Buffalo Rising Online

Jun 2nd 2007, 9:39am By Christa Glennie Seychew

Last night I visited the Hellenic Festival. I must admit, it was my first time. It is one of a handful of summer events that, every year, I post in my calendar and just never seem to get to. The summers in Buffalo are so packed with things to do (especially on the weekends) that it is no surprise that after all of these years there are still a few I haven’t been to.

So, two of my friends and I decided to head down for dinner and a few drinks. The Hellenic Heritage Festival at the Hellenic Orthodox Church of the Annunciation is in its 30th year. A crippling fire severely damaged much of the church a few years ago, but restoration is complete, and the festival offers you the perfect opportunity to duck inside. There are number of things that do during the festival including a little shopping at Monastiraki, a boutique which offers goods like pottery, jewelry and souvenirs. Another popular offering is Bakalike, a space which functions as a little gourmet shop offering fresh feta, olives, spices and the like. Outside, traditional music is played “nonstop” (they aren’t kidding) and visitors have the opportunity to watch skilled dance troupes entertain.

But, let’s be honest. We were there for the food.

I am familiar with perhaps a dozen or so traditional Greek dishes and almost all of them were here. Tickets are $1 a piece. Quite honestly, for “fair food”, we got a pretty good bargain. There are plenty of festivals in the city where you can spend $30 and go home hungry. That’s definitely not the case here. We decided to go for the combo platter, I’m often happy to let someone else make choices for me in unfamiliar territory. Our combo plates were six tickets each. It sported healthy servings of Spanakopita, phyllo dough filled with spinach, cottage and feta cheese, Tiropita, a similar dish of phyllo filled with eggs and cheese and Pastitso, which, much to my surprise, was my favorite. Pastitso is a casserole, and quite honestly, it looked a little dry. Ground beef and pasta are baked in a classic béchamel. The cinnamon and nutmeg added a really nice note to the beef, and the dish itself was moist and filling without being too heavy. Mousaka (eggplant, beef and béchamel), Souzoukakia (herbed beef served in tomato sauce), spit roasted lamb and the common Gyro and Souvlaki are also available.

Visitors are offered an assortment of libations. In addition to water and soda, they have Labatt’s and a selection of Greek wines, but we enjoyed slim European-style bottles of Mythos, a Greek lager.

Desserts abound, and the choice of where to use our remaining tickets was a difficult one. Baklava is a big seller, but not a personal favorite, so I opted for one of the best things I can imagine- Loukouamades- little donuts, made from scratch and fresh to order (pictured above). You can watch as they take the little beauties straight out of the fryer and into a giant bowl of honey, swirling them until they have successfully soaked up as much honey as possible. They are then rolled in ciannamon and served to the lucky customer. It is wise to place the entire Loukoumades in your mouth, because the first bite opens the floodgates to a wash of warm, sweet honey. Once they’ve cooled off a little, the gushing stops, and they are just moist, little donuts. They’re still good, but it’s an entirely different experience.

If that doesn’t strike your fancy, one of the other 10-15 kinds of sweets they have certainly will. Kourambiedes (coffee cakes), Melomakarona (honey dipped cookies topped with walnuts), and Tsourekia (a sweet egg bread) are just a few of them. They have sweets nicely packaged to go, so if you’re too full from all of the Saganaki you had (flaming Greek cheese- literally), you can easily take some home.

The Hellenic Festival takes place every year, and if nothing else, is a nice place to stop in for a bit to eat and a little atmosphere. Stop by today or tomorrow.

Saturday, June 2 from 11 AM – Midnight
Sunday, June 3 from Noon – 9 PM
Hellenic Orthodox Church of the Annunciation
Corner of West Utica and Delaware
www.hellenicfestival.com