The number of food festivals gracing Little Rock seems to grow every year, but Greek Food Fest, which enters its 31st year, is always a must stop for us. From the great food to the entertainment and art surrounding the show, you need to make it out to the Agape Church at 701 Napa Valley Drive this weekend.
Over 31 keeping things fresh and attracting new visitors is hard to do. Chairman Jason Chacko has grown up around the festival and seems to strike a perfect balance this year of keeping things fresh, adding new options, and refining what was already going well.
No huge changes with the food this year, but there are a few new menu items that will grace the booths such as the deceptively good Mediterranean chicken wraps. Also, look for refinements of previous dishes such as the Greek pizza that is served on a soft flatbread, which now has a new cousin the za’atar pizza.
The old favorites like the pastitsio, spanakopita, and the always popular gyros seem just a bit better balanced and fresher this year. The hidden secret “Sunday in Athens,” which is an ice cream topped with baklava, still sits quietly in the kids section for those veterans of the festival to grab with typically no line.
To top things off, the drive-thru that is highly popular when it inevitably rains during the weekend got even better with the full menu being available through Chef Shuttle. It shows the ability to think outside the box that will make this year’s Greek Food Fest more popular than ever and likely cause a run on Chef Shuttle when the midday downpour hits tomorrow.
All in all, the 31st showing of the Greek Food Fest is still the best food festival in town, and it does not look like that crown will be lost anytime soon.
