152225 Sat Jun 04 00:29:39 -0700 2005 24 12 Boston Area 0 817406 Made it to St Athanasius Church today for lunch (thanks to GretchenS for the Chow alert). We got parking right in front of the church, or, more to the point, right in front of the spits on which the piglets and lamb were roasting. A long tent stretches from the kerb-side spits all the way to the back, a block long. Under the tent are long tables placed end to end, upon which lie an array of chafing dishes holding the food offerings. The good ladies of the congregation man these tables and dish out the food. At the back is a large seating area were a gentleman mans the stereo equipment which blares out Greek tunes. We dithered a little over which meat to order, but I'd a hankering for pig and seeing them rotating on the spits just sealed the deal. (The friendly church ladies also told us that the pig is the winner every year, over the lamb). The two of us shared a specialty plate of spit-roasted pig ($15) which also comes with rice pilaf and a little Greek salad. We got a pig knuckle with generous amounts of meat and crackling, plus a couple of ribs, and chunks of pork shoulder. The meat was tender, juicy and very porky (in a good way); not like the anemic pork, laced with additives, that you get in the supermarket chains. There was a nice amount of fat which further enhanced the porkiness. The crackling was a crunchy treat I've not had in a while. WHile the salad was ordinary (somewhat limp as it had been dressed in advance), the rice pilaf was topped with a delicious, slightly tart tomato sauce that cut through the porky fatness of the meat. We were pretty full, but had to try the lamb. The roasted lamb plate ($10) consisted of 4 thinnish slices of roast lamb with the rice pilaf and salad. The lamb was well-seasoned and spiced (rosemary and ?oregano) and, although well-done (I prefer medium-rare), was not tough. Overall, though, my vote goes to the pig. We also shared a large square of spanakopita ($3) -the buttery, flaky layers of filo encasing a generous filling of creamy spinach and cheese was some of the best we've had. The other savory offerings - gyros, moussaka, souvlaki (beef/chicken kabobs), tiropita (chicken pie), pastitsio (similar to lasagna), dolmathes and loukanico (Greek sausage) looked good, but we were full (alas). But not too full for some dessert. Loukoumades ($3) - 8 small balls of fried dough tossed in cinnamon-laced honey and chopped walnuts. They were still warm, very light, and subtly spiced. Baklava ($2) - delicious and fresh, with a nice crunch to the pastry, though a little too sweet. Galaktobouriko ($2) - creamy custard sandwiched in filo was a winner too. Wanted to try the other desserts (kataifi and diples, a deepfried rolled dough) but, yep, was too full. (BTW, the church ladies told me the diples are prepared the night before whereas the loukoumades are fried fresh in batches). To drink, we had homemade lemonade ($1) and Greek coffee($1). The latter was disappointing as it tasted like diner coffee. The whole thing is well-organised and well-run. There weren't many people there this afternoon and the ones there appeared to be families who attend the church. A very elderly gentleman, after finishing his lunch, was helped to his feet and proceeded to do a few steps of Zorba-type Greek dancing to the lively music before collapsing back in his seat. The ladies in the congregation make all the food and how I envy their families getting such great home-cooked specialties year round :) Everything is freshly prepared; while hunting for a restroom, I passed the basement kitchen were they were cooking up fresh batches of baklava and kabobs. A great experience, and for a good cause. I've linked to their website (which has a menu). Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/152182#817197 Sat Jun 04 00:29:39 -0700 2005 0 ju 1 817414 I totally agree with your review. Thanks for all the detail you provide. My daughter and I look forward to this each year. Yesterday we stopped there at 1:30 or so - it was pretty empty of customers. We picked up a pork dinner, 3 gyros, a bunch of spanikopita and assorted desserts. No complaints about any of it. This seems to be the first year they offer other types if gyros - chicken or pork(?). I still prefer the original. It's always fun to talk to the serving ladies and find out what they recommend. If you smile a lot and chat with them, they sometimes throw in a little extra. Sat Jun 04 10:40:10 -0700 2005 817406 0 EllenM-M 2 817426 Hey, we were there around the same time as you were. I appreciated the lack of crowds. I can imagine it gets pretty hot under the tents on a day like today, especially when packed with people. Thanks for the tip about chatting with the ladies :) I did compliment