The corner where Astoria lines up. One lady, one griddle, souvlaki passed hand to hand — the way her mother made it in Thessaloniki. About thirty years, same spot.
One corner · since about 1990
You’ve probably waited on this line.
For nearly three decades, the same powder‑blue cart has stood on the corner of 33rd and Ditmars — a little line of regulars out front, a griddle going, and Elpida at the window. The neighborhood didn’t just find her. It named her.
“I never named my business. Everybody has always called me the Souvlaki Lady, and it stuck.”Elpida Vasiliadis, to the New York Times
How she cooks
Cooked on all four sides. Never pressed.
No shortcuts on the griddle. Pork, chicken, gyro — turned on every side so the juice stays in, then handed across the counter still hissing, tucked into pita or piled on a platter with fries or rice, salad, and her own sauces.
“The right way to cook it is on all four sides. If you press them, the juice comes out, and it’s not the same.”Elpida, The National Herald
Off the griddle
A taste of the board
Skewers by the stick, platters, and her named “Creations” — pitas christened for the places and people of the corner.
The sticks & the creations
cart prices · approximate
A little Greece on the corner
Thessaloniki, on the sidewalk
Elpida learned souvlaki in her mother’s small taverna in Thessaloniki, and she brought it whole to Queens — the recipe, the blue‑and‑white, a Greek flag, a bistro chair, a vase of flowers set out on the pavement. A corner of home, open to the street.
“My mother in Greece, she had a small taverna. I got the recipe from her.”Elpida
On the corner, in the papers
A local legend, on the record
Walk up to the window — that’s the whole reservation system
Find the cart
The corner of 33rd St & Ditmars Blvd, Astoria. Most days, roughly 11:30am–7:30pm (closed Sundays, weather permitting) — (917) 750‑3748 to confirm.