Chicken Lemon Soup - A Columbus, OH Greek Food Favorite

As a young boy living back home in Greece, I always remember those rainy winters. Our home did not have heat so we relied on dressing cozy inside the home and eating plenty of soups, one of the most popular being the Chicken Lemon Soup, also known as Avgolemono soup. Coincidentally my godmother, who lived across the street, had several lemon trees and a fence that we had to jump over regularly to pick them before it got really cold!

As the whole world knows chicken soup is great and great for you if you are coming down with a cold. Chicken lemon soup does the same but it is twice as effective because of the vitamin C in the lemons. Many of my customers and friends wonder why it works so well but when I explain the vitamin C and the lemon effect, they see why it does the trick so well!

We start off making this Columbus, OH Greek Food favorite by boiling the chicken. Leg quarters are great or a whole chicken is also good.

Then we chop the vegetables, celery, carrots,

yellow onions, and also cook them in some water.

As the chicken is done, sift anything floating on the top and combine the chicken stock with the vegetable stock, bring to a boil and then add the orzo (small pieces of pasta) to this with some butter. When the orzo is very close to be done (aldente), turn off the heat under the soup. Debone the chicken in strips and add it in the soup. You can add some salt, lite pepper and fresh squeezed lemons all to your taste. If you wish you can add some fresh dill for more fresh flavor. Use parsley for garnish if desired.

It seems like unlikely combination at first, chicken soup and lemon but once they try it, many people enjoy it frequently. In fact, it is one of the most-ordered dishes in our Columbus, OH, Greek food restaurant!

This is a hearty soup and one everyone should try it. Grandma would be proud to serve it, so I am proud to serve it for Grandma!

Dine in, Take out, or Drive-thru at King Gyros Greek Restaurant - 400 South Hamilton Road, Columbus, OH. Order online at KingGyros.com, or call them at (614)866-9008! King Gyros serves wonderful Greek food in Columbus, OH. The staff is friendly, the portions are huge, and the flavor of the food is unique and superb. What’s more, all the prices are very reasonable. They even have a drive-thru, so you can get your Greek food fix on the run at lunchtime. You can visit King Gyros Greek Restaurant of Columbus OH on the web at www.kinggyros.com. Follow them on Twitter at @kinggyrosgreek.

King Gyros Greek Restaurant - 18 Years of Authentic Greek Food in Columbus, OH

In July, King Gyros Greek Restaurant celebrated their 18th year anniversary by thanking their loyal customers. For this 18th Year anniversary, King Gyros gave away some prizes to its loyal guests! To kick off the anniversary, Yianni Chalkias, King Gyros president, decided to give away prizes through the King Gyros Facebook page.




First prize was a jar of King Gyros famous dressing for the first fifty fans on Facebook. Originally from a family recipe, King Gyros makes their own Greek dressing from scratch and uses only the best ingredients like garlic, Greek oregano, and other herbs and spices. Congratulations to Rose Landon, Angel Spiroff, and Cathy Celanic for being the first three of the 50 dressing winners!



Also, in the middle of the month,Yianni stepped it up by giving away fifty Free Gyro cards for a year, which means each winner gets a free gyro each week for the whole year. Yianni simply asked his loyal customers to introduce a friend or a family member to King Gyros and the first fifty starting that week would get a Free Gyro Card. Noel Traver, Donna Poppendieck and J.R. Mc Millan claimed the first three of the gift card prizes.



King Gyros Greek Restaurant likes to give back to its customers. "Loyalty is a big thing. King Gyros would rather give something to someone that has been coming through the King Gyros' door throughout the year than give to someone that has not supported the business," says King Gyros founder, Yianni Chalkias. King Gyros of Columbus drives the value pricing very hard and the Authentic cuisine with homemade recipes that they offer makes it even more worth the drive.




About King Gyros Greek Restaurant: People finally get it. Made from scratch and fresh is important to them and a reasonable price is even better. King Gyros Greek Restaurant (http://www.kinggyros.com) is a Columbus Greek restaurant that offers 36 seats in the dining room, provides catering, and is set up with a take-out counter for convenience. Drive-thru is also available for the full menu. Seventeen percent of King Gyros customers live more than fifteen miles away so order accuracy and quality is very important to them. King Gyros also has an online ordering system which has full color pictures for most of the menu items.

Thanks, Columbus, for 18 years of Greek Love!

Press Contact:
Yianni Chalkias
400 South Hamilton Road
Columbus, OH
(614) 866-9008
gyros2nv@yahoo.com

King Gyros Greek Restaurant, A little Gem in Whitehall

Reviewed Friday, July 18th, 2009

At first glance, the little building at 400 South Hamilton Road in Columbus, OH looks like any other small fast food restaurant, but spend two hours inside sampling the food and anyone will understand why there is a steady stream of customers lining up even in the middle of the afternoon when other restaurants are typically experiencing a lull.

