Food Stuffs: Farm Fresh Lamb At Gyro Greek Style On Kings Highway
Food Stuffs is a column exploring the gastronomic landscape of Bensonhurst and the surrounding neighborhoods. Each entry will cover anything and everything remotely related to food. Because here in Bensonhurst, food is always news.
Gyro Greek Style is not particularly eye-catching from the street. Nothing about the steel, grey exterior seems to imply that the space is even open. But the gyro spot has been peddling Athenian specials at 211 Kings Highway for five months, and when we visited today, the food turned out to be pretty exceptional — apparently made with the finest ingredients.
Inside, the diner is unexpectedly gaudy, decorated with dramatic cave-like moldings, a painted strip of a cloud-filled “sky,” and giant mural of the Acropolis of Athens on one wall. We entered the eatery expecting to be offered your run-off-the-mill, deliciously sloppy Gyro King-style platters, complete with the massive salad buffet and chewy meats oozing with murky white and red sauces, and were pleasantly surprised to learn that this place was several notches above the fast food variety.
We ordered a small lamb gyro platter ($11.50), which comes with pita, rice, and salad. It took a good 20 minutes for the food to arrive, but when it did, it was worth the wait, and the servers were amiable and responsive. The pita, though store-bought, was warm and grilled to perfection, and the simple salad came lightly dressed in extra virgin olive oil.
Then the meat arrived. The smallish chunks of delicately-seasoned meat were tender, juicy, crusted with pepper, and served over a bed of fluffy white rice. It was so simple and delicious, there was hardly a need for Gyro Greek’s tangy tzatziki sauce.
The secret to a perfect lamb shish-kabob? Owner Vlad Ziko was happy to share.
“I just got the whole baby from New Jersey yesterday. They just killed it an hour ago. The body was still warm,” said Ziko, who moved to Brooklyn from Northern Greece 14 years ago. “It had the head and everything. That’s why it tastes so fresh.”
The lamb was then sawed into pieces, soaked overnight in saltwater, rubbed down with coarsely chopped black pepper, herbs, and high-quality mazola oil, and tossed on the grill, Ziko said.
The heart and liver went home to his son, who likes to eat the organs fried with onions.
Lamb is not the only thing Gyro Greek excels in. Rather that offer a giant diner menu with eggs, burgers, and other American classics, Gyro Greek keeps it simple with a small menu of Greek specials.
Ziko’s delicious-looking Greek fries ($5) come topped with feta cheese and herbs. For students and staff from the nearby Seth Low Intermediate School and Brooklyn School of Inquiry, Gyro Greek offers easy gyro-pita sandwiches for $6.75 and up. For folks looking for something more formal, Ziko is especially proud of his charcoal-grilled, flaky branzino ($20), a European sea bass flown in fresh from the Mediterranean Sea. The fish is served with a salad, on a bed of rice.
Overall, Gyro Greek offers top-notch Greek fare at reasonable prices and has something for everyone. We recommend it for those looking for a quick bite, or something a little more substantial.
Visit Gyro Greek Style at 211 Kings Highway or call 718-676-4700 to place an order.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Gyro Greek Style has been open for five years. It opened five months ago.