View our 2022 Menu Here or with the QR code below.
You will also be able to use these links to order your own food during the Festival weekend.
The Food
Join us behind the scenes to see how we prepare your favorite dishes at the Middle Eastern Food Festival.
Cans and cans of chickpeas are lined up to make hummus, the quintessential dip of the Middle East. Mix it in the blender with sesame paste (tahini), garlic, lemon juice and (sometimes) olive oil, and you’ve got a dish that’s not only delicious but healthy too!
Garlic and lemon juice (and lots of it) are key ingredients to several of our dishes.
Our seasoned parishioners are always happy to teach the next generation how to make the many traditional dishes of the Middle East. Here, Fayrouz rolls classic meat-filled grape leaves.
Time consuming to make, but worth every bite, are our rolled grape leaves! They’re made from tender leaves of the grapevine stuffed with ground beef and rice, and seasoned with spices and lemon juice. These have a way of selling out, so we advise our patrons to order them early!
Kibbeh is the national dish of Lebanon and it is not to be missed. The dish consists of baked ground beef and cracked wheat mixed with aromatic spices and stuffed with ground lamb, beef, and onions. If you order it as a platter, it comes with fluffy white rice with vermicelli, fattoush, yogurt, and pita bread.
Veggie lovers are huge fans of our Loobyeh – green beans cooked with tomato sauce, spices, and onions, and sautéed in olive oil. The beans are served with steamed white rice and pita bread.
At the Food Festival, we offer a variety of delicious combined meat and veggie platters for those who want a full course meal.
Deaconess Cathy, wife of clergy member Protodeacon David, is excited to explain our various authentic dishes to hungry festival attendees.
Gorgeous displays of our mouth-watering, homemade dishes!
Guests comes from miles away to enjoy the lamb dinner served during the Hafli on Saturday evening. Sonia, Donna, JoEllen, Anne and Mona are excited to work the kitchen for this high energy event.
Khourieh Judy (wife of one of our priests, Father Ephrem) adds the must-have pita bread to an order.
Jackie makes sure our supply of hummus and Baba Ghannouj are always well stocked at the food line.
Manuel displays wine options for our guests. We provide Mediterranean-based wines and Middle Eastern beers for those who would like them to accompany our hearty meals.
Longtime parishioner Mike and his goddaughter Crystal are always upbeat and undeterred by day-long kitchen tasks!
Even dishes are fun for Barbara and Mary, kitchen volunteers.
Danny, Sam, and Chris are ready to go at the grill!
400 pounds of chicken are purchased for the two-day festival. Here, Tommy and Omar are grilling chicken for shawarma sandwiches.
Resident griller Matt and his father load a tower of chicken onto the shawarma spit.
These guys do a fantastic job of grilling chicken kabobs, which are marinated in yogurt and a special blend of spices. A tip to keep in mind for our kabob grillers out there: If using wooden skewers, soak them in water for an hour or so before assembling the kabobs in order to prevent the bamboo from catching fire during grilling.
Hani carefully carves meat from the spit for shawarma sandwiches, the Middle Eastern version of a Greek gyro. The meat is a combination of beef and lamb and is one of our most popular sellers at the festival.
Assad has for years been our “spice master.” He mixes all the spices for our marinades and spends hours at the outdoor grill ensuring everything is spiced to perfection!
Our rows and rows of grilled chicken kabobs are made with marinated chicken and colorful vegetables, all threaded onto skewers and cooked to perfection.
Faraj is one of several key players responsible for grilling all those chicken kabobs!
Robbie, Marks, Zach and Omar prepare the Arabic “hamburger,” otherwise known as Kafta. They’re oblong “patties” made from lamb, beef, onion and a blend of herbs and spices. We serve them on a bed of hummus, parsley, onion, sumac, pickles and tomatoes, wrapped in pita bread.
It takes a lot of charcoal to cook all that meat – over 20 bags each festival!
Our resident Greek parishioner Sam does what Greeks do best: lamb!
In addition to Middle Eastern food, we serve good old-fashioned hot dogs! Here they’re expertly boiled by Robbie, Omar, Marks and Matt.
Zack chops shawarma meat – a combination of beef and lamb – fresh off the spit.
Freshly-made piping-hot meats are ready to go into pita sandwiches.
Jerry and Alma fry the falafel, a classic Arabic vegetable burger made with chickpeas, garlic, onions, and spices.
Haley adds the traditional garlic paste to a chicken shawarma sandwich. The chicken is wrapped in pita with tomatoes, pickles, and the tangy sauce.
Johnny prepares vegetarian falafel for the fryer. The traditional chickpea patties are served with tomatoes, parsley, and tahini sauce and wrapped in pita bread.
Jason assembles a falafel sandwich on pita.
Alma is part of the team serving the falafel sandwiches. How nice that they’re already wrapped and ready to go!
Sheila adds the signature toppings of pickles, tomatoes, and parsley mix to a shawarma sandwich.
Adrienne puts the finishing touches on one of hundreds of shawarma sandwiches served up at our outdoor grill.
Maggie reveals the contents of an enticing chafing dish -- freshly shaved pieces of shawarma.
The Middle Eastern Food Festival is our top fundraiser of the year. Proceeds support our yearly operations, religious education, and charitable endeavors. If interested in making a 100% tax deductible donation, please click on the button below.