Greek Food Festival, June 2-5, 2005

[Jason Perlow]

Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Theologian

(201) 567-5072

353 E Clinton Ave

Tenafly, NJ

Thu June 3 6PM to 11PM

Fri June 4 Noon to Midnight

Sat June 5 Noon to Midnight

Sun June 6 Noon to 9PM

http://www.gonj.org/festival.html

Inside the church gymnasium, as well as outside on the festival grounds, these ladies have lots of different kinds of Greek pastry for sale, plus they make one Hell(enic) of a strong Greek coffee.

This is a glass of Ouzo, a very strong licorice flavored spirit, and after drinking it, all my photos went downhill.

A cold appetizer sampler platter.

Pastitsio

Mousakka (my favorite, and a really tasty version)

Stuffed Peppers

Cheese Pies (they also have spinach)

Greek Meatballs served with Spaghetti.

Greek Salad

Me Eating.

Okay, time to go outside. MORE FOOD!

Rides for the kids.

Loukomades (Fried Dough)

Souvlaki being grilled over coals -- these are sold in stick form for $3 each, in both the regular grill tent and the Ouzeri tent which also has the sausage and the octopus. The Ouzeri tent isn't as busy, so I suggest you go get stuff to eat there first.

Octopodi (Octopus) being grilled.

Loukanikou (pronounced lou-CON-ee-ko, emphasis on the CON), a type of Greek sausage flavored with lemon and spices

Gyro and Souvlaki on a stick (by far the best grilled item along with the Loukanikou)

If you guys go (which I heartily recommend you do), bring along a bag with some bottled water and sodas in it, because the drinks are expensive.

BTW they have a pickup service, so you can call in with your order for take out.

[Jason Perlow]

Just bumping this up for those who didnt see it yesterday -- definitely go to this if you can, the food is great. We had the pastries last night, they were awesome.

[Rich Pawlak]

Thanks, Jason, especially for the pics. I am always struck at the absolute uniformity of Greek festivals. These pics look identical to scenes at the St George Greek picnic in Hamilton, and other Greek picnics I've been to over the years. The only variation seems to be the grilled octopus, which I have heretofore never seen at the many Greek fests I've attended.

I think there may be a manual on how to run these. That's got to be the explanation.

[Jason Perlow]

We went again tonight, it was fantastic and lots of fun. However, it is much busier now, so you want to go to the Jewish Community Center (JCC) next door and park in their parking lot if the lot at the Cathedral is full. The JCC has a free shuttle bus to the festival, so its no biggie, and its only like a 5 minute walk to the festival grounds from there.

Another tip: If you want grilled stuff, go directly to the "Ouzeri" booth. It has no lines whatsoever. You can get the Souvlaki on a Stick for $3 per stick (2 or 3 of these will feed a hungry person, they are very juicy and tasty) and also the Loukanikou sausage and the Octopodi. The sandwich tent by comparison is VERY busy (because they are doing hotdogs and hamburgers for the kids as well as gyro and chicken souvlaki, which are nothing special) with like 20 or 30 minute long lines. You can walk right up to the Ouzeri booth and get food in seconds flat.

The Loukomades (think zeppoles drenched in honey sauce, and then dusted with cinnamon with powdered sugar) are really good -- an order of 12 is $5 and an order of 6 is $3. Trust me, get the larger order.

The taverna stuff inside the gymnasium is also very good (we had the Pastitsio, Greek Meatballs with Sphagetti and the Spanakopita tonight, all great). Saturday night apparently has a lamb shank special and on sunday, they have roasted lemon chicken.

Bring your own bottled water and sodas, you'll be glad you did.

[Rachel Perlow]

Yes, when you are not paying $2 for a can of soda, you have more money for the souvlaki and baklava!

More details on parking. Go to the JCC (just east of the church). Park in the area to the left of the building or behind it (go around the circle) if you can. The shuttle (they have two vans going back & forth all day) picks up at the circle, but there is also a path through the woods (in back, there's a sign), which leads directly to the carnival area. Don't even bother trying to park at the church or on the side streets or g-d forbid on Clinton Ave.

Oh, we had another eater with us tonight, so we got to sample more stuff. The fish special (Friday's dish of the day) was sold out by the time we arrived (8 PM), get there early if you want lamb.

