Salt Lake Greek Festival 2016

This was the fifth year my husband and I attended the Salt Lake Greek Festival. We didn't stick around as long as we had in years past - we had some lunch, and admired the dancing and the items for sale in the little shop - but once again, there were no cooking demos to observe, nor did we take in a tour of the church or listen to a choral performance. The dancing was lovely, of course, and the food was, as usual, good (although we noticed a slight decline in the quality of the gyros). 

I had a gyro, spanakopita, pilaf, keftedes (meatballs), and
chicken souvlaki.

We both brought home some lamb, which came with an
excellent salad and feta, for dinner.

We had to get some desserts, too, of course: baklava,
baklava cheesecake, and galotoptia (custard).

The pasta flora (jam tart) and almond cookies were excellent.

Salt Lake Greek Festival 2015

This weekend was the 40th anniversary of the Salt Lake Greek Festival; this is the fourth year in a row my husband and I have attended. We primarily go to the food but the festival features dancing from various Greek troupes; tours of Holy Trinity Cathedral and performances from the cathedral choir; and the Hellenic Cultural Museum of Salt Lake City.

This year we happened to go between dancing sets, so we didn't stay as long; we also didn't go on a tour of the church or listen to a choral performance. (And it's been a few years since we went to the Hellenic Cultural Museum.)

We noticed a few changes this year: There were fewer vendors - we remembered that last year, there were also many fewer than in previous years; for the second year in a row, we didn't see any art for sale. This year, for the first time, we didn't see the cooking demo stand set up. And the tchotchke shop - where we scored some feta and Greek coffee - had many fewer items than last year. There were also fewer food stands outside the food line; the sausage-and-fries stand had sold out, and there was no second gyro stand. Since both this year and last we went on a Sunday, we weren't sure if our timing had something to do with these differences.

But still - Greek food!

I did not eat all of this in one sitting: pilafi, spanakopita,
souvlaki, gyro, and calamari.

Some of the desserts we took home galaktoboureko,
galatopita, poutika, and a macaroon.

If we could have bought all the baklava,
we would have. We also brought home a
bag of koulourakia and some baklava cake.

We also took some loukoumades home.

Salt Lake Greek Festival 2014

This weekend was the 39th annual Salt Lake Greek Festival, hosted by the Greek Orthodox Churches of Greater Salt Lake; my husband and I have managed to attend the past three years (the first festival I could have attended, four years ago, I hadn't known about; I had been living in Utah for less than a week at that point). Last year, we discovered that Sunday afternoon was a good time for us to attend; the food lines are much shorter, which suits us better.

In any case, we saw some wonderful dancing; saw a cooking demo, in which fried feta was prepared and shared; and heard the Holy Trinity Cathedral Choir perform.

We also ate a lot of great food.

While waiting in line, we bought and ate Tyropita, a cheese
triangle wrapped and baked in phyllo.

My husband had the Keftedes (meatballs); a gyro; pilafi (rice
 boiled in lemon and chicken broth); pork souvlaki; and
Pastitsio (baked pasta with a filling of ground meat and a
béchamel sauce on top). He also had a salad and feta.

I had some spanikopita; a gyro; some feta; some Keftedes;
and chicken souvlaki. 

I also had Stifado, a beef stew with pearl onions, vinegar,
red wine, and cinnamon.

While I wasn't able to eat everything, before we left we
stopped off for another gyro and Greek fries to take home. 

Among the things we took home were the Loukoumades, which
are similar to donuts; they're fried balls of dough coated with
honey and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Many treats were bought; some was eaten, but some was
taken home. We ate some baklava and melomakarona
(cookies soaked in syrup of diluted honey, then sprinkled with
crushed walnuts).

Baklava is one of our favorites, but we also ate or brought home
a galotopita (custard pudding baked in phyllo) and some
flogeres (walnuts, butter, and spices baked in phyllo and topped
with chocolate syrup).

Salt Lake Greek Festival 2013

The weekend after Labor Day, the Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake throws a big festival: the Salt Lake Greek Festival. It's a four-day event that starts on Thursday afternoon and goes until Sunday night, and it's monstrous. My husband and I went this afternoon, which was a great time to have gone; the food lines were quick (in years past we've waited up to an hour or more).

We had some great food, trying much of the food I know little old Greek church ladies had spent a lot of time preparing. We even saw a whole lamb cooking on a spit, which I wish I had gotten a picture of.

My husband had a Greek salad, gyro, calamari,
pork souvlaki, and Keftedes (baked meatballs) 

I got a lot of the same things my husband did (although I
got spanikopita instead of salad, and didn't get an order of
calamari), but we both got an extra gyro.

I also ordered Loukaniko, pork sausage flavored with
fennel seeds and orage peel).

And aside from a tray of pastries we took home with us,
we had fresh Loukourmades, fried balls of dough coated
with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Salt Lake Greek Festival 2012

Every year, the weekend after Labor Day, Holy Trinity Cathedral, a Greek Orthodox church in downtown Salt Lake City, has its annual Greek Festival. My husband and I really enjoy attending - lots of good food, dancing, cooking demos, choir performances, and interesting things to peruse. The Cathedral is also open, which is especially interesting to us because while it's a gorgeous church, my husband is a quarter Greek (his father had been brought up Greek Orthodox), so we feel some ties to the the religion and culture as well. And it's interesting to us to compare the seemingly minimal differences between Greek Orthodoxy and our own Roman Catholicism.

But of course the food is a big draw. We waited in line nearly an hour and a half, but boy, was it worth it! The line moved constantly, and it was warm weather, so the time seemed to move pretty quickly, and we filled up on a lot of excellently-prepared food.

I had keftedes (baked meatballs with mint and tomato sauce); a gyro (meat, tomato, onion, and tzatziki sauce, served on amazing pita bread); and souvlaki (chicken grilled on a skewer, marinated in oil, salt, pepper, oregano, and lemon):

I also had loukaniko, a Greek pork sausage flavored with fennel seeds and orange peel:

And for dessert, Kourambiedes (cookies, butter, and crushed roasted almonds generously dusted with powdered sugar); Melomakarona (cookies soaked in syrup of diluted honey, then sprinkled with crushed walnuts); baklava; and Amigdalota (almond cookies flavored with nutmeg and sprinkled with nuts):