Living statues, Zorba-style dance circles and the Shake Ya Groove Thang DJs were just three highlights from opening night at L.A. Greek Fest, but of course I attended Saint Sophia Cathedral to gorge on home-style Greek food. There was plenty of it, and the food compared favorably with L.A.’s better casual Greek restaurants.

“Celebrating a taste of Greece” required so much food that festival organizers had to assign four distinct areas: Taverna, Sports Bar, Food Court and Parish Center Hall. A central courtyard was decked out in the colors of the Greek flag: blue and white, and revelers filled almost every table.

It was worth waiting in a 20 minute Food Court line to picked up a stuffed tomato ($4) filled with sweet rice, currants and pine nuts. The tomato was oven-baked to a sweet sun-dried consistency.

The flaky phyllo-wrapped spanakopita ($4) was another winner, filled with spinach and molten Feta.

In the Parish Center Hall, we scored a Roast Lamb dinner ($14), which included rice pilaf, dolmathes, an inconsequential iceberg salad, a square of feta, Kalamata olives and a roll. We were hoping for fresh pita, but I guess Zeus wasn’t smiling down on us. I can see why L.A. Greek Fest burned through 9000 pounds of lamb. It was well seasoned and lean yet still fairly juicy. The pilaf was a highlight, interspersed with nutty wild rice.

Earlier in the week, festival food supervisor Ann Pappas gave me a behind-the-scenes look at the pastry production. In the back of the dining hall, a small army of Greek women were baking tens of thousands of pastries, including 1500 white wedding cookies (kourambithes), 2000 honey cookies (melomakurana) and 2000 pieces of Georgia Vasila’s supple, honey-soaked baklava.

This year, L.A. Greek Fest even introduced two new pastries: a walnut cake known as Karadopita and Greek-style biscotti studded with dried apricots and plums.

At L.A. Greek Fest, we finished with a small cardboard boat of Koukoumathes ($4), aka “honey balls,” donut holes fried in oil, rolled in honey and dusted with walnuts and cinnamon. Too bad this specialty is normally reserved for festivals.

There was even a Beer Garden with rarely seen Greek beers: Hillas and Mythos. Unfortunately, the Hillas wasn’t much better than Budweiser, but it was fun to be able to try a bottle.

This was my second time at L.A. Greek Fest, and next year, I plan to work my way through the rest of the eating options. Gyro village, here I come.