The Portland food stall scene is well developed. Plenty of choices line many a parking lot in the downtown area. I recently posted a review for pork souvlaki at Kokkari, so the food memory of high quality protein wrapped in a bread blanket is top of mind. The Aybla Grill, a food stall in Downtown Portland serves up a high quality wrap for $5, not a SF expense account restaurant $16. I'm glad the parking lot and trailer are cheap. And with the recent experience of souvlaki, I felt a gyro would be the perfect street food to compare it against.
The lamb gyro at Aybla Grill was real tasty. When a gyro is this good and this simple, I question why I eat hamburgers, hot dogs, or sandwiches for lunch. Gyros are fresh, fast, and have well seasoned lamb in them, so what could be better? When I compare it to my restaurant style souvlaki, the only miss would be the quality of the pita bread Aybla uses. The freshly made pita at Kokkari made the dish. Here at Aybla, the stuffing and condiments make the dish, the pita is simply there to hold everything together. It's not paper thin pita, but it wasn't the true bread that Kokkari served. I will give credit to the gentleman that wrapped my gyro, the thinner style pita didn't rip or tear while I handled my lunch.
I'll keep coming to Aybla Grill and for $5 a gyro, I'd be a fool not to. One word of caution, if you have a business meeting after lunch, pack some breath mints.
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