Recipe: Chicken Gyros

I have always really enjoyed Mediterrean food, but besides store-bought hummus, it's not usually something I make at home. Recently, I decided to try my hand at making chicken gyros, and it was a success! I looked up a few different recipes and came up with one that was pretty healthy and delicious!

Ingredients (Servings: 2)
For tzatziki sauce:
2-3 oz. Greek yogurt, plain (a little less than half of a standard 6 oz Chobani yogurt container)
1/8 cup cucumber, very finely diced 
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp dill
1 tsp oregano
Salt and pepper
Fresh lemon juice (from about a quarter of a lemon)
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil 
For chicken:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp Greek yogurt, plain
Fresh lemon juice (from about a half of a lemon)
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp dill
Salt and pepper
For assembling:
2 pitas (I used whole wheat)
Feta cheese
Kalamata Olives, chopped
Tomatoes, diced (I prefer roma)

I know this seems like a lot of ingredients, but a lot of them are spices and vinegars that you probably already have on hand. I actually only had to buy a couple things to make these.

To start, mix together all the ingredients for the chicken marinade. Once combined, add the chicken to the bowl and make sure each piece is completely coated. Cover and refrigerate it for 30 - 60 minutes.

Once that is complete, assemble the tzatziki sauce by mixing together all the ingredients in a bowl. It helps if you can let this sit in the refrigerator for a little bit while the flavors marry. My tzatziki sauce was actually better the second day because the flavors had melded together more.

When the chicken is finished marinading, transfer it to a skillet over medium heat. While the chicken is cooking, toast the whole wheat pitas just so they're slightly crispy and warm. I put mine in the toaster oven for a few minutes. Once the chicken is cooked through, place half the chicken on to each pita. Top with feta cheese, kalamata olives, the tzatziki sauce, and diced tomatoes. I served it with a delicious Greek salad with similar toppings as the gyro.  

Here is the final plate....good for you and delicious! Enjoy!

~ Kris

Review: European Cafe

Located in downtown Montgomery - just a few doors from Montgomery Inn - European Cafe is a great little place for brunch or lunch. They are known for their gyros; however that's not what I order. I absolutely loooove their hummus with pitas. They make their hummus fresh right in the restaurant, and it is delicious. Very authentic - nothing like the store bought kind. If you ask them, you can get a container of it to-go. You should ask at the beginning of your meal because they make it fresh and need time to prepare it. 

Needless to say, when I was there recently with my brother and sister-in-law, I had to get an order for the table to share. They really liked it too. The pita bread is served warm and toasted. Yum!

For my entree, I went with the greek salad with grilled chicken. As you can see in the photo, they give you quite a lot of chicken, which has a great flavor to it. The lettuce and veggies were fresh and crisp. There's greek salad dressing on the table and they also give you a cucumber-yogurt dressing on the side. I chose to use the greek salad dressing, which has a great peppery, lemon, olive oil and oregano flavor. I really enjoyed it and will definitely be back for this salad again.

My brother chose to get the burger...which was not at all surprising. He loves burgers and always orders them when we go out to eat. He seemed to really enjoy it. We were all having a debate on whether or not it was a fresh, handmade burger or a frozen patty. My brother thought it was fresh - so he must have really liked it. We finally asked our server, and she said that they are actually frozen. They had my brother fooled though - so that's pretty good! I did steal a few of his fries and they were great. Hot, salty and crispy! :)

My sister-in-law went with the traditional gyro. I was glad someone got it! And she really liked it! They forgot to bring her taziki sauce, so she used my cucumber yogurt sauce which I think is needed so it's not as dry. This is definitely a large portion size, so it may even be something you could split.

All in all, European Cafe is a nice little brunch/lunch spot. Our server was friendly and nice - not anything outstanding, but definitely good enough. We didn't try anything on the brunch menu, but they did have breakfast options available. You can sit inside or outside - which is my favorite because you can watch the people walking, jogging or driving by on Montgomery Road. If you're in the area sometime, I'd definitely give it a try!

~Kris

Food: 4

Service: 3.5

Overall: 4