Juicy gyros lead to taste bud joy at Zoi's

On a corner of Broadway in Cape Girardeau sits an unassuming green and white building with a clock on the front. Inside of Zoi's Gyro Corner, foodie magic has been happening since 1994.

Zoi has always greeted me at the drive-thru window with a smile without fail. I feel like I have walked into my favorite aunt's house, and she only wants to sit me down and feed me. I have to believe that Zoi makes everyone feel this special and welcome.

Zoi's top menu item is a traditional Greek gyro. Lamb mixed with beef and spiced with flavors foreign to my American palate are pressed into a large cylinder, and this is slowly spun and toasted until the meat is sizzling and browned. As it cooks, the meat is sliced off of the outside of the cylinder in long strips. It reminds me vaguely of sausage, but it is so much more subtle and complex than that and with a finer texture. This meat is then stuffed into a thick, perfectly toasted pita round. Zoi piles on tomatoes, onions and tzatziki sauce, which is Greek yogurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, and other secret ingredients. Zoi's gyros are big, beefy, and absolutely my favorite thing to take home to eat.

On my way out of town, I'll grab some gyros. Now, Zoi does have some seating in her cottage store, but I like to buy the gyros at the drive-thru and eat them at home, and this is by design. By the time I get home, the juices from the gyro meat and the tzatziki sauce have had time to work their way through the entire sandwich. As I open the simple paper bag and unwrap the foil swaddled gyro, the rich smell of lamb and beef waft into my face. That first bite is amazing, as first bites always are.

Perfectly cooked gryo meat is browned on one side before it is sliced away from the cylinder, and that one side is just every so slightly crispy, a razor thin edge of concentrated flavor that pops through the whole sandwich. The tzatziki sauce has warmed and flowed into all the little meat crevasses. But this is my favorite part: the tzatziki sauce and extra meat juice has been absorbed by the upper level of the pita. When you bite into it, the bread releases a bomb of flavor in your mouth, and flows onto the tongue with a texture that is smooth, savory, and reminds one of salty seas and blue and white buildings. But don't get me wrong, the pita is in no way soggy. It is perfect.

Zoi's Gyro Corner: the building "with the clock."Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

Zoi's art does not stop with gyros. I almost always order a small Greek salad on the side, and with this, too, she does not hold back on the ingredients. Fresh and colorful, I have never seen a browned or limp piece of lettuce or an ugly cut on a tomato. Sprinkled with generous amounts of feta cheese and kalamata olives, she serves her salad with warm toasted pita pieces that have been sprinkled with her version of za'atar, which is a traditional Greek spice mixture. When you get to the bottom of the salad, there is always leftover dressing, for which the pita was cleverly provided. The lettuce is a good balance for the gyro sandwich, a light crispy bite balancing out the rich juicy meat.

If you so desire, Zoi also serves hummus, a delicious chickpea spread with pita pieces for dipping. You can find dolmades there, grape leaves stuffed with a gently spiced vegetable mixture. There are flavorful and varied selection here for the vegetarians among us, including falafel, small fried patties made of chickpeas and parsley. This description of them is sorely lacking, as they are full of flavor and delightful. You can finish your meal off with baklava, thin sheets of phyllo dough layered with honey and nuts.

If any of these ingredients sound unfamiliar, do not let that stop you. Zoi's food is delicious and comforting, consistently delicious and fresh. Her gyros rank in my top five favorite foods ever, and that is no exaggeration.