Lizzy Snyder loved the baklava her Yiayia used to make, and on entering the Opa! restaurant in Waterville, Maine was transported back with the smells of Greek food, including that sweet Greek treat.

“I just about freaked when I walked in and took a whiff. The smell of Greek food took me right back to my childhood. I am a proud Greek and enjoy eating the heck out of the food. My Yiayia used to make incredible Greek dishes, including baklava, spanakopita, and kourambiedes,” she wrote for B98.5.

There were memories of her grandmother wearing an apron and singing and dancing in the kitchen with Snyder’s mother. The remembrances and smells commingled for her.

Yiayia’s great baklava has been dethroned. Opa! wears the crown. She said the secret recipe is that restaurant owner Sotirios Gudis, who opened the place to honor his late father – who had escaped an Albanian dictatorship – has the baklava made by his mother Anna.

“So this restaurant isn’t like any other. It has history, survival, love, and the best Greek food I have ever had, sorry mom, sorry Yiayia.”