Peachy Picks @Mamagyro #Mamagyro #WhomYouKnow #PeachysPicks @ManhattanPeachy #PeachyDeegan
The fabulous founders and owners of Mamagyro, Stella and George Likitsakos!
Peachy's favorite this trip: Taramosalata!
It's not who you know. It's Whom You Know! We know Stella, George and their talented daughter Vicki and their precious granddaughter Ioanna, who totally sold the last review published a year ago:
Mama Gyro was first featured in December 2015:
You won't find a fast casual Greek venue in Manhattan that has fresher, more delicious food than Mamagyro, and note its name is one word. Few fast casual spots at all can compete with their smashing level of quality. This is their third feature and both the quality and quantity of their features have now earned them a spot in Peachy's Picks. They are only located now in Harlem on 165 East 106th Street and are no longer on the Upper East Side. With the bathing suit season approaching, everyone is looking for bright ways for spinach to be something fun to eat. Mamagyro nails it with their Spinach Couscous. Peachy doesn't even like couscous but she likes Stella's! The array of dill, scallion, feta, olive oil, sea salt and pepper, by the way in perfect proportion to both each other and the spinach, and is a total must to add to your meal with its attractive nutrition and taste.
The New Mama's Salad is a total bastion of goodness and it is everything you want in a salad and more. Note that we never edit the pictures; either your food is as bright and fresh as Stella's or it is not! Meet a combination of chopped romaine, curly kale, beets, chickpeas, green pepper, carrot, tomato and roasted red pepper! We chose to add pork souvlaki which is grilled to perfection. There are six choices of extras to add to the base. For a girl that hates 99% of salad dressings, Peachy liked the tzatziki dressing. They are right when they term it refreshing.
Mamagyro is uberfamous for their smashing souvlaki. Marinated in-house and char-grilled to order, they come in chicken or pork. We picked chicken as we had the pork in the salad. They are equally amazingly tender and flavorful. Mamagyro excels in their homemade soups and Fasolada (Greek bean) is an ideal companion to the Souvlaki. Smooth and luxurious, the quintessential essence of the underlying flavor evidences Mamagyro's true commitment to being all natural; no chicken stock is used.
Not to be outdone is the other soup: Avgolemono! There is a new word for you to learn. The egg lemon flavor surprisingly melds well together and this dish will enlighten you.
Taramosalata was in our dreams for days after we ate it at Mamagyro! Its smooth salted fish roe is the definition of delicious and the color is quite fetching. We would absolutely eat this for breakfast even. Lemon juice and oil highlight it right with pita plunging in to complete your edible happiness. Our other favorite is without a doubt the Mama's Burger. We love cheeseburgers at a lot of places but this one stands in a spot by itself with the grand feta cheese in the warm pita, and beef by our mutual friend Pat La Frieda! You can see the other hamburgers in Manhattan cowering in a corner when they see their competition here:
This is the kind of burger that you need to put your phone and all other devices aside for. Unless of course, you are diligently reading Whom You Know...
We just loved the purity of Mama's Beet Salad and while other venues ruin it with horrible goat cheese, Mamagyro again hits the high marks on bringing out the essence of what the underlying dish is meant to be: beets. Fresh oregano, garlic, olive oil and red wine vinegar will give you a true high and beets are known to help with your circulation if you are a day over being a millennial. Stuffed grape leaves, Dolmades, will make you feel like you are eating greek sushi but inside you will find rice, onion and dill.
We really love spinach standalone so we have a heightened appreciation for all that they do with it at Mamagyro. Spanakorizo: Spinach and Rice, is a new favorite under Grab and Go and is enhanced with dill, onions, scallions, lemon juice, sea salt and pepper.
You cannot pass go and collect $200 without trying their Spinach Pie, otherwise known as Spanakopita. It is superlative and one of the very best in Manhattan. And yes, this is the best rice pudding.
Mamagyro is Highly Recommended by Whom You Know.
Peachy Picks Mamagyro!
