Greek Festival favorites available at new holiday market event

Pastries, frozen foods, Greek wines and beers, boutique holiday gifts, grocery items and hot loukoumades are all on the menu.

“During the Greek Fest Express, the drive-through, COVID-modified version of the Dayton Greek Festival, the menu was very limited in comparison to our normal menu, and many of our normal festival patrons asked about the foods they were missing, like dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves) and loukoumades (honey puffs). After the success of that event, many in our Greek community talked about the opportunity that it created during other times of the year now that we had figured out the process. About a month ago, a small group of women from the church got together over appetizers and wine and hashed it out,” said Dessine Ziehler, co-chair of Dayton Holiday Market. “The holidays usually bring people together. This year, since we have to do it differently, people will be looking for unique ways to show their love, and the Greek Holiday Market offers many ways to do that, like giving Greek pastry variety boxes or imported Greek wines as gifts. It’s also an opportunity to get many foods that aren’t available in the Dayton area except for once per year.”

Credit: Tom Gilliam

Credit: Tom Gilliam

Highlights include a pastry variety box ($15) that includes two baklava, one kourambiethes (traditional Greek butter cookie), one amigdalota (almond cookie), one melomakarona (Greek honey walnut cookie) and four koulourias (a buttery twisted shortbread cookie).

This box makes an awesome gift for the person who has everything and doesn’t need to steer clear from sugar, carbs or gluten.

There are several frozen dishes that you can purchase to enjoy through the holiday season. A half pan of frozen pastitsio (a Greek lasagna made with seasoned meat, noodles and bechamel sauce) serves 9-12 and includes baking instructions.

There’s also frozen tiropita (cheese pies) and frozen spanakopita (spinach pies) that are sold in a tray of regular size (3 ounces) with 24 pieces or 48 appetizers done in one-ounce sizes. Cost is $48 for any of these options.

Credit: Tom Gilliam

Credit: Tom Gilliam

And then there’s my personal favorite — frozen dolmathes.

One order of a dozen of these magical stuffed grape leaves with seasoned beef and rice is just $15. I can eat these like candy. They are one of my absolute favorites and the Greek Church does these just right with a nice refreshing light lemon setting off the bitter grape leaves and savory beef and rice. Grocery items include Greek salad dressing, extra virgin Greek olive oil, Greek coffee, Theareston Thyme Honey, Greek oregano, mint leaves, and tea. A selection of seven Greek wines can also be tacked on to your order priced between $20 to $30. The “Greek Boutique” has the largest selection with 22 items including puzzles, towels, cookbooks, ornaments, lotion, earrings, soap and more. Freshmade loukoumathes (honey puff donuts) will be made on site. A half-dozen of these hot, sweet treats is just $3.

“Many church organizations frequently offer Greek foods and pastries to the Greek Orthodox community on a small scale around the holidays, especially Christmas and Easter. The Greek Fest Express in September was the first time we’ve had a carry-out event for the public. Now we’re putting them together. This is the first time, at least in my memory, of a public event that is outside of the typical September festival,” said Ziehler. “We were thankful that the Dayton community supported Greek Fest Express, and it greatly exceeded expectations. At the same time, it was not nearly the event of the typical festival, and we hope to fill some of that void and help the church with this market. In reality, we don’t have a massive sales goal — we’re simply passionate about sharing our culture, and we saw the opportunity of the holidays to do that in a new way.”

Ziehler says there is a lot of excitement on social media so far. She said after just three days they have almost 80 orders, most from outside of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church community.

With orders only open until Nov. 27 now is the time to get them in. All orders must be placed online and pre-paid by credit card. Pick up is Sunday, Dec. 13, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 500 Belmonte Park North (next to the Dayton Art Institute).

For more information visit www.daytongreekfestival.com/online-ordering.

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