[jhlurie]

Damn, that's a huge portion of Ouzo.

Rich, while all Greek fests tend to LOOK alike, I'd argue that they don't all TASTE alike. I've noticed huge differences.

[nessa]

Man, that all looks so good. I wish we would have a Greek festival down in these parts. And that IS the largest glass of ouzo that I've ever seen.

[Jason Perlow]

Man, that all looks so good. I wish we would have a Greek festival down in these parts. And that IS the largest glass of ouzo that I've ever seen.

Yeah for 4 bucks a glass, its not a bad deal.

[KatieLoeb]

Damn, that's a huge portion of Ouzo.

Rich, while all Greek fests tend to LOOK alike, I'd argue that they don't all TASTE alike.  I've noticed huge differences.

Jon:

While I agree with the spirit of your comment, I can only say that if you live in a city that doesn't have the best selection of Greek restaurants, the Greek Church Ladies have it all over most of the other options. I've found that the pastries are better at some festivals, whereas the cooked food is better at others. But it's always GOOD.

The other alternative is to learn how to make it yourself and then make enough to feed an army. I've done that with moussaka. The recipe I used came from THIS cookbook, which I think is absolutely brilliant and my go to resource for any and all things Greek. Secrets of Fat Free Greek Cooking is also a favorite book of mine when trying to replicate these things at home. There's a great deal at that link to purchase it with Sandra Woodruff's Secrets of Fat Free Italian Cooking as a pair. That's another one of my more dog-eared and well used cookbooks. The Turkey-Mushroom Bolognese sauce is awesome.

There's a website HERE that lists festivals all over the country, however, I'm noticing that the very festival in this thread is not listed. So obviously the list is not comprehensive. But it's a start.

I suppose another approach would be to look in your local phone directory and see if there's a Greek Orthodox church or Cathedral in your area and call and inquire if/when they have a festival. I believe these are usually the biggest fundraisers for the communities involved and although I usually avoid sweeping generalizations, virtually every Greek Orthodox church I've ever seen has one of these annually.

Meanwhile I now have to walk over to the Greek restaurant a few blocks form my house and order something. Predictably, I'm totally jonesing for a souvlaki right now.

[jhlurie]

Katie, I'm not at all sure where we are disagreeing. a.) Greek food is good. b.) Some people prepare certain items better than others.

We seem to be 2 out of 2 there...

Mind you... I've had bad Greek food. Made by non-Greeks, that is. And I've also had bad food made by Greeks--almost always food items which aren't inherently Greek in origin, I mean.

[KatieLoeb]

Katie, I'm not at all sure where we are disagreeing.  a.) Greek food is good.  b.) Some people prepare certain items better than others. 

We seem to be 2 out of 2 there...

Mind you... I've had bad Greek food.  Made by non-Greeks, that is.  And I've also had bad food made by Greeks--almost always food items which aren't inherently Greek in origin, I mean.

Jon:

I think I got the impression you meant that some "festival food" was mediocre or bad and some was awesome. At least that's what I took away from your "huge difference in quality" remark. I've always found the festival food to be at least a 6.5 on a scale of one to ten, most usually closer to the top. There was never any doubt that Greek food as a complete cuisine is GOOD. Hell, I'd even go so far as to say it's GREAT! It's one of my favorites, but since I don't have Chef Thedore's here in Philly anymore (the only GREAT Greek restaurant I've been to here) and I don't have the embarrassment of riches that the New Yorkers do (I love Molyvos), I have to hunt out the festivals and satisfy my jones there.

There are always a few great Greek fests in Philly and environs every year. The one in Elkins Park was over Memorial Day weekend and alas I was out of town. There's always the one at St. George's on 8th Street here in town that I attended with several eGulleteers last year. There was a whole thread in the PA forum HERE, but it's mostly just me sobbing about having to wait for the festivals. There are some good photos in there of our outing at St. George's.

[tryska]

man - these pictures amde me homesick for the Greek Festival I used to attend at St. Sophia's in Syracuse....

[Rachel Perlow]

This year's festival is June 2-5. Today is the last day, it is open until 9 PM. We went last night, but didn't take any pictures, the food is pretty much the same as last year. And it is good. Reminder: Park next door at the JCC and take the shuttle van or the path in back. I can't believe how far down Clinton Ave people were parking.