Traditional food prepared by devoted home cooks sets the table for a toga party on the bayou at Greek Fest.
Greek Festival New Orleans is coming up on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend along Bayou St. John near the Lakefront. Greek Festival is held on the grounds of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral and inside its Hellenic Cultural Center. The event raises money that supports the church community year-round, and as such it inspires a devoted effort from the church members and their friends who run the show.
Some of them will spend the festival weekend roasting 300 whole spring lambs, a featured food that has become a centerpiece of the festival.
In recent years, the Greek Orthodox church has added adjacent lots to expand its festival grounds, so now there’s more room for the stage, the dance floor, the crafts tents and the kids activities here. But food is always close at hand.
Booths around the grounds dispense gyros, calamari, souvlaki and loukoumades, which are like Greek beignets topped with honey and cinnamon. In addition to local beer from Abita, imported wines from Greece and stiff aperitifs – like the potent, anise-flavored ouzo -- you can wash this down with iced tea, snoballs or daiquiris all made with pomegranate, that ancient Greek symbol of prosperity.
Greek Festival
1200 Robert E. Lee Blvd., New Orleans
May 25, 5–11 p.m.
May 26, 11 a.m.–11 p.m.
May 27, 11 a.m.–9 p.m.
