Taste of Crete Brings the Flavors of Greece to Hillsborough

When Esther Luongo Psarakis fell in love with her husband, she also fell in love with the culture and food of his native Greece.

“I am the ‘big fat Greek wedding’ in real life,” she laughs.

So when she lost her corporate job in 2002, she embarked on a journey to fill what she viewed as the gap in the marketplace for Greek foods and oils.

The Bridgewater resident purchased property at 400 Route 206 South in 2008 and Taste of Crete opened in September 2009.

“I want to showcase and highlight the passion I feel for Greek cuisine. I wanted to create a Greek ‘Panera’ effect,” she explains, with specialty Greek baked goods, Greek salads and other items based on the healthy Mediterranean cuisine.

She describes her target market as “Greeks, anybody who enjoys Greek foods, travelers and those who are adventurous in their palette.”

One of the foundations for Taste of Crete has been family recipes handed down to Psarakis from her mother-in-law, Evangelia. In fact, her mother-in-law’s recipes for cookies made with extra virgin olive oil have evolved into one of the store’s most popular lines.

Other Greek specialties include baklava (“the best baklava around,” Psarakis says), spinach pie, moussaka and gyros. The store also features its own line of award-winning olive oils with different tastes and quality levels, as well as hummus (including Santorini tomato hummus), sweet olives, tahini with honey and Greek yogurt.

The store’s many specialty lines include Ta Mylelia jams and preserves—made by a female-owned company from Greece— Jalima Coffee, owned by Taste of Crete CFO Marcela Zucovicki, and La Dolce Gourmet Confections & Nuts, which includes handmade truffles made with Belgian chocolate.

Taste of Crete features a "Greek Food of the Month Club" and offers a catering menu.

Psarakis also regularly shares her passion for Greek food by offering on-site classes and tastings. On Thursday, May 19, from 7-9 p.m., for example, participants will learn to prepare Greek spinach pie. The $35 fee includes the class, a tasting and the opportunity to go home with a tray of Greek spinach pie ready to pop in the oven.

In addition to culinary specialties, Taste of Crete features handcrafted and hand-decorated gifts, including party favors, hand-painted signs and glassware, olive oil soap, photo/place card holders, Greek cards/cookbooks, Byzantine crosses and personalized gifts and baskets.

Many of the hand-crafted items are created by members of Psarakis’ talented team, including Brenda Sotolongo, who handles the marketing and is responsible for the hand-painted glassware, and Linda Paitakes, retail sales manager who makes greeting cards and hand-painted tiles.

With two years under her belt, Psarakis is now ready to take Taste of Crete to the next level, making plans to transform the retail store into a specialty bakery/café, while continuing to showcase her passion for all things Greek.

She and her husband are active members of the Greek community. Tickets to the May 20 intercultural performance of “AndaluciaCrete,” featuring musicians and dancers from Andalucia (Spain) and Crete (Greece), at the State Theatre in New Brunswick are available at Taste of Crete.