Last weekend, I
attended the Transylvanian festival in the Gordon Square / Detroit-Shoreway
neighborhood of Cleveland. It's a small one-day festival hosted by the Romanian
- Catholic (Greek Catholic) Saint Helen's parish. As far as I know, this is the
second installment of this fest; still, all-things Romania can be found at the
much larger Romanian festival celebrated every August at Saint Mary's Orthodox
Cathedral (Cleveland). You can tell this is a relatively new event, as they are still working on the logistics of promoting it. It has an amazing location, yet an almost impossible-to-read banner was their only non-mouth-to-mouth ad.
Still, a bad sign was
not going to stop me from getting some good food. I made it to the festival, and by virtue of a higher power
I made it there on time. Actually, I was there early, too early; so early that
they were not serving food yet.
In fact, most of the people were at a nearby
location competing on the festival's soccer tournament. So I agreed to leave,
to walk around the neighborhood and to come back a bit later, because I was not
willing to leave without eating. But I was not willing to wait too much longer
either; there was an intense roasted pork smell that would not let me stay away
for too long. The smell reminded me of the Puerto Rican lechoneras -A.K.A the
Disneyland for pork lovers, and that was one ride I was ready to go on.
I went to one of my
favorite coffee shops, but their coffee wasn't enough to keep my mind off the
pork smell; after all, the entire block was saturated with its delicious scent.
But I had to keep my mind busy, so I turned to my phone for solace. As I googled the
history of the church, I came across a reference that suggested that both Saint
Helen and Saint Mary's Orthodox Cathedral were originally built in the same
neighborhood, because that used to be the center of the Romanian community.
Since then Saint Mary had moved to their current location. So as a distraction
from the wait and the pork smell, I set up to discover where was it that the
other church used to be. My investigation was cut short though; it turns out
the old St. Mary's was literally across the street from the Saint Helen. And
then my mind was fixed on the pork again.
The tournament was
over, so I made it back to the festival. First, I had to get a drink. They had
a house wine (presumably homemade) that I was really curious to try. However, I
saw they had Timisoreana, the crisp pilsner I love having every time I go to
the Romanian festival. I can't believe I did this, but I chose the beer over
wine. It's that good.
Then I went for the
food, which was being served cafeteria style. But as I was walking down the
line I kept rejecting the foods I was been offered. I was starving, but I
wanted to save it all for that delicious pork I've been smelling for a while
now. When I asked for the pork though, I was informed that the pork was to be
served at 4pm and it was barely 2 then! I was too early, again! So I went
ahead, and got some of the 2pm items instead; I was not about to give up. I got
stuffed cabbage, which they make meaty at this church (thank you Jesus!), and I
had their potato salad, which was surprisingly light. My plate seemed too
empty, though, so I added a smoked sausage, and a chicken breast (because one
has to keep up with the diet, after all).
There was a huge
dessert table but I ignored it completely. As a "dessert" I had an
elephant ear, filled with cheese. I found the cheese filling to be a bit too
salty for my taste, and I felt like some powdered sugar was in order, yet not
present. However, my own private connoisseur of Transylvanian cuisine said it tasted
authentic, and even great. I mean, it was still pretty neat, and I did eat my share
of it…
And with that I wrapped it up, as I wait for the next festival to get some more of these goodies!
There is no food
recipe associated with this post. My hectic schedule has prevented me from
doing so. I'd like to dedicate this post to the memory of my
friend Mike. His love for the outdoors and for bicycling has inspired me for
years. He will be missed.
No comments:
Post a Comment