Spice things up at the Gyro Kabob House

(Credit: Jessica Bratton)

New Skool Gyro at Home Grown Café

A tasty Greek sandwich, no matter how it's pronounced

Recently as a test, on my normal morning commute (a mere 12 minutes from door to door), I counted the number of delis, corner stores, sandwich shops and even fast food joints along the route. At the end of my trip, which includes a long stretch of elevated highway with no businesses on either side, I arrived at a total well over 10.

I started wondering, how many eateries, small or large, do we all pass on a regular basis and never stop in? Then I thought about all the potential deliciousness that lies within.

So we decided to address the issue this week when we heard about the Gyro Kabob House that sits in the miniature strip of stores right as you hop off I-95 South and merge with Route 273, on the way to Newark.

Inside, the small restaurant is set up almost exclusively for takeout, with a large counter under well-lit pictures of the menu items, and just a few booths and tables.

After looking over the menu, filled with words like tikka, kofta and chapli (all of which we didn't understand but will explain), we ordered five items, sat down and waited. And waited.

About 30 minutes later, our bags popped up on the counter and, after an apology for the wait (which included a few complimentary sodas), we left the store thinking that the gyros and chops had to exceed our expectations to be worth the wait.

And ya know what? They did.

First up was the lamb gyro ($7.99 with fries and soda), which sat open-face on a warm, soft pita and was topped with red, ripe tomatoes, shredded lettuce and smothered in a tangy white sauce composed of sour cream, garlic and dill. Underneath sat big chunks of lamb (spiced with onion powder, pepper and cilantro), almost glued to the buttery pita base.

The chicken tikka and beef kofta combo ($9.99) came with a nice side salad accompanied by a zesty little cilantro and jalapeño vinaigrette. Tikka is a South Asian skewered dish that's been marinated in many spices and this one was no exception, with hints of red, green and black pepper, though a bit dry at times.

The combo also came with two sides of rice. The first was brown in color courtesy of the beef stock and onions it cooked in, with a hint of cinnamon, and the other with a light green, thanks to being simmered with green pepper and spinach.

Next up was the four-piece lamb chop combo ($11.99), which was cooked just right, nice and charred on the outside but moist and tender on the inside. Again the spices dominated the dish (in a good way) and although the four chops were sizable and meaty, we could have eaten plenty more.

Last was the chapli kabob and beef kabob combo ($9.99), which didn't look very impressive at first, but was very flavorful.

Again, spices galore, including cardamom, dill and cilantro, covered the chapli, which looked like a burger patty. The beef kabob (off the skewer) was scattered into chunks tossed all around the chapli, which sat on a stack of that great pita.

Our mission was to go out and discover something we (and you) might pass on a regular basis in hopes that the next time we'll hit the brakes and stop in. With the Gyro Kabob House, it was a mission accomplished.