Adventures at Gyro's House

September 10, 2010 12:21 AM

irst off, Google Maps says that I'm spelling this place's name correctly--there is a place on Verona Road that is apparently a house owned by a guy named Gyro. Or something.

In any event, Taste of Madison was this weekend, and L-Dawg and I had but one goal: to find an amazing gyro. As it turns out, the best gyro of the day was the first one we had. And it was from a place called Gyro's House, which is located in the Mobil gas station at Verona and the Beltline. This is both strange (it's in a fucking gas station!) and unfortunate (I drive past that intersection approximately a thousand times a week).

Chelsadilla and I were feeling lazy about making dinner the other night, so I talked her into getting take-out gyros from a gas station with me. And it was a hell of an adventure.

First of all, the place is built in to a gas station. But not just any gas station, no, this place is built into a gas station that's about half a second from Allied Drive, which is universally recognized as Madison's sketchiest neighborhood. The Dilla was talking about how sketchy the place was even as we were parking. I reassured her that the people smoking cigarettes in their pajamas at 5:30pm were totally not something to worry about and not at all an indication of sketchiness.

The Mobil gas station is your average gas station. Then, in the back, there's a counter and some big menus. This place has gyros, fried chicken, and fish fry. It was like South meets Mediterranean, but it was still appetizing.

Although there was a lit-up "Open" sign, no one was standing at the counter. We waited for a few minutes, but no one poked their head out from behind the curtain behind the counter. Then someone pointed out that there was a bell we had to ring. So I rang it. Some guy poked his head out from behind the curtain and told us he'd be with us in a minute. At least ten minutes passed before we saw him again. I contemplated ringing the bell again, but chelsadilla wouldn't let me. Still, two gentleman who'd spent way too much money on Sean John clothing couldn't stand the wait and rang the bell. I felt bad for the guy behind the curtain because it seemed like he was the only one working but still--we waited more than ten minutes before we even ordered. Chelsadilla kept commenting on the sketchiness, and I kept reassuring her.

We finally ordered. That was straightforward enough. Then we waited some more. While we were waiting, a guy who was about three-quarters my height came up to us. He whispered to me and held something up. He pulled a ring out of a bag and said something like, "You wanna buy that pretty girl something pretty?" He showed me a ring. "It's real, check it out!" The ring was obviously fake or stolen or both. "No thanks," I said, and he walked over to the other people waiting for their food. He pulled out other rings and necklaces and all manner of contraband. The other guys took some of it. I'm not sure if they bought anything.

Our food finally came out. We took it and got out of there. I looked around the parking lot and realized that this place wasn't quaint or colorful--it was fucking sketchy.

Our food was great. The gyro meat was delicious, as was the yogurt sauce. The veggies were fairly fresh. I would eat the food again in a heartbeat.

But I might be armed when I order.

7 Comments

tRJ said:

What the hell? I swear Allied Drive is like a set from The Wire.

September 10, 2010 8:41 AM

chelsadilla said:

SKETCHIEST DATE EVER, dude. Your forgot the mention the 10 minutes we spent looking through the yellow pages in a desperate attempt to avoid eye contact & blend in with the wall.

September 10, 2010 11:36 AM

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