Opa! Taste of Danforth serving 'tons of food'

[Philip]

Anyone going to Greek town today?

TOR - Peter Hadjis is one of the pioneers from the first Taste of the Danforth 18 years ago.
The 67-year-old restauranteur of The Palace was there in 1993 to launch what’s become one of Toronto’s favourite street festivals.

“In the very first year we had 23 restaurants take part and about 500 people showed up. Then, the next year we had 50,000 people come and now we’re up to 1.3 million who come out and they have to close down Danforth Ave. from Broadview to Jones,” Hadjis said.

“We started the festival because we wanted to raise money for charity and show people our culture and let them taste our food and learn how to prepare it. It’s become a big success,” said Hadjis, who immigrated from Greece to Toronto when he was 23.
Hadjis, his wife, Stella, and his eldest son, John, 42, stocked up for the weekend with 1,750 quails, 1,000 pounds of pork, 450 kilos of chicken, 140 kilos of lamb, 180 kilos of beef and 2,400 pitas.

Everyone who comes to the Danforth gets to become Greek for the day, said Howard Litchman, spokesman for the Pilaros Taste of the Danforth.
“It’s been voted Toronto’s favourite festival every year and it’s family friendly, free and there’s tons of food,” he said.

The GTA has more than 200,000 people of Greek heritage and it’s been hailed as the third largest Hellenic community outside of Greece.
The Taste of the Danforth runs Saturday from noon to midnight and Sunday from noon to 8 p.m.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/08/05/opa-taste-of-danforth-serving-tons-of-food