Author: John Fladd

Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Manchester holds its annual Greekfest

If this weekend’s Greekfest has a theme, it is hospitality.

It is time for Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Manchester to hold its annual festival of Greek food and culture. According to Costa Georgopoulos, President of the Parish Council and chairperson of the festival, the timing for the event has been carefully worked out. There are three main Greek church food festivals in the area each year, he said.

“In our Manchester community, we have St. Nicholas Church, which does their festival in June. And then there’s Glendi of St. George. They do theirs in September. And then we do ours in the middle of it. So it’s kind of special, because St. Nicholas does a one-day festival, we do a two-day festival, then Glendi wraps up the events with a three-day festival.”

“We coordinate with the churches,” Georgopoulos continued, “and it worked out really well for everybody. We don’t want to interfere with other churches. We do communicate with one another and make sure that each event is successful. We support them and they support us.”

The Assumption Greekfest follows a familiar tradition, sharing with the community.

“We serve Greek food,” Georgopoulos said, “our traditional Greek food and pastries and many, many other items for our locals and all our visitors that come in for our festival. It’s a showcase of our traditional Greek food, our Greek hospitality, and our multicultural event for our community.”

This Greekfest will feature several aspects of Greek culture, such as dancing, religious iconography, and Greek music played by a Greek DJ, but Georgopoulos said the big draw is the food.

“We provide a little bit of taste of [a Greek] experience,” he said. “But it’s really to enjoy our food. That’s kind of the main reason people come: to enjoy our traditional Greek dishes.”

It goes without saying that a centerpiece of any Greek food festival is lamb — in this case, lamb kabobs cooked on a rotisserie.

“We have a couple of machines that cook it on skewers and we serve it with rice and a Greek salad,” Georgopoulos said. “Then we have our roasted chicken with Mediterranean seasoning. We have stuffed grape leaves. And we have meatballs. We have our Greek meatballs that we make ourselves.”

Another Greek dish that guests can expect is pastichio, which Georgopoulos described as a sort of Greek lasagna. “That is ground beef with the Greek macaroni and our bechamel sauce. It’s like a creamy sauce that goes on top and it’s one of our specialties that goes very well.” There will also be loukanikos, a type of Greek sausage, souvlaki (marinated pork), and, of course, gyros — Georgopoulos’ personal favorite. “We have a gyro station,” he said. We have our gyro cones and we put it on a rotisserie and we slice off the gyro and serve it in pita bread. It’s a combination of beef and lamb. It’s a very hot item that goes very well during the festival.”

When Greek Americans talk about “pita” it isn’t always clear whether they are talking about pita bread, or a dish made with dozens of layers of crispy filo dough. The most familiar pita is spanakopita, made with spinach, feta cheese and eggs, but there will be a second pita at this Greekfest. “We also have a cheese pita without the spinach,” said Georgopoulos. “Some people don’t like spinach, so we have a little bit of a variety of that as well.’

For many Greek food fans, though, the highlight of any festival is the sweets.

“We make our rice pudding at the church,” Georgopoulos said. “We have loukoumades, which is the fried dough balls. We have a station for that as well. We have a big machine that drops the dough and people can see them cook as they order. They’re very popular. It’s funny because every town has their own little spin on them, depending on which part of Greece that you visit.” Other desserts will include baklava, finikia (Greek honey cookies soaked in syrup), kourabiedes (butter cookies) and kataifi (pastries made with shredded filo and honey).

According to Georgopoulos, it’s all part of the Greek tradition of hospitality.

“The Greek foods, the Greek religious items and hospitality, we provide a little bit of taste of that experience.”

Greekfest
Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, 111 Island Pond Road, Manchester
Saturday, Aug. 24, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 25, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission and parking are free. Visit assumptionnh.org.

News from the local food scene

• Dube Dogs bow-wows out: Dube Dogs, the hot dog cart near the Mill Girl statue on Commercial Street, has closed after 15 years. According to stories in the Union Leader and in Manchester Ink Link, owner Marc Dube held a final day of hot dog sales on Thursday, Aug. 15.

