On Sunday, Greek Orthodox families will celebrate the Easter holiday, which they call Pascha.

"Although most Western Christians have already celebrated Pascha," said Father Demetrios Demopulos of the St. Elias the Prophet Greek Orthodox Church in Eldorado, "members of the Greek Orthodox Church rely on the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar to calculate our Pascha date. This date usually falls very closely after the Jewish Passover holiday."

To mark this important holiday, Greeks will prepare traditional foods such as red eggs, tsoureki (Easter bread) and mayerista (a soup made only at Easter), roast some lamb and partake of ouzo (an anise-flavored liqueur) and wine, symbolic vehicles to mark the celebration of Christos anesti, or the Resurrection of Christ.

"Food is the most symbolic way to explain what is going on during the Pascha holiday," said Marilyn Rouvelas, author of A Guide To Greek Traditions and Customs in America, in a phone interview.

"We use eggs to symbolize new life, while the shell reminds us of Christ's tomb," she said. "The reason that we dye them red is to symbolize the blood of Christ. We then crack those eggs, symbolizing Christ's rising from his tomb."

In addition to the eggs, Rouvelas said, "the main course during Pascha is a lamb dish. The lamb refers to Christ, who is known as the lamb of God. We believe that Christ sacrificed himself for our sins, so we use this meal as a reminder of that act."

Memories of the holidays

"If you have ever seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, then you know what my life has been like — especially during holidays," said Nick Maryol, owner of Tia Sophia's, a popular restaurant on East San Francisco Street named after his grandmother. "From the traditional and large quantities of food served on holidays, to the plastic coverings on the couches, Easter was often spent at my Ya-Ya (Grandma) Sophia's house in Albuquerque."

Maryol's favorite holiday food memory from those days is looking for the quarter in the tsoureki, a traditional, three-braid Easter bread symbolizing the Holy Trinity that also held a red egg. "I enjoyed the sense of family that we shared," he said.

The family that Maryol speaks of includes Georgia Maryol, founder of Tomasita's, who is Nick's aunt; Ignatios and Anna Patsalis, co-owners of Tomasitia's and former owners of the now-closed Athena's Grecian Table; Toni Maryol, owner of Diego's Cafe; and Nick Maryol's parents, Ann and Jim Maryol, who founded Tia Sophia's in 1975.

Nick Maryol said he developed a strong work ethic from seeing first-hand how hard his relatives worked — an observation supported by his own life experiences. At the age of 6, he said, his father had him washing dishes at Tia Sophia's.

The Maryol food dynasty began in 1930 when Tony Maryol arrived here from Greece and set up an ice-cream cart on the Santa Fe Plaza.

"In 1938, my father went back to Greece and met the love of his life," Georgia Maryol said. "Her name was Sophia."

After Tony Maryol died in 1945, Sophia married Anthony Alec. In 1947, the newlyweds opened a restaurant called the Central Café on the historic Route 66, now Central Avenue in Albuquerque.

"We were six children, and we all had jobs in the café at a young age," Georgia Maryol said.

Growing up in the Atrisco barrio of Albuquerque, Georgia Maryol was introduced to local New Mexican foods — especially the red and green chile. "I remember thinking that if I ever open a restaurant, I would serve this type of cuisine," she said.

One day in the early 1970s, she walked into a little café on Hickox Street in Santa Fe. "I tried a bean burrito with red chile and it reminded me of the food that I enjoyed so long ago in the Atrisco barrio," Georgia Maryol said. "I went to the kitchen to meet the cook, and I saw a short and wiry lady named Tomasita."

After a number of visits to the cafe, she realized that the owners were unable to continue running the business. "At this time in my life, I was broke and raising two children," Georgia Maryol said. "On a fluke, I went to the owner and offered to assume all of his debts in exchange for the café."

When she unlocked the doors of her new restaurant the next day, she found Tomasita in the kitchen. The woman asked if Maryol was going to keep her. The answer was yes — and it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Georgia said.

Over the years many other members of the Maryol family would work at Tomasita's — which moved to its current location on South Guadalupe Street in 1976 — including Georgia's sister Eva Kurtz, who now is one of the busy restaurant's five managers, and Georgia's two sons, George Gundrey, now executive director of the Santa Fe Farmers Market, and James Gundrey, a rocket scientist at Vandenburg Air Force Base.

