Memories of Greek food

This past weekend we went to one of the few remaining Greek restaurants in Chicago's Greek Town. It used to be you could walk down Halsted Street west of the Loop and pass one Greek restaurant after another. Now most of them are gone. I'm not sure why, possibly a change in the neighborhood. There are a lot of new buildings.

Our dinner was very good, but I really want to reminisce about a restaurant in my hometown.

I lived the last part of my childhood in Connecticut, in Cos Cob, which is part of the larger town of Greenwich. My family loved the Colonial Inn, in Old Greenwich, which was owned by a husband and wife -- one of them was Greek and the other Italian. An so the Colonial Inn was a Greek-Italian restaurant. It was on the small side and cozy. White tablecloths. It's no longer there, but I heard from high school classmates that the children of the owners have opened a restaurant in a neighboring town. I should say that my family is not Greek (or Italian).

I have two standout memories of the Colonial Inn. One was when my sister's college boyfriend came to visit and our parents gave us some money and said, go out to eat. My sister, brother, the boyfriend, and I went to the Colonial Inn. Us three siblings all ordered Greek food, from appetizer to dessert. The boyfriend (I have forgotten his name!) ordered a ham steak followed by cheesecake for dessert. My brother and I knew then that the relationship wouldn't last. And it didn't.

My other memory is of an evening with my parents and brother and sister. My dad wanted to order wine and was asking what a particular wine was like. The waiter paused. A Catholic priest was eating by himself at a nearby table, but he had gone to the men's room. The waiter remarked, "The Father won't mind," and poured a small glass from the priest's bottle of wine for my dad to try! 

When we got to dessert, the waiter informed us that the galaktoboureko had just come out of the oven. Galaktoboureko is not as well known as baklava, but once you have it, you won't forget it. Usually it is served chilled, but that night we had it warm from the oven. Oh my, in 40 years I have not forgotten the sensation of eating that delicious dessert. Here is a description from the web:

Galaktoboureko is a traditional Greek dessert made with layers of golden brown crispy phyllo, sprinkled with melted butter, filled with the most creamy custard and bathed in scented syrup.. Simply amazing!

I didn't have any dessert this past weekend; I was stuffed from my seafood, rice, and bread. But sometimes memories are better than the real thing.