• White tea tasting: The Cozy Tea Cart (104A Route 13, Brookline, 249-9111, thecozyteacart.com) will host a tea-cupping class and white tea tastingonThursday, Aug. 22, at 5 p.m. The cost is $30 per person. Registration is required.

• Pig roast: New England Tap House Grille (1292 Hooksett Road, Store No. I, Hooksett, 782-5137, taphousenh.com) will hold its Annual Aloha Patio Party and Pig Roast Friday, Aug. 23, from 5 to 10 p.m. The whole pig on a spit will be ready to serve starting at about 5 p.m. Visit the Tap House’s Facebook page.

• Happy birthday to brew: Great North Aleworks (1050 Holt Ave., Manchester, 858-5789, greatnorthaleworks.com) will celebrate its ninth birthday on Saturday, Aug. 24, from 1 to 7 p.m. with a birthday bash featuring a food truck, new beer releases and live music from the Upright Dogs.

• The thrill of the grill: Chef Jarrett Parizo-Kellerman will serve a three-course tasting cooked outdoors in the Tuscan Courtyard (Tuscan Village, 9 Via Toscana, Salem, 912-5467, tuscanbrands.com) Sunday, Aug. 25, from 2 to 4 p.m. Tickets are $85.

Clearly, there is never a bad time for a tiki drink, but late summer might be the best time for brightly colored drinks with umbrellas. It takes almost no effort to throw together a tiki party. All you really need are the drink ingredients and a tropical shirt. Invite three or four other aging hipster couples over, mix the drinks, and the rest will take care of itself. Because the real theme of a tiki party is relaxation, you can go as fancy or laid-back as you want with the food. Delivery pizza works perfectly well.

(As a side note: I know it’s a contentious issue, but my feeling is that the problem with most pineapple pizzas isn’t with the taste or texture, but the temperature. Nobody in the world likes hot pineapple. Add it just before serving. Don’t bake it in a pizza oven; what did it ever do to you?)

Here are recipes for two classic tiki drinks, served in mason jars instead of tiki mugs, so you can see and admire them.

Suffering Bastard

• ½ ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
• 1 ounce London dry gin
• 1 ounce apple brandy – I like Laird’s Applejack
• 2 dashes angostura bitters
• 4 ounce ginger beer – when possible I use Goya brand, but Fever-Tree makes a good one, too

Fill a mason jar halfway with ice. Add the lime juice, gin, brandy and bitters. Screw the top on and shake for about 30 seconds.

Add the ginger beer and stir gently with a straw. Add ice to top. Garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Sparkling Mai Tai

• ½ ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
• ½ ounce orgeat (almond syrup)
• ½ ounce orange liqueur – I like curaçao
• ½ ounce overproof black rum
• ½ ounce golden rum
• 4 ounce prosecco

Fill another mason jar halfway with ice, add all the non-prosecco ingredients, screw on the top and shake for 30 seconds. This should seem familiar by now.

Add the prosecco and stir gently with a straw. Add more ice to top. Garnish with mint leaves and a slice of lime.

You know how sometimes you go down a rabbit hole on the internet? One link leads to another, and before you know it you find yourself reading Ten Secrets Meghan Markle’s Chiropractor Doesn’t Want You to Know (Number Eight will shock you!). This happens to me fairly frequently. One story that I find myself reading again and again is the one of twin sisters who look completely different from each other. My memory of the details is fuzzy, but, the point of the piece is that despite being made from the same genetic recipe, the twins are surprisingly different. Think of these cocktails as the Internet Twins of Tiki Drinks. Although the method used to make them is more or less identical, the resulting drinks are worlds apart.

The Suffering Bastard is sweet and spicy. The lime ties the gin and brandy together, and the bitters pull the drink back from being too sweet. The ginger beer adds a kick of spiciness and some light carbonization.

The prosecco in the Sparkling Mai Tai adds sparkle, of course, but also a background fruitiness that plays well with the rum and almond flavors. It gives a lightness to the drink.

Featured Photo: Photo by John Fladd.