In 1976, Georgia Maryol said, her cousin Ignatios Patsalis moved to Santa Fe from New York to pursue a career as a physical-education teacher. When he couldn't find work in his field, Georgia suggested he open — what else? — a Greek restaurant.

Athena's Grecian Table (named after his mother), was the only restaurant boasting a full Greek menu, Patsalis said. "One of my favorite entrées was the one and only Greek-style burrito — consisting of ground beef, chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, garlic salt, a touch of cinnamon and green chile all wrapped in a filo dough." The recipe was inspired by the traditional Greek dish moussaka, he said, and sold for $3.10 at the time the restaurant opened.

In 1988, Patsalis closed his own restaurant and began working at Tomasita's — the same year Georgia's sister, Toni Maryol, established Diego's Cafe, serving a mixture of New Mexican and standard American dishes.

In 2001, following family tradition, Patsalis took over management and partial ownership of Tomasita's when Georgia Maryol decided to retire from the daily chores of running a busy restaurant. (She is still involved with quality control at Tomasita's.)

Patsalis also has fond memories of the Greek holidays.

"During Pascha," he said, "my favorite food was the traditional leg of lamb. After arriving home from the Pascha services at 1:30 a.m., the scent of this lamb was a welcoming tradition for me. I have always connected the importance of food to my holidays."

'Unlike any other'

Another Greek family that has made its mark on the Santa Fe food scene are the Razatos, who operate the Plaza Café and the Plaza Cafe Southside.

At first glance, the Plaza looks like an all-American-diner. However, as you turn your gaze to the wall made of a mosaic of broken plates, you might hear echoes of opa — a Greek word that loosely translates as, "Let's party."

"The broken plates symbolize good luck in Greece, so our brother Len, who runs the Plaza Café Southside, said 'Let's do a whole wall of good luck‚' " said Daniel Razatos, who works at and manages the Plaza Café with his brother Andrew and their mother, Beneranda.

In addition to the plates on the wall, the family's Greek ancestry shows up on the menu in the gyro salad, a gyro sandwich and moussaka, "which is Greek spaghetti," and the lamb souvlaki, said Andrew Razatos, who is the chef at the Plaza Café. "We are unlike any other restaurant in Santa Fe because we offer four types of cuisine: Mexican, New Mexican, Greek and American-inspired."

Food has always been associated with both the Catholic and Greek holidays for the Razatos family because their mother is both native New Mexican and Catholic. But the Greek Orthodox Easter had a very special meaning for the Razatos‚ the brothers said, because of their father, Dan Razatos.

Both brothers remember the special Easter bread that they ate during the holiday. They, too, especially liked looking for the quarter in the stoureki with their brothers and sisters.

"My father was born in Greece in 1919, after World War I, and he experienced great ruin and much poverty as a child," Daniel said.

As a teenager, the elder Razatos moved to Egypt to live with an uncle, and worked on a transatlantic ship, finding a new home in the United States when the ship docked in New York.

After moving to Denver to work for an uncle who owned a candy store, Razatos ventured to Santa Fe, where he met another Greek family, the Pomonis, who then owned the Plaza Cafe. In 1947, the elder Razatos was able to save enough money to become a partner in the restaurant, eventually buying out the Pomonis.

Soon after buying the cafe, Dan met his New Mexican bride, "who did a fantastic job of immersing the family in her local Catholicism as well as our father's Greek Orthodox values and food," son Daniel said.

Like Nick Maryol, Andrew and Daniel Razatos experienced their father's strong work ethic first hand.

"When I was 6 years old, my father gave me the job of toasting the bread," Andrew said. "This gave me such confidence that I felt the beginnings of a future in our family business."

Daniel began his journey at the restaurant washing dishes at the age of 5. His father's passion for the restaurant is symbolized for him by an incident that happened when he was in his teens. "I was ... going out on a date," Daniel said.

"I went to say hello to my father and he said, 'The dishwasher did not show up, go wash dishes.' So I did — and never made the date."

When Andrew and Daniel got older, they — along with their six brothers and sisters — became even more involved in the business.

During the 1980s, Daniel and other members of the family convinced his father to add some Greek dishes to the American and New Mexican menu. They also started the Saturday Night Greek Parties. "Locals loved these nights as well as the food," Daniel said — so the Greek dishes became a permanent part of the menu.

Easter in Santa Fe

Another Santa Fe food business established by a Greek family is Evangelos Cocktail Lounge, owned by Nick Klonis. From 1996 to 2006, Klonis was the chef-owner of the Mediterranean Café, which offered a classic Greek menu.

Evangelos' decor features gigantic images of a handsome and weathered war hero — Nick Klonis' father, Evangelo.

When he was 17 years old, Evangelo Klonis sewed himself into a bag of coal, which was loaded onto a freighter, Nick Klonis said. He eventually jumped ship in Northern California.

With the outbreak of World War II in 1941, the U.S. government made an offer Evangelo couldn't refuse: Any illegal immigrant who enlisted in the service would be granted U.S. citizenship. His father received his citizenship papers during the Battle of the Bulge.

During the elder Klonis' service, Life magazine photographer W. Eugene Smith shot a picture of him that would be featured on the cover of the magazine, and later on a United States postage stamp.

"Although, the Greek Orthodox Easter was very important to my family," Nick Klonis said, "we didn't go to church often. My father said that war is a time that gives humans the license to kill — an act for which he could not forgive himself.

"So he couldn't set foot in a church again," Nick Klonis said. "Instead, the family spent Easters in Santa Fe or in Greece with lamb cooked on a spit and a lot of ouzo."


Recipes from chef Andrew Razatos of the Plaza Café:


(Serves 6 to 8)

4-5 pound leg of bone-in lamb

12 small new potatoes

1/2 cup fresh garlic cloves, peeled and slivered

Juice of 2 lemons

1 1/2 cups Greek olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Oregano, preferably fresh

1/2 cup water

Wash lamb and place in roasting pan. Rub lamb with lemon juice, reserving any leftover juice. Sprinkle with slivers of garlic, salt, pepper and oregano, pressing to make the seasoning stick. With the point of a sharp knife, make 20 to 25 slits in the meat and insert remaining garlic slivers. Add water and remaining lemon juice to the pan and pour 3/4 cup of Greek olive oil over the meat.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash potatoes and peel, if desired. In a bowl, season potatoes with remaining Greek olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano. Surround meat with the potatoes, cover with aluminum foil, and roast for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Half an hour before serving, remove foil to brown the skin, or set the meat under a broiler for a few minutes after it is done. Let the meat rest for 5 to 10 minutes before carving.



(Serves 6-8)

1 1/2 cups brown rice

1/4 cup of butter

1/2 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 1/2 cups hot chicken stock

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup white raisins

Flat leaf Italian parsley, chopped

Begin by browning uncooked rice with butter. Add onion and pine nuts. Stir, then cook for a few more minutes. Add the cinnamon and oregano. Then pour in hot chicken stock. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add raisins and cover.

Cook on low heat for 20 to 25 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with flat leaf parsley and serve.


Mayerista (mah-yee-REET-sah), or Greek Easter soup, is made with the leftover parts of the roast lamb or goat so nothing goes to waste, Ignacio Patsalis said. This is Anna Patsalis' recipe.



(Serves 8)

2 pounds of lamb or kid offal (liver, heart, lungs and other organs)

2 lamb or kid intestines

2 lemons

1 onion, finely chopped

5 to 6 green onions, finely chopped

1/3 cup of olive oil

2 to 3 rounded tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped

2 heads romaine lettuce, well washed and finely chopped

Sea salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons short-grain rice, well rinsed

For the avgolemono (sauce):

Juice of 2 lemons

3 eggs at room temperature, separated

1 tablespoon water

Wash organs and drain. Cut intestines lengthwise with scissors and clean well under running water. Rub with coarse sea salt and the lemon juice. Clean again under running water.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add organs. Boil for about 3 minutes, then add intestines and boil for another 5 minutes. Drain and chop into small pieces. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot. Sauté the onion and green onion for 2 to 3 minutes. Add meat and sauté until browned. Add pepper, dill, salt and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a slow boil. Cook for 1 1/2 hours.

Add the chopped lettuce to a large pot of boiling water and boil for 5 minutes. Transfer to a colander to drain.

Forty minutes after the soup has been simmering, stir in the lettuce. Ten minutes before the end of cooking time, stir in the rice. At the end of cooking time, remove the soup from the heat.

Make the avgolemono (egg-lemon sauce): Beat egg whites until frothy. Continue beating and add the yolks, 1 tablespoon of water, the lemon juice and several large spoonfuls of broth. The key is to beat continuously. Add mixture to the soup, stir, and cover the pot with a towel. Let sit for at least 10 minutes.