If you've ever gotten off at the 30th avenue subway station you may have found yourself in the thick, smoky exhaust of this Astoria landmark. Follow that trail to this fuming beast of a food truck. When you see it, you'll wonder why there's a cop car or two parked haphazardly on the sidewalk, or why there's such a dramatic line for a Greek food truck in the center of Astoria, the haven for Greek food in New York.
I was certainly skeptical, being the gyro aficionado I am. It's pronounced "yeer-o," by the way.
But this place blew my mind. I discovered that adding fries to gyros was not as innovative as I thought when I was 4 and throwing those things on my super traditional Nebraska gyros. Not so. This is, in fact, is traditional for street fair in Athens and throughout Greece! One of the innumerable things I learned in New York. Still, to me, I was the first to ever have the idea of fries on my gyro, let alone actually stuff them into my pitta sandwich.
Honestly, you should be able to look at this thing and know what I have to say about it. It was great. More authentic then I'm even used to, seasoned so strongly with the right balance of onions and tomatoes. The meat was impeccable. I've usually found the tzatziki sauce is the most essential piece of a gyro, and while that's still true- this gyro was so enjoyable that I did not find the need to throw tzatziki on top and ALSO drown the sandwich into an extra dipping side of sauce. I actually just let it be on top and enjoyed the juicy meat and made-just-right french fries.
Delving into their website I found they have a few locations in Astoria, Bayside, AND on 55th in Manhattan. Even better- I've had a plate at the Manhattan location (it's open for lunch hours only) for a work lunch. I had the Lamb and Beef platter and it shook me to my core. I'm used to a more watered down gyro, that's absolutely delicious but not as heavily seasoned, but this is not that and that's a good thing.
There will be a line, wherever you go, but it will be worth it.
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