Terrific Takeout: Mama Gyro Our Coverage Sponsored by Fresh Origins
It's time to go Greek at Mama Gyro! Bravo Vicki.
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It's not who you know, it's WHOM YOU KNOW and you ought to know that by now, silly!
One of the best things we've found in a small spot this year was Anthi's Greek Food, featured in September:
When we find people that do a great job, we want to know what enabled their expertise.
In this case, Paul told us his parents, Stella and George, taught him a thing or two about Greek cuisine, and they own Mama Gyro along with his sister Vicki, whom we worked with this time but not in person-so next time we hope to see her in person!
Vicki tells us:
Stella Likitsakos has been cooking for the last 25 years in the grocery markets. They used to own a kitchen called Stella's Gourmet where all dishes were prepared with Stella's recipes.
George Likitsakos has made many creative dips, yogurts and sides throughout his years in the grocery market.
Vicki Giannopoulos has grown up in the food business and has been exposed to many recipes & styles of Greek cooking.
Mamagyro was established in January 2011. Owner Stella Likitsakos had always dreamt of opening up a gyro store. She and her husband George Likitsakos had been in the grocery market business for over 25 years and had a passion for food. The mamagyro menu has recipes that have been carried down from generation to generation. Stella's mother has even come in at some point to train employees had to properly make her recipes.
You know we love Greek cuisine and at the top of our list is Spanakopita! It's quite convincing at Mama Gyro, and it was the first edible we tried. You know we dream about spinach pie...and this spinach, onion, feta, dill, oil, egg and sea salt and pepper was enjoyable.
You should know that the quality of the cuisine at Mama Gyro does not at all reflect the casual presentation: this is white tablecloth food. We saw a lot of medical professionals from Lenox Hill come in for dinner (they probably need fast as doctors work around the clock) which is a good sign for anyone that thinks healthy is good.
From an aerial view, you might not realize that this is a salad.
A quite creative endeavor, the Mamas's Salad is presented here in a Chopped Mama's Bowl. A side salad of your choice is chopped and you choose a meat and a rice component; we chose pork with brown rice and it was delicious! They make fresh pita every day and are committed to fresh and wholesome ingredients. Soups are all natural (we will have to try them next time) and they don't use any chicken stock: only carrots and onions!
We asked Vicki what she believed set Mamagyro apart. She replied: "We are really into the ingredients we put in our food. We want people to leave satisfied and completely sure of what they ate. We even import the salt we use in all our dishes, as well as the oregano. We are that family run business that is very hard to come by these days. We are very involved in every aspect of our business and strive to make our customers our main focus. Quality and consistency is always key. There are many restaurants that do not have a face. mamagyro always has one of us around!"
Excellent! This is what we are looking for.
You may not pass go and collect $200 without trying the Spinach Swirlz and the Cheese Swirlz. They look similar from the outside:
The crust is flaky perfection and inside, the extraordinary flavors of spinach and cheese, respectively, will wow you as they hide inside, just waiting for you to discover them. We preferred the spinach, but you may prefer the cheese.
Please meet the three musketeers: Chicken Gyro, Mama's Burger Gyro and Lamb Gyro. Clearly, the gyro itself is the star of the show at this venue and we believe we have never featured a gyro before in our 19,000 plus posts. We liked the burger one in the center the best, which is no surprise as Pat LaFrieda's blend beef patty is specacular in that warm toasted pita. Peachy Deegan is a very big fan of American cheese, which is also a component along with lettuce, tomato and mama's sauce which is mayo, ketchup and a secret.
They have every condiment your little heart could desire; we tried Spicy Pepper Feta, Hummus, Mama's Sauce, Spicy Tzatziki (our favorite: greek yogurt, cucumbers, dill, garlic and sea salt), BBQ, regular Tzatziki and Melitzanosalata (chargrilled eggplant, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, scallions, parsley, black pepper, oil and sea salt-our 2nd favorite.)
Do we like dessert?
Oh my goodness.
Their rice pudding is SPECTACULAR and perhaps Peachy's personal favorite of the night.
Mamagyro is Terrific Takeout!
P.S. For everyone that likes the Hartford Whalers as much as us, you will appreciate the color choices here:
And if you like Baklava:
