The 7 best foods to try at Charlotte’s Greek festival — and where to find them
It’s no secret that food is the main attraction for the Yiasou Greek Festival, coming up Sept. 9-11 at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Charlotte.
“Everything is authentic and homemade by the parishioners, and people come from all over to get something they just can’t find every day,” said Georgia Andrews, a festival volunteer in charge of the baked goods.
With about 40 food and drink selections on the menu, it can often be a tough choice to decide what to eat during the festival. And we’ve got you covered!
After speaking with Andrews and a few other Greek foodies, we’ve put together this list of the seven best foods to eat at the festival and where to find them.
Dessert tent
Baklava
By far, this is the most popular sweet dish served at the festival. The rich pastry is made with layers of phyllo dough filled with cinnamon, chopped nuts, syrup and cloves. It’s so labor intensive that it takes six days for the volunteers to make, Andrews said.
Baklava ice cream
Take all the gooey deliciousness from the baklava and put it on top of vanilla ice cream, and this dish is simply “to die for,” festivalgoer Jane Scaglione said.
“You just can’t get it anywhere else,” Scaglione said. “Everything is homemade just like your Yia-Yia (grandmother) makes. If you could only get one thing at the festival, this has to be it.”
Loukoumades
This is the Greek version of doughnut holes, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. They’re made of fried dough, honey or syrup on top and sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
“You want to say you’ll have just one, but you can’t. Once you start, by the time you know it, you’ve had five or six,” Andrews said. “I remember my granddaughter eating her first loukoumades when she was 5 years old. She said they tasted so good she couldn’t stop. She ate all 12 in the box.”
Outside food tents
Greek fries
These aren’t your average fries. These are fried potatoes cut in wedges, seasoned with traditional Greek spices and served with homemade tzatziki sauce — made fresh daily during the festival.
Gyro pita
This is another traditional Greek offering that festivalgoers can’t get enough of. The pita is stuffed with seasoned shaved lamb and beef with tzatziki sauce, tomato and onion.
“In Greece, that’s always the thing you get if you want fast food,” said Anastasios (Tom) Theodosiou, who was born and raised in Greece before moving to the Charlotte area about 15 years ago. “(The gyro pita) is made with big chunks of pork and lamb blended together and cooked on a rotisserie. They slice the meat right off of it in front of you, and put it on your sandwich. ... It’s so good.”
Dining Hall
Pastitsio
This Greek version of lasagna is always the first to sell out, Andrews said. It’s made of ground beef, pasta, cheese and spices covered in a bechamel sauce, and sold as a platter served with a side Greek salad, spanakopita, tiropita, dolmada, bread and a drink. You can also pick it up as a side dish.
Roast lamb plate
For centuries, lamb has been a central component of many Greek meals, likely because the Greek climate and topography favors grazing sheep rather than cow. For the festival’s platter, lambs are marinated in their own juices to ensure the flavors really pop. The dish is served with all of the same sides as the pastitsio.
Festival food by the numbers
20,000 gyros typically sold during the festival
1,600 pounds of walnuts are needed for baklava and other desserts
10,000 pounds of sugar goes into the pastries and syrup
1,200 pounds of butter used in baking
11,250 pounds of potatoes used for Greek fries
0 calories counted during the festival (OK, yes, we might have made that last one up)
Yiasou Greek Festival
Location: Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 600 East Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28203
Neighborhood: Dilworth
Instagram: @yiasougreekfest
