Annie saved my butt today. I was out of airspeed and ideas after completing an impressive list of action items that included nothing either vaguely humorous of slyly ironic, unless you call my surreal interaction with the three major credit reporting bureaus to be such, or the obituary for one of our colleagues who passed away last week in Dowling Park, Florida, or trying to audit my scattered financial affairs to ferret out the recurring leaks that are hemorrhaging my savings each month, just when I need to slow down, take a hard look at things and start whacking expenses.

Annie lives out in the Hills near Winchester in the lovely Shenandoah Valley. I have talked about the bucolic beauty of the place a few times in the sundry comings-and-goings of the last few weeks. I have a great fondness for Annie. She was our Den Mother in the Navy’s Office of Legislative Affairs, and has all the dirt on some of the higher-flying luminaires who passed through that office during her decades of service.

I have also written before of her life and times, including the early years growing up in Belgrade under the watchful eye of her father, who in his off-time played fun-and-games with Tito’s Jug-thugs as our Army attaché, while his lovely wife looked on with stoic interest. Annie’s mom was a great lady, and I am proud that I had the opportunity to meet her, and hear her first-person accounts of what it was like in those early Cold War days.

Anyway, Annie is a bit of a foodie, better than me, and as a life-long resident of the Falls Church part of Arlington County, she knows where all the good stuff is.

She turned me onto my favorite comfort food restaurant, the Two Chefs Pizza place just up the street at 5019 Wilson Boulevard. But she outdid herself this morning. She gave a paean of praise to Anthony’s, a Greek place that is, according to her, the only place that makes and serves Bugatsa, the traditional Thessonloniki breakfast pastry made from semolina custard, generously stuffed between layers of crisp phyllo dough.

Annie says Anthony’s is the only Greek place we’ve ever been to that serves the real thing, and she had a Greek friend translate the recipe from her cookbook so she could make it herself.

I had seen Anthony’s new place on Route 50. There was a sign out by the curb announcing that they were now “open for breakfast” but never stopped- until now. The original Anthony’s that Annie remembered was in the heart of Falls Church City and opened in 1972, where it became a local institution, but was overcome by the gentrification and closed. Annie was heartbroken, and began the search to see if it resurfaced. Anthony’s went on with its forty-year tradition and opened a place out in the wilds of Manassas to carry on serving totally authentic Greek cuisine: hand carved gyros off the vertical rotisserie, chicken souvlaki and of course, the bugatsa.

I had been drinking coffee steadily through the morning, and a pastry really sounded good. And it was probably something I needed to learn how to cook.

Annie rode to the rescue, again. “I found Anthony’s! They’re now a lovely restaurant on Annandale Road, just off of Arlington Boulevard. Anthony’s came to my rescue and baked a whole tray of Bugatsa for me to take to a party. Here’s their new address and information for both places:

(Antony’s new place, just off Rt. 50 and convenient to Arlington and Fairfax).

Anthony’s Restaurant
3000 Annandale Road
Falls Church, VA 22042
Phone: (703) 532-0100
Email: anthonysrestaurantva@gmail.com

Anthony’s Restaurant
7234 Centreville Road
Manassas, VA 20111
Phone: (703) 361-1230
Fax: (703) 361-1257
Email: anthonysrestaurantva@gmail.com

Here’s where you find the semolina (fine ground – not flour) and filo dough (#7):

Aphrodite Greek Imports
5886 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, Virginia 22041
703-931-5055

Directions

4 cups milk
½ cup butter
2/3 cup semolina (fine)
2/3 cup sugar
4 eggs whole
2 egg yolks
½ tsp vanilla
1 lb filo dough (#7)
2/3 cup butter (melted to brush on filo layers)
powdered sugar and ground cinnamon

Combine milk, ½ cup butter and sugar in a large sauce pan. Heat on stove stirring constantly. Add semolina and vanilla – keep stirring. When creamy remove from heat and cover the pan. Stir occasionally so it doesn’t get lumpy.

Lightly beat the eggs and yolks. Add to cooled pan and stir.

Butter bottom and sides of pan. Reserve 8 pieces of filo dough for top later. Layer pan with rest of the filo dough – overlapping and covering all sides. Brush each piece of filo dough with butter as you layer.

Pour mixture from sauce-pan into baking pan. Cover with remaining pieces of filo dough again brushing each piece as you layer.

Score filo dough lightly before baking – makes it easier to cut when it’s done. Cut just through the dough to the mixture. For this step you need a super sharp knife.

Sprinkle water on top of filo dough before baking (helps keep dough from getting too brittle). Bake at 325 to 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. (Adjust temperature and time for your oven.) If the top is browning too quickly cover with foil.
After Bugatsa has cooled completely, cut into serving size pieces. Warm in microwave, sprinkle with powdered sugar and ground cinnamon and serve.

NOTE:
A friend, after enjoying Anthony’s Bugatsa for the first time described it as: “Tasting so good – your tongue will slap your brain silly.”

So be careful out there. And why not enjoy dessert for breakfast? The way things are going these days, you can never quite tell what stands between you and dinner.

Copyright Annie and Vic, 2016
www.vicsocotra.com