Greek Eating

Don Rose (“An Island of Mediterranean Cuisine in the Middle of Chicago,” April 18) is mistaken when he writes that there is a “paucity of authentic Greek offerings in Southern California.” While Southern California’s Greek restaurants may not be located in a jampacked half-mile-square area (no ethnic restaurants in Southern California are), there are plenty of them, and many are fabulous.

They serve all the traditional and non-traditional Greek cuisine, Greek music and Greek dancing that Rose describes in his article about Chicago’s Greek restaurants. I don’t know about Chicago, but in Southern California almost all of them also serve another specialty: philoxenia , the Greek work for “hospitality.”

JOYCE HELFAND

OPA Tours Greece

Tujunga