them (sincerely) several times on the food. Sat Jun 04 15:08:50 -0700 2005 817414 0 ju 1 817427 Ju pretty much covered everything. I went today around 1:30 with two friends. We shared a pig plate, a lamb plate, two spinach pies, some of those awesome Loukoumades (freaking delicious) and my friends took home some baklava. We washed it down with a couple of Greek beers (Mythos, really light) and some lemonade and got two Italian ices to go. After reading Ju's post before we left, I made sure that they loaded my plate with some extra cracklin, which you don't see much up here as few places do whole pig. Mmmmm craklin. Don't miss out on that pig. One of my friends, jtw, who posts on chowhound some, took some pictures. Check out the link below. Warning, not for vegetarians or people squicked out by whole dead animals. Mmmm whole dead animals ... Link: http://flickr.com/photos/41888309@N00/ Sat Jun 04 16:21:19 -0700 2005 817406 0 Dax 2 817428 Nice pics, Dax. Talking about people freaking out, I saw two teenaged girls walk past the spit. One of them drew back in horror, covered her mouth with both hands and said loudly: "Uck! Why do people do this stuff? It's so *&^!@# gross, I think I'm gonna barf". If only she knew what she was missing..... but that just leaves more for us Hounds :) Sat Jun 04 16:44:15 -0700 2005 817427 0 ju 3 817429 Kids these days ... Sat Jun 04 16:54:16 -0700 2005 817428 0 Dax 4 817436 Speaking of kids, I brought my 4 and 2 year olds for an early dinner. Got there about 4:30 and had only a short wait to get food. Went with the lamb for myself - would rate it as fair. Will try to talk the family back tomorrow for a pig sampling. My 4 year old was rather fascinated by the pig roasting. We stood there and watched the pigs turn for 5 or 10 minutes while I answered his questions. Another attempt to combat the "food comes from the supermarket" concept. I have to say that one of the most fun aspects of the meal was looking around and trying to figure out if any of the other diners were hounds, and if so, who. Nice to know that so many of us were there and thanks for the heads up to the original poster. Come over and say hi if you see a dad with two young kids there looking at the pig roast tomorrow. Tim Sat Jun 04 21:47:49 -0700 2005 817429 0 tdaaa 5 817464 I was there with my three kids at 4:30 too and had the same thought about other hounds. The good stuff on the spit was not going to be ready for an hour so I opted for a traditional greek dish: mousakka. Being a Corner Restaurant fan, I am reluctant to say that this was sooo much better. The flavors were delicious. Family thought the baked lamb was good not great and the kids liked but didn't love the pastisto. The greek fried dough was warm light and perfectly flavored. I enjoyed my once a year glass of retsina, after which I didn't mind the blaring music. I love this festival! Mon Jun 06 09:41:58 -0700 2005 817436 0 3esmom 3 817448 Yum I did a pig marathon day expecting that reaction and all the kids loved it. Good upbringing.But, the skin was way too tough. Anyone know why? The pig arrived frozen. Sun Jun 05 12:21:53 -0700 2005 817428 0 mike 4 817520 I found the skin no tougher than any other whole roasted pig I've eaten (not a huge sample)--the plastic knife was hopeless but fingers and teeth did the trick. But you'd get better answers if you posted a query on the General Topics board. Mon Jun 06 16:26:17 -0700 2005 817448 0 Aromatherapy 5 817559 Us two Southern boys that went loved the cracklin. It tasted as good (with the same texture, it's not supposed to be tough nor brittle either) as most I've had over the years. And yes, you're supposed to use your fingers and teeth. Tue Jun 07 09:54:03 -0700 2005 817520 0 Dax 6 817601 The crackling we got was pleasantly crunchy for the most part; however, there were bits (which had some hairs on them and were less browned) that were too tough to chew. I think these weren't sufficiently cooked, hence the old leather consistency. So maybe Mike was unfortunate enough to only get these tough bits. I have to say that even though I enjoyed the crackling, I've had better, on roast suckling pig done Cantonese-style. Tue Jun 07 17:28:30 -0700 2005 817559 0 ju 7 817625 I don't know if it was Cantonese style, but a bunch of us 'hounds got a suckling pig at one of the Chinatown places a year or so ago. While the cracklin was indeed excellent, the rest of the pig was a bit more fatty and hacked up weirdly. I prefer spit roasted. Then again, I generally prefer my own swine preparation. It's just that whole hog is a bit of a pain in the butt. Wed Jun 08 09:55:02 -0700 2005 817601 0 Dax 8 817649 It was Cantonese style. The pig was a little older and larger than most preparations of this sort that I've had in the past (typical sizes