Gyro Spot Expands Mediterranean Fresh, Fast Food in Olympia

gyro olympia restaurant
Gyro Spot owner Kenny Trobman handcrafts his gyros with locally sourced ingredients, including the lamb.
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By Holly Smith Peterson

heritage bankWhat you want for lunch when you’re working is something fast, fresh and tasty.  You often want something healthy and different or to find that special go-to spot with choices for days that are sunny or sleet-filled, and for midday breaks that are either lingering or lightning-fast.

That’s the niche that Gyro Spot owner Kenny Trobman found seven years ago when he tested the short version of his Mediterranean restaurant idea via a late-night mobile gyro stand across from the Brotherhood Lounge in downtown Olympia. The test went so well that he opened a second tented gyro site on Friday and Saturday nights at the corner of Court and Adams streets. By 2011, he had a third stand on the city’s west side, as well as a loyal following.

gyro spot olympia
Warm, homemade pitas and fresh, locally-sourced ingredients make the tasty difference between the homemade gyros at Trobman’s two Olympia restaurants.

Based on the success of his mobile food stands, in June 2011, Trobman opened his first brick-and-mortar site at 317 4th Avenue East.

“The mobile sites really helped develop the following with my food,” Trobman said. “I was successful right off the bat.”

But the Gyro Spot wasn’t Trobman’s first time at the restaurant rodeo. From 2002 through 2009 he ran the Clubside Cafe, which like many dining venues went south at the onset of clientele belt-tightening due to the recession. After selling that business, he realized he needed to reinvent his strategy — and he knew that he still wanted to stick close to his love of cooking.

“People were feeling the pinch of the economy, and they didn’t want a $10 meal anymore,” he said. “They were looking for something more in the $5 to $6 range.”

That led to the idea for the mobile food stand. No one in Olympia was creating the Mediterranean-style cuisine on which Trobman had been raised and wound up often cooking for his family himself as a boy.

“I grew up in a Jewish home, eating a lot of Mediterranean dishes like shwarma, gyros and falafel, so my first idea was for the Shwarma Spot,” he explained. “But I found that more people knew what a gyro was then what shwarma is, so it made more sense to call it the Gyro Spot. There was no place to get a good gyro or Mediterranean food in the area. I wanted to add something to the mix, on the hot side; something different then what people are used to.”

What the Gyro Spot offers is truly unique to Olympia: a brief, healthy Mediterranean deli menu that’s tasty and quick. It’s also different than the typical sub-soup-sandwich or Asian lunch offerings that surround it.

gyro spot olympia
Customers enjoy fresh Mediterranean fare in bright surroundings at the downtown Olympia Gyro Spot, which also has a walk-up window.

What can you order? Besides meaty, flavorful gyros, everything from Spanish tapanade to Italian panzanella bread salad to falafel and hearty Greek avgolemeno lemon chicken orzo soup. You’ll also find a pick-and-pay selection of Mediterranean and Caesar salads and appetizers. Every ingredient is locally sourced from Puget Sound farms and small retailers, mostly in Thurston County, but also in Pierce County and no further than Seattle.

Since it opened three years ago, the Gyro Spot has become such a popular dining spot that Trobman recently opened a second location near the Capitol Campus. He’d been considering a site there for several years, one in particular that had caught his eye but had never been available until this year. Now that spot is also so busy that Trobman has a second sandwich line at the ready and is working out delivery services, possibly in time for the Legislative session at the turn of the new year.

“I’ve streamlined everything so we can we can make gyros and fresh orders in a short amount of time,” he said. “We want to get you in, give you your food, and get you out the door in five minutes. With the second line, we can do 150 sandwiches in an hour.”

olympia restaurant gyro
A worker at the downtown Olympia location slices lamb off the rotisserie.

Also on tap is the possibility of retail distribution of a selection of the Gyro Spot’s carry-out provisions, such as the portions of falafel, tabouli and panzanella.

“Right now I’m just focused on the new store,” Trobman said. “I’m working on getting the kinks out of that and being sure before taking a next step. But we are working on the delivery option, and 2015 is the goal for the retail.”

Pick up your gyro at the Gyro Spot (317 – 4th Ave E) or the Gyro Spot Express (913 Capitol Way).  Follow Trobman’s adventures via Facebook.

 

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