GyroGrill - More Greek Style Gyros, This Time on Miramar

Well, maybe Morton Salt was right when they wrote, "when it rains, it pours." Back at the beginning of September, I wasn't sure what to grab for lunch at the office; finally, I just jumped in the car and drove to the strip mall that houses TJ Dumplings. While driving into the parking lot, I noticed that the little Lebanese Shop; Edesia Grill was gone and now replaced by "GyroGrill".

The sign outside the front door said "Try a Real Gyro".....hmmmm…...I guess I now had the answer to the "what's for lunch" question.

I walked in and was pleasantly surprised to see that "GG" offered two types of Gyros; pork or chicken! Could it be? After all; I was just celebrating the reopening of Zgara Greek Grill and now there's this place? And the really friendly guy behind the counter told me that the gyro meat is made inhouse, marinated for 24 hours. The prices seemed really reasonable; $5.99 for a Gyro, $7.99 for a combo, which came with a side and a drink.

Well, it was obvious what I was going to get, right? I also really enjoyed the choice of sides; you could get fries, sautéed veggies, baked garbanzos, rice pilaf, stewed greens. I asked if the stewed greens were "horta", which we came to really enjoy during our visit to Crete. The gentleman seemed a bit shocked that I knew what it was...….and was told that folks really weren't ordering it, so they didn't have any on this day.

Which was ok. I got a Pork Gyro Meal, with Baked Garbanzos as a side ($7.99). It also came with a drink. My package had a bit of heft to it and I was a bit shocked at the amount of food when I opened things up at my desk.

Man, this was quite a bit of food! I tried the garbanzos; which had a really thick, reduced tomato sauce, lovely tangy-acidic flavors, with a touch of spices like almost lemony oregano and onion. The garbanzos were a bit "harder" than I prefer, but this wasn't a bad side dish at all.

As for the gyros. Well, these were really thick cut; which made it a bit chewier and drier than hat I enjoy at Zgara. The marinade was also a bit on the lighter side and this was much milder in flavor, though it was decently seasoned. You could make out a light porkiness.

The pita was standard issue, but nicely heated on the griddle. The Tzatziki was a bit different; very thick, with a texture close to cream cheese. It was decently refreshing....all that meat after all, though it didn't have as much of the nice, mild acidity, though the dill comes thru nicely.

While not quite Zgara Greek Grill, it was still pretty good, and as far as I'm concerned a bargain. I also found out that the place opens at 8am each day. Even better for me since I get into the office a bit after 5am and usually start getting hungry for lunch around 10. Also, that parking lot is less of a horror show and there are fewer people around at that time.

I was curious about the Chicken Gyros; so I got that when I revisited a few weeks later (a meal $7.99).

This time I got it with the Hand Cut Fries; which were more like chips. These were really good, nicely seasoned, you can forget about the packages of ketchup with this. Varying pleasant textures, some crunchy, some more potato. This definitely beats out the fries at Zgara.

The chicken wasn't bad....on this visit I paid more attention to how things were assembled and noticed that both the pork and chicken are precut from verticle spit and held in hotel pans. I think this contributes to the relative dryness of the product.

I did enjoy the crispy bits and the seasoning came through a bit better with this; but it'll still be the pork for me.

It's great to have another option for breakfast/lunch in the area. There's quite a bit on the menu, including breakfast items, mezes, specials like Giouvetsi, and even a burger.

I really enjoy talking to the owner; he's a great guy and loves chatting about food.

I've gone back a couple of times since this visit and the folks have always been really nice and the folks in the office love the portions and prices. I'll start exploring other items on the menu in future visits. And you really can't complain about the prices for those fairly hefty (non-mystery meat) Gyros.

Gyrogrill
6780 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92121
(858) 586-7700
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 8am - 8pm
Sat       8am - 6pm
Sun       8am - 3pm

I guess I should be glad; that even during these challenging times, we have places like these opening.

Comments

[kat]

nice that you have another choice for this type of cuisine!

[Kirk]

I'm definitely happy about that Kat!

[Junichi]

Even open on the weekends. That's rare for Miramar.

[Kirk]

Quite rare Junichi. Not sure how long that's going to last. Might be good for one of your stop on "Beeramar"! ;o)

[Soo]

Wow! You got a great deal!

[Kirk]

The gyro combo here; considering that it's made inhouse is a great deal Soo.