are about 1.5 to 2 feet in length for the whole animal). Wed Jun 08 15:45:01 -0700 2005 817625 0 Limster 1 817441 I've gone to the festival two days in a row now, and I'll be really tempted to go again tomorrow. Friday I got there around 11, just as they were putting out the dishes of food, and my friends and I got tiropita, lamb gyros, baklava, and loukamades, and throroughly enjoyed all of it. I've never had baklava more dripping with honey! Today I went back and, based on the recommendations I saw here, I tried the spanokopita and some of the rice pilaf (along with more loukamades!) and found both to be excellent. I'm currently trying to decided what I'll get if I end up there again tomorrow! I don't normally eat meat, so the lamb was a treat, and the pig might be a bit much for me, but everything looks delicious! Sat Jun 04 23:48:53 -0700 2005 817406 0 Christina 1 817446 I got there yesterday at 1:30 yesterday--an hour late for my meetup with GretchenS et al., but--NOTE for future reference--I got pig at 1:40, and at 12:30 it wasn't ready yet. Mmmm. Even better, they were too full to want any. IIRC when I got pig for lunch in other years it was also latish. Also there was no wait at 1:30, except for the pig to be cut up. Don't miss the moussaka. I got some takeout, for later and to freeze for much later. Sun Jun 05 10:22:05 -0700 2005 817406 0 Aromatherapy 2 817470 Gretchen, Chris, chowpup & hubby and I got there around 12:30 & were bummed that the pigs weren't ready, so we all had the spitted roast lamb - which was very good anyway. You triumphantly showed up an hour later laden with pork - envy, envy, but we were just too stuffed to eat any more. Nice meal w/all. Mon Jun 06 10:07:31 -0700 2005 817446 0 Taralli 3 817501 Agreed, the lamb was fabulous. The desserts were fine but not as good as the ones at Woburn's Greek festival. Next year I go to Woburn for desserts and then a few weeks later go to Arlington for dinner! Mon Jun 06 13:49:30 -0700 2005 817470 0 Chris VR 4 817546 Chris VR, could you please post more info on the Woburn Greek festival? Thanks. Tue Jun 07 00:05:36 -0700 2005 817501 0 ju 5 817553 Well, it's over now. I posted a while back mentioning it was coming up. It's the same type of thing, put on by the Annunciation Church in Woburn, a fundraiser where the church ladies cook their hearts out. I'm fairly sure it's always before the Arlington one (this year it was May 20-21). I think they have scaled this event down, because I think I remember some sort of spit roasted lamb in the past. This year it was just the roasted lamb, which was fine, but didn't compare to the spit roasted lamb at Arlington. However, as I mentioned, the desserts in Woburn were better (and cheaper). Baklava at $1 per slice was fantastic and a bargain. Maybe this is a regional difference, but hubby likes kataifi that's crunchy. When I saw the ladies at Arlington scooping out a soggy portion, and then ladling extra sauce over the top, I knew it wouldn't go over with hubby. Also the loukamades in Woburn were superior to Arlington. Tue Jun 07 08:30:34 -0700 2005 817546 0 Chris VR 5 817560 Not Woburn, but there are at least 4 Greek festivals left this Summer. Link: http://www.greekboston.com/greekfestivals/index.shtml Tue Jun 07 09:57:21 -0700 2005 817546 0 Dax 5 817576 Thanks, Dax and ChrisVR for the information. Will keep the Woburn festival in mind for next year, and thinking of checking out Lowell's and Watertown's in the next couple of weeks (maybe they have pig/lamb on the spit....). Tue Jun 07 13:18:08 -0700 2005 817546 0 ju 2 817529 On your recommendation we shared some moussaka on Sunday while waiting for the pig to be ready and it was FABULOUS -- thanks for the tip. The pig, once ready, was also all that I remembered from last year. Fun to meet up with all of you! Mon Jun 06 18:14:25 -0700 2005 817446 0 GretchenS 1 817463 I made it over there on Sunday around 4-ish and sadly the pig wasn't going to be ready until 5. I had been torn between lamb on a spit and pig on a spit (mmmm, animal on a spit) and so I found the decision had been made for me by the fates. The lamb on a spit was really really good -- much better than the roast lamb, which I've had in years past. I took it home and doctored it a bit with a big grind of black pepper and a squeeze of lemon and I ended up ditching most of the limp salad. I also got a slab of the spanakopita. I demured on the desserts and coffee-house, but enjoyed watching the Greek women dishing out their treats with pride. I *love* that festival, and also thank Gretchen for the heads up. Mon Jun 06 09:32:23 -0700 2005 817406 0 yumyum 2 817530 ... and we got there at 5:30 and the pig still wasn't ready -- it finally was about 6:30 or so.... Mon Jun 06 18:16:11 -0700 2005 817463 0 GretchenS