May I invite you to visit the Greek Music and Food Festival this weekend at the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church? If you can read that sentence aloud in one breath, you have cleared the most difficult hurdle of attending. After such a workout, it’s all cake. Rather, I suppose it’s all baklava. Greek cuisine is not a favorite of mine, but these folks have done more than any restaurant to introduce me to what’s great about Greek food.
The church is right in the middle of town, just up Central Street from Somerville Ave, right across from the Health Alliance clinic. It’s easy to pass as you drive up the hill, but I don’t know many places in the city with a parking lot that big, and they’ll fill it every day of the fest. But it’s in the middle of town, so you can walk or take a bus – the 85, 86, 87, or 88 will get you close enough.
Crowds vary widely with the time: in the evenings, you’ll find live music, long lines for food, and a livelier atmosphere. In past years, however, I’ve tended to arrive at noon, right at the start of the festival, when the scene is quiet and folks have a little more time to explain to me what I’m eating.
Good-natured neighborliness pervades the festival, not precious preparations: these are home cooks and local restaurateurs who want to bring you their family’s food. There are two routes, foodwise: The Dinner and à la carte. Prices are, oddly, not listed on the website this year, but last year $12 got the full buffet dinner with rice, salad and bread, while $7 offered a main course alone. You’ve had home-cooked white rice and bread before, so I suggest saving your cash and calories for sweets.
The Dinner is an enormous fifty feet of served buffet line, and when I go through I’m full of questions, so folks are pretty enthusiastic for me to try “their thing.” Wander up and down the line asking questions before you commit. It seems fine to speak over folks being served, if only because the servers are so eager to introduce the food. The last couple of years, I stayed conservative with lamb shank and souvlaki, marinated chicken skewers. I won’t do that this year – plastic forks and knives have a lot of trouble with big hunks of meat, and even marinated chicken is easy to dry out. My dining companion fared better with the friendly Greek cousin of lasagna: pastichio. It’s heavy for summer fare – ground beef, cheese, and macaroni layered with béchamel sauce – but nutmeg in the béchamel highlights the sweetness in the sauce for a comforting casserole (Greek cuisine seems more willing to pair pumpkin-pie-type spices with meats. It works particularly well with lamb, and gives beef an interesting character). I also suggest loukaniko (sausage), if it’s the same kind as last year, turned on with fennel and browned to a dark, delicious crust.
However, this year I’m skipping The Dinner and going for gyros à la carte, especially since I’m showing up early. Time your order: the more time passes since the previous customer, the more your gyro meat will brown on the skewer before being shaved for your sandwich. Consider cutting off folks older or younger than you in your race to be first in line. If confronted, you may rationalize this behavior by explaining that taste buds grow less sensitive with age, and that kids all want hot dogs anyway.
Now to my favorite part: pastries. Each year I’ve attended the fest, I’ve discovered a new delicacy. Full disclosure: I do not particularly enjoy phyllo or honey or nuts in my pastry. These, and fruit in hand, represent the backbone of Greek dessert. Galaktoboureko, phyllo with custard and syrup, is a stretch. Baklava is right out. But in my distaste for the popular goods, I’ve found other options.
Finikia (“fin-EEK-ee-ya”) are cinnamon-orange cookies that are baked, then dipped in sugar syrup in defiance of all reason. They are mild and delicious, perfumed with a slightly boozy scent from a healthy dose of liquor in the dough. Koulourakia (“coo-loo-ROCK-ya”) cookies are made with olive oil and will, in fact, rock ya, especially if you take some home to have with coffee. Diples are a bit like unfilled cannoli shells – but with more honey and nuts on top.
Finally, no festival is complete without fried dough, and the Greek answer is Loukoumades (“lou-KOO-mah-thes, I think”) – doughnut holes dipped in, you guessed it, honey syrup. Hot from the fryer, they are a don’t-miss item (though cool, they’re just ok).
So come out and visit. Meet your neighbors – 25% of the membership of the church was born in Greece and 18% in Somerville, so it’s a hometown kind of place – and try the food.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
