A Taste of Greece 2010

Καλή όρεξη*

















http://www.annunciation.org/festival/


Did you say "dance"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UgndyMfe-8
 
"Will you shut that bloody dancing up!!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3KBuQHHKx0
 

A Taste of Greece 2010 ~ San Francisco's only Greek Festival. The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral is located about 3-4 blocks from the Mission San Francisco de Asís. Again, my major complaint (like with the Armenian Food Festival two weeks ago) is that there was just way too much good food and I do not have a big enough appetite to eat it all; I might not eat again the rest of the weekend…

I fell in love with Greek food from the very first day I arrived in Greece. I remember it distinctly as it was July 4th, 1979 ~ That's the spirit! ~ and there was nothing open on Base, so they sent me downtown to Γλυφάδα to a hotel for the night. That night for dinner, jet-lagged and disoriented, I walked to nearby Glyfada Square, not knowing any Greek or what to expect in the way of food. Luckily, I found a nice ταβέρνα and stumbled through as best I could, and ordered my first (of many over the years) χωριάτικη σαλάτα. As the weeks went by, I discovered (and was introduced to) many other great foods that I could eat and would grow to love ~ τζατζίκι for breakfast, anyone?




I figured the meat-lovers out there would enjoy this photo of an entire lamb being cooked on a spit. This is how they used to do it around Πάσχα when I lived there. They would dig a pit in the backyard and the preparations would usually start on Friday night and carry on into Saturday the day before Easter Sunday. I say "preparations", but it was always more of a party/family gathering.

For today's feast, I had:
+ The aforementioned Greek Salad/χωριάτικη σαλάτα ~ (real Greek) Feta cheese, cucumbers, (real) Kalamata olives, green bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes (sorry, "Greg")
+ 3 dolmades ~ stuffed grape leaves, the vegetarian version
+ Spanakopita ~ Greek spinach and cheese phyllo pastry
+ a nice glass of κόκκινο κρασί from Πάρος with the meal (Paros is an island in the Aegean Sea, southeast of Athens and northeast of Crete. Paros is a nice island that not too many 'mericans ever venture to; they normally go to the more popular island of Mykonos.)
+ and afterward a glass of Ρετσίνα (think wine with a hint of Pine-Sol®; not only does it clean your palate, but in a pinch, it will clean your plate, too)




Of course, I had to save room for the really good stuff, too. I had a great piece of Kataifi (see my rave from two weeks ago for the description of this Mediterranean delight) and a Greek coffee (μέτριος) for dessert. I also bought two more pieces of Kataifi to take home along with a piece of γαλακτομπούρεκο ~ custard in phyllo. As far as I was concerned, these were all basically free, as I saved $5.00 on the entrance fee with a coupon from the Armenian food festival two weeks ago and I saved another $5.00 today on an imported bottle of olive oil ~ they had a special going: buy two for $30.00, as opposed to one for $20.00, so I went in with the complete stranger behind me and we both saved $5.00 each (ευχαριστώ, Μιχαήλ).

The only negatives I can think about was that they did not have any τζατζίκι for sale by itself, nor σκορδαλιά (a garlicy potato/bread dip), nor γίγαντες ("gigantic" broad beans in a tomato sauce ~ another favourite of mine). I did talk them into "selling" me a pita slathered with τζατζίκι that they used on the γύρος which they were selling ~ they were going to just give it to me, but as it was all for charity, I paid for it anyway. It was very good τζατζίκι, too, as it turned out ~ lots of garlic. I mentioned this to the guy at the booth while thanking him again and he said: "Well, what is tzatziki without garlic? Plain yogurt."

All in all, it was a good afternoon of food and music, very reminiscent of a warm Fall day in Γλυφάδα… the only thing missing was all the stray cats roaming around.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Greek Food~ 7.4; Kataifi ~ 8.5


*(This is Greek for "Bon appétit!". We really don’t have an equivalent in English. No one ever says "Good appetite!" before a meal, do they?)