Update: This spot is sadly no longer open. The corner shop had stood empty for at least two years, so naturally I was interested when signs of renewed occupancy began appearing just a few blocks from where I live. Plaster came off the façade, revealing beautiful amber-colored stone walls with a cream trim that matched the perforated half-moons above the windows. Then the paper was stripped from the glass, and lo and behold the neighborhood had a new bakery, with tempting displays decorating the sills. Two slender olive trees in wooden churn-like pots planted with red cyclamen guarded the door, but I slipped past them to wish the owners kalo riziko – good roots – and to see what was going on.

Just after the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve or on the first day of the New Year, many Greek Orthodox families gather around the table to cut and split the vasilopita, a cake named after St. Basil (Aghios Vasilios), the Greek Santa Claus. The head of the family “crucifies” the cake three times with a knife and then cuts it into triangular pieces. Usually, the first piece is offered to Christ, the second to the Virgin Mary, the third to St. Basil and the fourth to the “house” before family members and friends each receive one. Some may offer a slice to St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors, to the poor, as St. Basil cared for them, or to the family shop or company. The custom of dividing the vasilopita is performed at many events throughout January and even into early February among many associations, agencies and other organizations. Each person wishes the others chronia polla (“many years”) and “Happy New Year” to bless the house and to bring good luck.

Just a stone’s throw from centrally located Vasileos Konstantinou Avenue, the tree-lined neighborhood in and around Plateia Proskopon (Scouts’ Square) is verdant and full of charm. Wonderful dining options abound here, with new entrants such as the popular Mavro Provato joining a host of beloved older eateries. Among the latter is Magemenos Avlos, a glamorous throwback specializing since 1961 in European cooking, and a favorite meeting place of musicians, poets, actors, politicians and remarkable personalities of the 1960s and ’70s.