After taking an hour nap from a day of extreme gardening, I.H. and I headed out to the annual Greek Fest.
I went to this last year with some friends and had the best time! Ate fantastic food, drank cheap Greek wine and entered a Greek dancing contest and almost won (or at least, people came up to us thinking it was a shock we did not win. Even though our dancing was not remotely Greek in nature.)
This year, we arrived to a complete zoo. Tom Hanks and his wife host this event and perhaps word had gotten out that this was THE place to be. We totally lucked out and found a parking spot behind the Saint Sofia Church that this entire event was taking place around.
As I am on antibiotics, I did not drink, but watched my friend order a Greek 7 and 7 with some random Greek brandy and we wandered over to get a look inside the ornate Saint Sofia compound.
After she finished her quite strong drink, we headed to the dance floor, where it appeared they were playing Salsa music. We danced awkwardly a bit, not knowing if we should put a Greek or a Latin spin on our techniques, being watched by the somewhat creepy living Greek statues!
When I looked up, I noticed an enormous neon sign on the top of an apartment building stating we were in the Byzantine Latino Quarter. What a random combo. But as the Hispanic population of LA is 46.5%, this is actually not a surprise.
I think I’ve had 3 Gyro’s in my life. Not because I don’t like them. I just never think to eat them.
It was high time, I renewed my interest in the miscellaneous meat delicacy!
We took our places in the Gyro line, watching the women prepare the pita bread at the speed of light and mesmerized by the logs of compressed Gyro meat, trapped in their claustrophic crematoriums!
Wow, the best Gyro ever! The meat was perfectly seasoned, it’s flavor did not get lost in the pita and all that sauce. They done good!
The vibe at the Greek fest is awesome, everyone’s drinking and having a good time, everyone’s dancing, everyone’s friendly, everyone’s saying Opa!! Or Oprah! Or something like that.
If you get a chance next year, check this festival out. Just don’t get there too late, as parking will be impossible, as it was for our friends who were searching for a spot for over 30 minutes and ended up just driving back home!
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