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I ONLY ASKED FOR A GREEK SALAD
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Guest
I ONLY ASKED FOR A GREEK SALAD
well last night i went to a local portuguese rest and asked for TWO GREEK SALADS and ONE portuguese dish..the waiter got really irritated..does anyone know why? 
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SHOWWWY
Did it happen sort of like this?
Greek fans toast win
Soccer team beats Portugal in first Euro 2004 game
Spontaneous party breaks out on the Danforth
MICHELLE SHEPHARD
STAFF REPORTER
Their names are Bill, Tom, John and George, and on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in Toronto they decided to risk their lives.
Travelling to the wrong side of the tracks — well, the other side of the Don Valley Parkway anyway — they took their Greek pride from the Danforth, their blue Athens Olympics shirts and watched the inaugural Euro 2004 soccer match in the heart of Little Portugal yesterday.
Perhaps because this is "Toronto the Good," they didn't actually face death at a bar near Dundas St. W. and Ossington Ave. But they certainly risked having beers tossed on their heads as they celebrated their national team's 2-1 upset of favoured Portugal.
The loss for the host country doesn't mean it's out of the European soccer championship, which occurs once every four years, but it has definitely suffered a setback.
With 16 European teams battling to make it to the final on July 4, Toronto's multicultural neighbourhoods face three weeks of cross-town rivalries and partying.
"We talked about it before we left and decided we would be quiet and just watch the game," Bill Kourbetis said. "But then when they scored, we couldn't help it. We forgot and just jumped up."
Passing around plates of calamari and buying the Portuguese fans shots of ouzo for Greece's first goal, there were only a few glares as the men gloated.
"Vegas odds said we wouldn't score at all, and then at seven minutes we give it to them," John Andriopoulos said, pumping his fist.
The group went to the upscale If Lounge for the patio television and indoor plasma screen, but mainly to be with their Portuguese friends and help fill their buddy's new restaurant.
And although the diehard Greek fans wouldn't admit it, the Dundas strip was the place to be when the anticipated afternoon street party broke out.
But after the first unexpected goal during yesterday's game from Porto, the mood in the area started to droop. Fans spilled out of a billiard hall and other cafés and bars to inhale a nervous smoke, and shop owners craned their necks to see the outdoor screen.
"You want to be out," a still-optimistic Walter Pimentel said during the first half, "because after Portugal wins, the party starts and you want to be here right when that starts."
At halftime, one of the game's TV announcers said: "It's not a Greek tragedy, it's a Portuguese one for the moment."
When the tragedy for Portugal's fans continued in the second half with another goal from Greece, the cursing and really heavy drinking began.
Travel back east to Bill Kourbetis' neighbourhood on the Danforth as the game was winding down, however, and the fans were ecstatic. Almost everyone here was celebrating what's now considered the biggest opening-game upset in European soccer championship history.
It was an elated but orderly crowd, mainly concentrated on the corner of Danforth and Fenwick Aves., that spilled into the street screaming and whistling, the pitch increasing when cars honked their horns.
"I'm trying to play with them," said Adam Solomon, an African and blues guitarist. He sat on the north side of the street trying to perform as part of the weekend's music festival, Sounds of the Danforth, but he eventually had to give up.
Nino, Brian and Jason, who are this area's fish out of water, were not pleased. "We're disappointed, we should have won," grumbled Brian Couto, a Portugal supporter, as his friends teased him — one shouting, "It's the Greek way or no way."

Soccer team beats Portugal in first Euro 2004 game
Spontaneous party breaks out on the Danforth
MICHELLE SHEPHARD
STAFF REPORTER
Their names are Bill, Tom, John and George, and on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in Toronto they decided to risk their lives.
Travelling to the wrong side of the tracks — well, the other side of the Don Valley Parkway anyway — they took their Greek pride from the Danforth, their blue Athens Olympics shirts and watched the inaugural Euro 2004 soccer match in the heart of Little Portugal yesterday.
Perhaps because this is "Toronto the Good," they didn't actually face death at a bar near Dundas St. W. and Ossington Ave. But they certainly risked having beers tossed on their heads as they celebrated their national team's 2-1 upset of favoured Portugal.
The loss for the host country doesn't mean it's out of the European soccer championship, which occurs once every four years, but it has definitely suffered a setback.
With 16 European teams battling to make it to the final on July 4, Toronto's multicultural neighbourhoods face three weeks of cross-town rivalries and partying.
"We talked about it before we left and decided we would be quiet and just watch the game," Bill Kourbetis said. "But then when they scored, we couldn't help it. We forgot and just jumped up."
Passing around plates of calamari and buying the Portuguese fans shots of ouzo for Greece's first goal, there were only a few glares as the men gloated.
"Vegas odds said we wouldn't score at all, and then at seven minutes we give it to them," John Andriopoulos said, pumping his fist.
The group went to the upscale If Lounge for the patio television and indoor plasma screen, but mainly to be with their Portuguese friends and help fill their buddy's new restaurant.
And although the diehard Greek fans wouldn't admit it, the Dundas strip was the place to be when the anticipated afternoon street party broke out.
But after the first unexpected goal during yesterday's game from Porto, the mood in the area started to droop. Fans spilled out of a billiard hall and other cafés and bars to inhale a nervous smoke, and shop owners craned their necks to see the outdoor screen.
"You want to be out," a still-optimistic Walter Pimentel said during the first half, "because after Portugal wins, the party starts and you want to be here right when that starts."
At halftime, one of the game's TV announcers said: "It's not a Greek tragedy, it's a Portuguese one for the moment."
When the tragedy for Portugal's fans continued in the second half with another goal from Greece, the cursing and really heavy drinking began.
Travel back east to Bill Kourbetis' neighbourhood on the Danforth as the game was winding down, however, and the fans were ecstatic. Almost everyone here was celebrating what's now considered the biggest opening-game upset in European soccer championship history.
It was an elated but orderly crowd, mainly concentrated on the corner of Danforth and Fenwick Aves., that spilled into the street screaming and whistling, the pitch increasing when cars honked their horns.
"I'm trying to play with them," said Adam Solomon, an African and blues guitarist. He sat on the north side of the street trying to perform as part of the weekend's music festival, Sounds of the Danforth, but he eventually had to give up.
Nino, Brian and Jason, who are this area's fish out of water, were not pleased. "We're disappointed, we should have won," grumbled Brian Couto, a Portugal supporter, as his friends teased him — one shouting, "It's the Greek way or no way."
