If you want to make your big fat Greek dinner as authentic as possible, set aside a generous block of time to shop and prepare.
Start at Pete’s Fruits & Vegetables, a neighborhood Greek-owned grocery store at the corner of East Cedar Avenue and South Holly Street.
You’ll find many of the same products that factor into traditional meals over there – kalamata olives, cheeses, orzo and honest-to-goodness Greek yogurt, unlike that cranked out on production lines on this side of the Aegean.
Taramasalata comes in a jar, but is nonetheless quite wonderful. There are even Greek soft drinks and frozen phyllo for sweet or savory fillings. Artichoke season has passed in Greece, but there are still giant globes at Pete’s, not to mention beautiful leeks, vine-ripened tomatoes and cucumbers, critical components for the tzaziki that accompanies meze.
To round out your meal plan, go next door to Fred’s Fine Meats for your lamb, pork, veal or chicken.
You will then have theoretically shopped as the Greeks do, locally and from a neighborhood grocer – unless your neighborhood is in Golden, Arvada or Greenwood Village. And alas, the lemons left the tree weeks, not hours, ago.
– Ellen Sweets
Eating Greek around Denver
Where to find Greek food in the Denver area:
Pete’s Kitchen
1962 E. Colfax Ave.
303-321-3139
Pete’s Greek Town Cafe
2910 E. Colfax Ave.
303-321-1104
Pete’s Gyros Place
2819 E. Colfax Ave.
303-321-9658
Pete’s Central One
300 S. Pearl St.
303-778-6675
Pete’s University Park Cafe
2345 E. Evans Ave.
303-733-7376
My Big Fat Greek Cafe
560 S. Broadway
303-777-2391
Yanni’s Greek Taverna
2223 S. Monaco Parkway
303-692-0404
South Central II
508 E. Hampden Ave., Englewood
303-761-3767
Cafe Paprika
13152 E. Mississippi Ave., Aurora
303-755-4150
Lookin’ Good Restaurant
66 Sheridan Blvd.
303-936-6800
Monaco Inn
962 S. Monaco Parkway
303-320-1104
Gyros King
15102 E. Hampden Ave., Aurora
303-693-6755
Rosemary Cafe & Family Dining
2133 S. Sheridan Blvd.
303-980-9828
Not Just Gyros
134 E. Fourth St., Loveland
970-663-9594
Renzio’s Greek Food
8501 W. Bowles Ave., Littleton
303-972-3984
Greek Gyros Shop
1250 S. Hover Road, Longmont
303-774-9151
