Gyros Are The Heroes At Downtown Kirkland Grill

---------------------------- Restaurant review / Kirkland ----------------------------

XX Santorini Greek Grill, 106 Central Way, Kirkland. Lunch, dinner ($3.99-$6.50) 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday. No smoking. No credit cards. No alcohol. No reservations. Obstacles to access. 425-822-0555.

Once, wandering by chance into an alley in Paris' Latin Quarter, I found a sight as entertaining as it was intoxicating: Greek men standing in doorways hawking gyros, souvlaki, spit-roasted lamb and the largest prawns I'd ever seen, all displayed in the windows of dozens of tiny, reasonably priced Greek restaurants.

I was reminded of that Greek Row as I made my way through downtown Kirkland - past myriad shops vying for my budget bucks with wraps, bagels, burgers and pizza - then stopped, stared, and stayed for lunch at Santorini Greek Grill. Amid the multitude of corporate competitors (Taco del Mar is right next door, Cucina! Presto! right up the street), this stereotypically outfitted blue-and-white noshery turned out to be a bright and sunny respite in a gustatory ghetto.

Owner Stavros Ioannou isn't hawking souvlaki from his doorway, but, as you may note through the storefront window, he is grilling skewers of marinated beef, lamb and chicken and tending a vertical spit. More often than not, he's cheerfully slicing spit-roasted minced lamb and beef, stuffing it into warm pita pockets with lettuce, tomato and onions before ladling the whole shebang with a garlicky blast of tzatziki. His wife, Elsa, presents this crowd-pleaser in a wrapper stamped "America's Tastiest Sandwich." Dare I suggest that the gyro has become a bigger, better answer to the Big Mac? It has, and I render that analogy with due respect, as the constant parade of customers eyeing the overhead menu, ordering at the counter, and eventually clutching gyros sandwiches and munching thick golden fries will attest.

Cafe tables and a street-facing counter make swell resting spaces, though lots of folks prefer to order up and take out. Ioannou tweaks the standards - gyros, souvlaki and falafel - and expands his menu by doling out variations on the meat, chicken and falafel theme. They come in pita sandwiches, as plate dinners (alongside rice pilaf, salad and pita) or crowning Greek salads. Fast food it's not. But the goods served here are quick enough, prepared with attention, and worthy of many a return visit. There's a cookie jar and a Certs display near the register. You'll want the former and need the latter.

VEGETARIAN APPETIZER PLATE: An appetizing meal-for-one. Slabs of feta. A minty, rice-stuffed, grape leaf duo. More than enough kalamata olives and pickled pepperoncini and not enough of the refreshing horiatiki (Greek village) salad. Slather your pita with chickpea-chunky hummus. Spoon the potent, breath-defying tzatziki at your own risk.

BEEF SOUVLAKI SANDWICH WITH FRIES: Now here's a steak sandwich! This two-fister might be wearing sorry-looking, winter-weary tomatoes, but the only truly sorry thing about eating it is the fact that I've yet to return and sink my teeth into more of those marinated beef hunks, grilled to perfect pinkdom, cradled in warm pita with sweet onions and lettuce and drizzled with tzatziki.

BAKLAVA: Oh, honey!

ITEMIZED BILL

VEGETARIAN APPETIZER PLATE: $5.75 BEEF SOUVLAKI SANDWICH WITH FRIES: $5.34 BAKLAVA: $1.40 SNAPPLE: $1.25 SMALL DIET COKE: 89-cents

TAX: $1.33 TOTAL: $15.96