Subs are a thing of the past, wraps are so 2017, and even the most powerful of pita pockets crumbled under the pressure of sandwich hierarchy. Yet the hero that reigns supreme isn’t really a sandwich at all – the gyro, a category all its own, is a folded flatbread filled with meat (lamb or pork, traditionally) drizzled with tzatziki (greek yogurt sauce) and topped with tomatoes and onions. It’s basically a cornucopia for all the delicious flavors that are Greece’s claim to cuisine fame. For the gyro-heroes living among us, there’s even the option of adding fries to the mix.
“It’s got tanginess, it’s got saltiness, it’s got crispiness of the french fries – you just take one bite and you’re just like – this is amazing.”
– Owner, Alex Lambroulis
Here’s a place that does one thing, and one thing really well – The Gyro Spot in Manchester, New Hampshire. Gyros are their bread and butter (or rather, flatbread and tzatziki) and that’s why you won’t find a hundred ubiquitous items on their menu, proving a case of less is more. Shrinking the quantity and heightening the quality of items like flaky spanakopita and fruity, brine-cured dolmades. Aside from chicken, there’s also the pork gyro, “just how you’d find it in Greece, anytime someone takes a bite of traditional pork, it just brings them right back to Santorini or any other place in Greece that they were in” owner and founder Alex Lambroulis says. There’s also few soup and salad options – avgolemono, a chicken and rice soup, and lentils in a zippy vegetarian broth known as fahkes. However, the main reason one goes to The Gyro Spot is of course, for the gyro.
Directly behind the walk-up counter is the kitchen. You can see everything from the assembly line of toppings to the vertical rotisseries and the bubbly staff. Thin ribbons of pork or chicken are shaved into a char-grilled flatbread that melts into a refreshing and tangy yogurt sauce. The contrast of raw red onion, lettuce and tomato give it that fresh quality necessary for a lighter, more lively flavor.
Word of mouth landed them a spot on TV and in the press. Featured on The Phantom Gourmet in June 2016, a televised series of the best eateries in New England and the Greater Boston Area. It’s also been a consecutive editor’s pick for New Hampshire Magazine’s Best of NH. The gyro gusto was so high that owner Lambroulis had to open an additional location in Dover, New Hampshire.
Summer after summer, Lambroulis would travel to Greece, soon realizing he couldn’t leave without opening a gyro restaurant of his own. With the help of his outspoken Greek Mama, friends and time-honored family recipes, The Gyro Spot was born. Get the gyro in Manchester or at their additional spot, located in Dover.