King Gyros in Columbus is owned and managed by Yianni Chalkias, can seat about 36 people comfortably and has a drive-thru. Yianni is a first-generation Greek-American. He and his family opened the restaurant in 1991 using a handful of recipes handed down from his father. Most of the dishes on the menu do not exceed $10, so a family dinner at Columbus' King Gyros will not break the bank. Parents will be happy to know that there is a kid’s menu with some less exotic options, such as hamburgers and chicken fingers.

Yianni started our team out with some heavy appetizers, including the spanakopita with feta cheese and kalamata olives. One Taste Caster exclaimed the spanakopita was the best he had ever eaten, hands down. (It might have also been the biggest spanakopita we have ever seen.) The filo dough is flaky and flavorful, and the spinach and cheese are extremely fresh. The flavor of the olives is nothing like what anyone has come to expect from olives, and the team recommends eating them by themselves to fully appreciate it.

King Gyros' Spinach & Feta Pie

The next dish served was the fried calamari and smelts, which are fish fries. Both were very tender, and the crust was crunchy and not oily at all. The dressing added a nice flavor for dipping. Definitely a good appetizer option that’s a bit less exotic.The team then sampled Greek cabbage rolls and meatballs, which looked like they should be served at a more expensive restaurant. The flavor was extraordinary. The lamb, beef, and rice mixture in the rolls combined nicely. The light acidity of the tomato sauce over it provided a nice contrast in flavors.

Fried Smelts

King Gyros' Calamari

For the main course, Yianni brought two lamb dishes to the table. One was a combination of lamb legs, lamb shanks, and peppers, which were served over saffron rice. Saffron is one of the most expensive spice in the world, which is why you don’t often see it in everyday cuisine. The other dish was King Gyros' Lamb-kabob, marinated lamb, peppers, and red onions served over the saffron rice.

Papa's Lamb Shanks

King Gyros' Lamb Kabob

Yianni then presented a plate of four types of Greek pastries for dessert. King Gyros' baklava was extremely fresh, and Yianni does the baking on-site everyday. The picture should speak for itself.

A selection of King Gyros' Baklavas

King Gyros is a hidden gem here in Columbus that you must try. The staff is friendly, the portions are huge, and the flavor of the food is unique and superb. What’s more, all the prices are very reasonable. They even have a drive-thru, so you can get your Greek fix on the run at lunchtime. You can visit King Gyros of Columbus on the web where you can actually order your food for pickup. King Gyros can also be followed on Twitter at @gyros2nv.

Dine in, Take out, or Drive-thru at King Gyros Greek Restaurant - 400 South Hamilton Road, Columbus, OH. Order online at KingGyros.com, or call them at (614)866-9008!

Yiayia's Stuffed Grape Leaves

I have eaten many different type of Stuffed Grape Leaves in all my years and many people make them with odd ingredients or flavorless. Yiayia means Grandma. My Yiayia would be a housewife all her life so she had perfected the flavor and the texture along with the cooking of the Grape Leaves.
She would take pride in every batch that she would make it would be to our expectations. Growing up in a family with four boys it was a challenge some days! Yiayia cooked daily and when she cooked those Grape Leaves for those special occasions, I personally ate at least 3-4 out of the pot even before being served. As good as they were I had to be careful not to eat too many because as a Greek tradition, you cannot leave any food in your plate because it does not look good on the cook.
The way I cook my Stuffed Grape Leaves are in a oven pan, because they cook all even. There is only one layer which does not make the bottom layer of rice inside real mushy and the top real firm. The best grape leave to use for wrapping is either imported from Turkey or grown in California. They cannot be big leaves because they will be stringy
trying to eat them. I start with ground Lamb, ground chuck, diced up onions, peppers, and spices like dill, pepper and salt. When wrapped and the pan add some lemon to the
boiling water, it gives it an extra tang. Depending on your oven, on 350 degrees it take about 1 hour to cook. When serving must be topped with a lemon dill sauce. It gives that extra punch to the Grape Leave and makes them real tasty!

Celebrating 18 Years of Greek Love!!

Yianni and the whole crew took part in the Parade and kicked off the celebration for King Gyros' 18th Year Anniversary, 18 Years of Greek Love!!. The crew passed out over 400 bottles of King Gyros Spring Water, 10 lb of Jolly Ranchers Candy and more than 2,000 Mini Gyro Cards to locals. "Many residents expressed their appreciation and thanked us for being part of the community. Many also were clapping as we were going by and touting our food and brand", Yianni said. "That makes me feel like it is worth it what I do daily for people, to see their smiles and to relate with our group and our enthusiasm to give them our thanks in a very festive way!" King Gyros is also doing other promotions, specials and complimentary items for the Anniversary taking place Month of July.

