Outdoor bites

A beam of light

Restaurant Reviews

Espèria Grill & Rotisserie

GYRO HERO: The chicken gyro at Espèria is perfectly browned and roasted — an amazing revelation at an unbeatable price.

"Gyro" (pronounced yee-row) is anything — classically, lamb or lamb loaf, but chicken is increasingly popular — turned on a spit (like a gyroscope, right Bunky?) and cut off in strips. No matter the meat, its surface should be crisp, so that when the crust is sliced off, what goes into your pita is all burnt ends and caramelized bits, mixed up with feta cheese and a little salad. It's all the more luscious if the pita is the thinner, no-pockets Greek style, but the roasted-crust flavor is the real issue. I've been through yards and yards of soft gyro, shawarma, and döner kebab before happening upon one sufficiently browned and roasted. It was a revelation. The pork version here ($7.95; $11.95) comes pretty close.

The feel at lunch is that of a big sub shop, where they somehow have all this great looking food in glass deli cases. At dinner, we still go up to the counter to order, but one begins to register the space between tables, the pleasant service, those color photos of the Parthenon that always make my mouth water, the lingerability of a real restaurant. The pizzas and the subs are still there, and some are sent out for delivery as we dine. But we are focused on another time and place and flavor — specifically that of baked lamb shanks ($14.95), cooked to falling-off-the-bone tenderness in a tomato sauce. The usual allspice favored by immigrant families from northern Greece and parts of what is now Turkey is absent, perhaps because half of the cook-owner couple comes from the south of the country. Mousaka ($11.95) is made with both potatoes and eggplant, generally subtler than most I've had. You can order mashed potatoes or, better, roast potato slices with it and no one will look at you oddly.

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