off the table at the Blue, until further notice. In its place, Simon has decided to stick with the game plans she first developed at Blonde, focusing her attention on crafting a comfy wine and martini bar with what she calls “a wonderful evening lounge atmosphere. “Our injured 'family' staffing can handle that right now. We’ll have to see what the future holds for us being restaurateurs!” Budapest Blue is located at 2800 Clinton Ave.; current hours are Tuesday through Thursday 5 p.m. - 11 p.m.; Friday 5 p.m. - 1 a.m., and Saturday 7 p.m.-1 a.m. Stop in and drink to their health. -- Elaine T. Cicora