Greek Kataife

I still remember the first time I ate my first kataife. My grandmother made it for a special occasion and my parents decided that I can have some. We would usually eat baklava or Galactobureko (Greek Custard) and the older people and parents would eat the kataife but not for kids. I knew I was growing up in their eyes from that day on. Kataife is a little more labor intense to make and you would have to appreciate pastries in general to feel good about eating Kataife. There is not any Greek Restaurants in Columbus that I know have Kataife. I love the flavor and the texture of it and of course the cinnamon mixed with walnut filling. You can start by opening up the shredded dough, a good thick layer and right in front set the filling end to end. Roll the Kataife dough until it looks like a large shredded wheat. Brush some butter and set in the preheated oven until it is brown on top. You should turn it once for even cooking. Bring it out and pour some honey syrup over it while it is still hot so it would drink as much as possible. Let it cool down and then serve. I like to make mine a larger size because a small one would not be enough. It is much too often people come in at my restaurant and cannot believe we offer it. My little one loves it and recently she has been eating it at least once a week. She does not need to be grown for me to offer it to her because I know what she would be missing! King Gyros Greek Restaurant is located in Columbus, Ohio and Yianni offers the largest variety of Greek desserts and pastries in Central Ohio. Menu is online at http://www.KingGyros.com .

Wild Caught FRIED SMELTS

People love to tell stories when it comes to these Smelts. They always talk about how they used to catch them with their group of friends coming down the river. I find if you lived north of Columbus and into Michigan, and like fish, you have a smelt story. In Greece at home or at a Greek restaurant, we share these with everyone and set in the middle of the table to enjoy. Among like other Greek foods like calamari these are really popular as well. These little fishies are tasty if breaded and cooked with care. The smelts are Wild Caught Canadian Lake Smelts. The are not farmed, as might think and it makes them appealing. For preparation, first you must pour the batter on them and mix together. Then you would flour them in the bread crumbs/flour combination and make sure each one is totally covered. Next, you would put them in the fryer to cook in canola oil. For best results the oil has to be 325 degrees and you must cook them crispy on the outside to insure they are cooked on the inside. Serve with our homemade Greek sauce and sprinkle a little lemon if desired. We serve these for eat-in or take-out. This item is fairly new and is currently not even listed on our menu yet. If you are a fish lover you will totally enjoy this as an appetizer or a dinner.

Lamb Kefte Pita Sandwich

When starting this Kefte Pita Sandwich, I remember how we would eat these keftes as young kids, and were a treat. We would even eat them like finger food with tzatziki. In this recipe I am showing you the kefte pita pita from the preparation to the cooking and the finished sandwich. You start by dicing the green and red peppers, shred the onions, finely dice the garlic, squeeze the lemon and add the Greek spices. Primary spices are cumin and mint. Next, add the ground chuck and ground lamb. Little more ground chuck, which is less fatty than the ground beef, and as much lamb. Lamb has Allot of flavor so do not need as much to get that flavor. Mix everything real well with your fist for 7-10 minutes. Then, put in the refrigerator until it is cold. When brought out, patty in egg shape patties and put on the char grill. Make sure you mark twice on one side and twice on the other side as shown on the picture. Do not overcook, make sure patties stay juicy, that will retain the flavor. Put on a fluffy pita bread with sliced tomatoes, red onions and some banana peppers and lettuce if desired. In this sandwich I did not use any of my Famous Gyro Sauce, because it came out of the grill with allot of aroma and very juicy.

Walnut, Strawberry cheesecake baklava & tiramisu Tray

I love putting together baklava trays. To me it is like baking a cake and then finishing it with all the decorations and and colors. Baklava Trays are usually pretty uniform, and are cut up triangle pieces smaller than the regular piece to put in a cupcake paper cup and make them bite size treats.
I have been making these trays for allot of years and I got a request for a birthday baklava tray Ms. Williamson's daughter wanted this tray for her birthday and picked from several types of baklavas including the Strawberry Cheesecake Baklava and the Tiramisu, set it up all together in a tray. The challenge was to make sure you would be able to see all the baklavas, cheesecake and Tiramisu displayed beautifully.

Gyro & Feta Bowl

This is the New Generation Greek. When you want all of the great flavors of our thinly sliced Gyro meat, set on top of our perfect Saffron rice, crumbled Greek feta cheese, our famous Gyro sauce topped with diced red onions, diced tomatoes, and fresh shredded lettuce, this is a hit! This dish (bowl) is very filling and bursting with flavor. There is also a Supreme Gyro & Feta Bowl version of this. If you prefer our grilled chicken, we also offer the Chicken & Feta Bowl, Regular or Supreme. Regular customers, friends or employees that tried this, WOWed the flavors! You have got to try it. Eat and enjoy! Kali Orexi!

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