No offense, but your town’s gyros are garbage. Trust me: Once you’ve tried real, authentic gyros, you never go back.
Tarpon Springs is a sleepy little community in Tampa Bay, Fla. Percentagewise, it’s the most Greek city in America. It was settled in the late 1800s by Greek sponge divers — an industry that continues today. (Visiting the sponge docks remains a top tourist destination.)
And the food is just AMAZING. Knee-buckling delicious!
My oldest kid graduated from Tarpon Springs High School. My youngest attended Plato Academy in elementary school and learned how to count in Greek. The Greek influence is everywhere. You can’t escape it.
I’m not Greek. (Nor is my wife: She’s Dutch.) Before moving here, my only brush with Greek culture was doing PR for Lainie Kazan, the woman who played the mom in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Of course, Kazan isn’t Greek either: She’s actually Jewish, but hey, Hollywood is gonna be Hollywood.
I’m so un-Greek, I didn’t even join a frat in college. So there’s definitely been a learning curve. Much I didn’t know.
Here’s an example: When you order a Greek salad in Tarpon Springs, it comes with a big pile of potato salad in the middle. First time that happened, I complained to the waitress.
She rolled her eyes in annoyance: “Well, why didn’t you say you didn’t want potato salad on your Greek salad?”
“Because it didn’t occur to me that I had to?”
The backstory is, in World War I, a Greek-American named Louis Pappas was an Army chef, and to add calories to his Greek salad, he’d heap a pile of potato salad on top. It was a hit with the boys, so when Pappas returned to Tarpon Springs and opened a restaurant, he kept the potato salad on his Greek salad.
And today, more than 100 years later, most Greek restaurants in the area still serve it that way.
That’s not the only local tradition: This past January, Tarpon Springs celebrated its 120th Epiphany. Each year, a young woman releases a white dove, and then an archbishop throws a cross into the Spring Bayou. A bunch of kids dive in to retrieve it — and whoever finds it first is considered blessed for the year.
Last Epiphany, 74 divers searched for the cross.
Like any immigrant community, Tarpon Springs’ Greeks don’t fit neatly into any one box. Some are wealthy businessmen and political leaders; others are day laborers with a checkered past. But almost all of ‘em have enormous pride in their Greek heritage.
Since 1983, when the ninth district was formed, Tarpon Springs’ congressman has always been Greek. From 1983 through 2007, it was represented by Republican Michael Bilirakis, the son of Greek immigrants. The ninth district is now the 12th, but it’s still represented by a Republican Bilirakis: Michael’s son Gus.
(During campaign season, you’ll see lots of local signs with VERY long last names. Greek names aren’t short.)
The Greek Orthodox celebrate Easter on a different date than “Western Easter” — or, as they explained it to me, they celebrate the REAL Easter, and everyone else is doing it wrong. This year, it fell on April 12.
Of the ten best gyros I’ve ever had in my life, all ten came from different Tarpon Springs restaurants. You can get ‘em pretty much anywhere — every local diner has ‘em on the menu, and they’re (almost always) made from scratch. Greeks take their gyros seriously, and God bless ‘em for it.
Great spanakopita, too — a meal that’s just as much fun to say as it is to eat.
Fun fact: The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is neither trans nor Siberian. But it is from Tarpon Springs. (Prior to going Trans and/or Siberian, they were an underrated metal band called Savatage. If you enjoy the vocals of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, check out “Wake of Magellan” and “Edge of Thorns.”)
So we’ve got great music. Unbelievably wonderful food. And the Greekiest culture in America.
Come on over and say “Yassou!” Tarpon Springs is definitely worth a visit.
