My Favorite Gyro (but not really a Gyro)

Depending on your pronunciation of "gyro", you may have caught onto my "oh so clever" reference to a a Peter O'Toole film that bored the heck out of me when I was a kid. Yup, it was one of the films that the parents wanted to see at the movie theater and I suffered through every minute of it. Boy, did I suffer. You know when they pair Larry Appleton (Balki's roommate from Perfect Strangers) with the magnificent Peter O'Toole, hilarity should ensue but it didn't (at least not for 9 year old Matt). I still have a gut hunch that I would hate that film today but you just don't know until you revisit things at a later time. If this is somewhat ringing a bell and you want to suffer a horrific flashback, you can read the film summary here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084370/

Moving onto the reason why I started this post. This thread is dedicated to an incredible "Gyro-like" sandwich that I had last week in downtown Portland. It was a Doner Kebab wrap aka "The German Gyro but better". The phrase "The German Gyro but better" is posted all over their menu. To make it even better, the name of the place is "doner kebab". That's like a gyro joint called GYRO or a pizza place called PIZZA. Regardless, when you are the only one in town, I guess you have the flexibility to be straight forward.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/doner-kebab-portland

Doner Kebab (it's 5th and SW Washington); next to the old greek cusina. They are open Monday through late Saturday Night.

Recapping my dining experience...

I got the spicy doner wrap and it blew my mind/confirmed my faith in a higher power. I ordered the spicy rendition as I dig spicy/hot food. The spicy kick was not overwhelming but very noticeable. It was actually perfect for my taste. I gotta say that the sandwich/wrap was in the top 3 sandwiches of the past 365 days for myself.

A few other things of relevant note:

• I ordered it with extra meat (why not? It was only an additional $2) and instead of putting the meat on the sandwich, they brought out a small bowl of meat shavings with a side of their spicy, yogurt sauce. This gesture really allowed me to appreciate the taste of their magical meat with the utmost clarity without having to weigh in the wrap, lettuce, feta, etc.
• I'm not generally a big sauce guy as I hate mayo and the like. I gotta say that the yogurt sauce was great. The sauce was the vehicle for the heat, as in spiciness.
• The fries were a bit odd. They weren't bad but they didn't knock my socks off. Bottom line is the place is called DONER KEBAB and not UNIQUE FRIES. I would get the fries in a heartbeat though.
• I think next time, I may skip the fries and go for their Mediterranean salad as I absolutely adore the horiatiki genre of salad.
• The restaurant is run by authentic Germans. Can you beat that? They were extremely nice to talk to and the service was great. It's rare that I can say that when discussing Portland restaurants. Don't be surprised if you hear the clientele talking in German; kinda cool.
• The interior decor is definitely not traditional Portland but I like it's uniqueness.
• If I worked downtown, I would eat at this place at least once a week.
• The biggest shocker of my experience was that the doner kebab meat was turkey. I would have thought that it was lamb or beef. On a side note, Doner Kebab can be any kind of meat; this establishment happens to serve their doner kebabs from the turkey realm.
• They are open until 4am I believe on Friday and Saturday night for the post-bar rush.
• Oh yeah, my favorite gyros of all time are from the Latin Quarter in Paris. With that being said, this isn't a gyro and this is Portland.
  
• I think my doner kebab wrap, extra meat, fry and dr. pepper came out to $12.00 (sans tip). A very fair deal for the quality of food, excellent service, clean environment and overall dining experience.
  

You heard it here first, I'm raving over a turkey sandwich wrap with yogurt sauce. I never, in a million years, thought that I would be saying such a thing. This place gets a 10 out of 10. It's such a no-brainer that I figured I would use this awesome dining establishment as my first food review for my new blog.

Stay Classy Doner Kebab,
Chief