St. Louis, MOGyros

George Nicholas Sr. opened this McCausland Avenue room in 1980 as what he called a souvlaki shack, using recipes from his cousin Marietta, and Sauce reports his sons have kept it running for more than four decades. Order the gyro, then the saganaki of brandy-soaked kasseri that a server lights at the table. Kebabs, moussaka and spanakopita fill out a shareable menu. The booths are church pews the family salvaged and cut in half.

Michael Malliotakis turned a small neighborhood bar into a Greek-American restaurant in the late 1970s, and Sauce reports his daughter Katina now runs a 250-seat room where gyros and gyro salads are among the biggest sellers alongside pastitsio, moussaka, lamb shanks and burgers. St. Louis Magazine's Greek guide points to the oregano-laced Greek salad, full of tomatoes, feta and real Greek olives. Order a gyro and add that salad.

A Gravois Avenue carryout that builds the classic gyro on lettuce, tomato, onion and cucumber sauce, with a second counter in Oakville. Sauce's Eat This column recommends calling ahead for the spinach pie, whose layers of crisp phyllo are folded into two-bite triangles around spinach, fresh herbs and salty feta and served six to an order with tzatziki. St. Louis Magazine notes the baklava is always on hand and the custard-filled galaktoboureko is harder to find.

Vedad Becirovic opened the original in Soulard in 2009, and Sauce traces his menu to a Bosnian upbringing in Germany surrounded by Turkish influences, including a family friend's kebab shop. Those cultures shape the slow-roasted meats that fill the gyros and doner kebabs. Order the classic doner kebab Becirovic names as his own favorite, a baked bun packed with chicken or beef and lamb, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and red cabbage under house-made tzatziki and a red pepper blend. The Cali Gyro adds avocado and applewood-smoked bacon.