76th Annual Mediterranean Festival (St. Elias Church, 11th St.)

Opa! This post is not about a restaurant, but in my opinion, it is impossible to go without mentioning this 76 year old festival, which is known for it's food.

If you find yourself in Austin during October, I recommend checking this fest out. It's held at the St. Elias Greek Orthodox church, which is an orthodox Christian church. In Christianity there are basically a million sects, but two of the original ones are Roman Catholic, which most Americans are, and Eastern Orthodox. This church is the latter. Many Greeks and Russians are Eastern Orthodox.

If you've ever wanted to have a big wedding and you want to have a practice run, this festival may be good practice. I felt like I had stepped into My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Long tables ran all the way down the streets and huge families hunkered down in their spots to taste all of the delicious treats.

Each tent offered a unique mediterranean treat and I wanted to sample them all. We started with spanokopita, a fillo dough filled with cheese and spinach and it quickly became our favorite treat because we could easily mumble and call it "spankypita" to delight our company. Next we sampled the pita bread and hummus and then moved on to a chicken shish-ka-bob. After the kabobs, we headed over to the dessert tent and sampled one of everything. We had candied dates, a bunch of stuff that I can't remember the name of, a shell filled with cream cheese and the bestest baklava ever. Never tried it? You must! Now! I mean immediately! Go now!

Then we headed over to the first stage to listen to a sampling of some mediterranean music. Large groups joined hands and danced in circles holding hands. I mean, if you've ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding it was just like it. Everyone was screaming "Opa!"

I almost forgot to mention the most unique aspect of the festival. In Austin, most festivals only serve beer and wine, but this one is different. Vox Vodka set up a tent with Pama pomegranite liquer. They were whipping up some super duper martinis. Also, Bacardi, Tuaca and Frangelico set up tents. We scored some really cool swag at the liquor tents, like Vox baseball caps, pint glasses, Pama Martini glasses, Bacardi T-Shirts and shot glasses. You could purchase beer and wine too. You could actually purchase whole bottles of wine and take them around the festival with you. Booze Fest!

Last, we stopped off at the coffee tent where we sampled American and Imported coffees and a little marshmallowy treat.

For it's affordability ($2-$20), priests in full garb drinking wine, and fun family feeling, I give the 76th Annual Mediterranean Festival a 4.