The Patio Gyro Place- The Quick, The Cheap, The Not Ugly

The Patio Gyro Place, 7371 S. Madison Avenue, is in a really small strip mall next door to Pay Less Liquors and across the street from The Party.  It's only been open a month or so, and it looks so tiny from the outside you might miss it, overshadowed by the liquor store's giant sign letters.  I was surprised to find that they have a decent-sized dining room with about a dozen tables, nothing fancy but neat and clean.  I had planned to just get 2 gyro sandwiches, but I was ambushed by an extensive menu that includes hot dogs, Mexican dishes, catfish platters, jalapeno poppers, and ribeye steak sandwiches, to name but a few of their many offerings.  But like the kid who goes into Baskin Robbins and has 'em read off all 33 flavors only to order vanilla, I stuck to my original plan and ordered a chicken gyro sandwich and a regular (beef & lamb) gyro sandwich.

I've never seen 'em prepare sandwiches at other gyro restaurants, so I don't know if they do it differently,   but this place has a griddle on which they pour batter to make the sandwich bread right then and there, so it tasted really fresh. The tomatoes and onions were really fresh and crisp, too, and they didn't skimp on the tzadziki sauce, either.  It seems like all regular gyro meat is provided by one supplier (Kronos), so it has the the same tasty goodness wherever you go. The chicken, on the other hand, was better to me than most other grilled chicken sandwiches because they browned it nicely on the griddle. The REALLY great thing about this place is the price:  $4.49 for a good-sized gyro sandwich or a combo that includes fries and a drink for $5.99. We split a baklava for $1.45 that was tasty if not as light and fluffy as what the Acropolis serves up the street.

The service was quicker than I expected, so it would probably be a good workday lunch destination.  The menu says there is a sister store, The Patio, in (I think) the 7300 block of E. Washington Street.  The Gyro Place made a great first impression, so if The Patio is just as good, we have yet another go-to place. I'll at least have to go back for some of the myriad other dishes.  O-pa!

UPDATE, 07/01/2013: The time I ordered a gyro sandwich and a breaded tenderloin sandwich:  the gyro was good, the onions on it were crisp and fresh, and it was swimming in tzadziki sauce, which wasn't a bad thing.  The tenderloins was HUGE, and it was decent if not radically different from all the other tenderloins I've had.  The value for the price continues to amaze me.  :-)

The Acropolis-- Unpretentious Old World Greek

The Acropolis, on Southport Road just west of Madison Avenue, is an unassuming mom & pop place, both inside and out.  The Greek-style columns on the front of the building (sorry, they taught me the difference between Doric and Ionic columns in junior high school but danged if I can remember which is which) are understated but nevertheless a nice touch.  The inside decor is simple cafe style but with nice tablecloths (my old buddy Jim the Scumbag Attorney said you have to tip at least 20% if the restaurant has tablecloths. It was his one gesture toward decency and good manners.) There is nothing understated about the food, though.  Everything I've ever had there is deeelicious, and an excellent value for the price, which is $$ on a $$$$ scale.  Every trip to a Greek restaurant should include Saganaki as an appetizer, a plate of 1/4 inch thick slices of white cheese (Casera, Gus said) into which rum (not ouzo) is poured and then lighted.  Mmmm... flaming cheese with toasted pita bread for dipping! Mmm.... Mmm.... Oh! Anyway, all the food is great there.  If you don't know anything about Greek food you can always just order a gyro: a mixture of roasted lamb meat and beef on pita bread with onions, feta cheese, and tzadziki, a kind of creamy cucumber sauce (I'm sure you can get some sort of American food for that one person in your party with OCD who REFUSES to eat anything they've never eaten before).  There is a full bar also, and The Little Woman and I both have a shot of ouzo, although I'm not a big fan of that licorice-flavored Greek liquor.  I've never compared the price-per-ounce, but I'm pretty sure you could buy the green Nyquil cheaper and enjoy the same taste. The Acropolis is open every day of the week, but if you go during August check to make sure, because Gus the owner and his family go back to Greece to research new recipes (or so they tell the IRS) for a couple of weeks.  O-pa!