IN THE KITCHEN: Main Street Gyro is owned and operated by father-son team Nick and Basil Tourlitis.
Nick, a native of the island of Crete in Greece, served in the Merchant Marine before entering the restaurant business in New York City many years ago. He also owns Seven Star Pizza in Nashua. Basil managed several Walgreens stores before, he said, he “escaped the corporate life.’’
At the gyro shop, the duo spices and roasts their own beef, chicken, and lamb gyros, which are displayed on rotating skewers behind the counter. “We use family recipes from my dad’s hometown in Greece, and we’ve done some tweaking as well,’’ said Basil, a genial presence who enjoys chatting with customers from his station behind the counter.
THE LOCATION: The unpretentious eatery opened last year at the former site of a bakery and hardware store on Main Street (“There was no other location for us,’’ said Basil of the city’s central drag) and has earned a devoted following in a city that knows its Greek food. The unpretentious self-serve eatery has plastic cutlery and a couple of dozen seats, several at the counter. There are a few tables on the sidewalk and two tables on a window platform in the storefront. Seascape paintings on the walls evoke Greece; the back wall is a three-dimensional façade inspired by the cottage of Basil’s grandmother in Crete.
ON THE MENU: The restaurant has beer on tap as well as a selection of soft drinks and our favorite, at $3.75, frappé — frothy, strong Greek iced coffee
The stars of the menu are the gyros — pork ($6.75), chicken ($6.75), lamb ($9), bifteki ($6.75), (a blend of pork and ground beef), and veggie ($6) made with roasted zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, and other vegetables. For a extra few dollars they are also available as dinner portions with a salad, rice pilaf, and warm pita bread.
All are served on a choice of white or whole-wheat pita stuffed with spiced beef, fresh onions, tomatoes, and parsley topped with awesome tzatziki sauce, with a surprise cluster of seasoned hand-cut french fries tucked in.
We sampled the lamb gyro and loved every morsel — so fresh, spicy, and abundant. Before that we tried cups of avgolemono ($5.50) and lentil ($4.25) soups and appetizer side portions of falafel ($6.75) with tzatziki and spanakopita ($4.25).
The lentil soup was excellent and hearty and the egg lemon soup was very flavorful and lemony the way we like it, but could have been a tad thicker. The spinach pie was the best we’ve ever tasted — crispy, buttery, and deeply savory, and a very generous portion for a side.
We then tucked in for a chicken souvlaki dinner ($7.75) vowing to try the pork or bifteki skewers the next trip. The souvlaki was deeply flavorful and tender, and we loved the heaping mound of lemony rice on the side.
We also ordered a Greek ($7) and village salad ($7.50). The village salad was authentic, with fresh and chopped red onion, tomato, cukes, feta, and Kalamata olives with olive oil and fresh herbs and a side of warm pita. We would have preferred our Greek salad a tad more traditional with iceberg lettuce instead of mixed greens and an olive-oil based dressing instead of a creamy Greek. But the veggies were fresh, the tomatoes awesome, and the huge slab of feta very satisfying.
Main Street also offers baklava ($3.50), loukoumades ($3.50 for six), and its “signature happy ending’’ dessert ($3.50), Greek yogurt with honey and crushed walnuts.
Main Street Gyro, 215 Main St., Nashua. 603-579-0666. www.mainstreetgyro.com.
Tom Long can be reached at tomflong918@gmail.com.
