Dining out: City Greek Express

Two heavily tattooed guys were stubbing out their cigarettes in the cold as we pulled up to City Greek Express, a little gyro shop tucked into a brick building on downtown State Street.

The guys weren't part of City Greek Express; they belonged to the tattoo parlor next door, which was doing a land-office business on the Saturday we arrived for a late lunch.

But I mention them because City Greek's setting is as much a part of this eatery as its gyros. While the vibe outside is funky and a little gritty, the vibe inside is a loving nod to Salt Lake's past.

There's a beautiful old radio cabinet, made of glowing golden wood, near the entrance. The only seating in this long, narrow dining space is bar-style, giving the whole place a lunch-counter feel, and my kids amused themselves for 20 minutes pretending to make calls on the old copper-finish dial pay phone that bisects the seating on the north wall.

"I wish you called people on our phone like this," my youngest daughter said.

The menu at City Greek Express is pretty simple: gyros, a couple of salads, drinks, maybe a couple of other things. The focus is clear, and it pays off in tasty gyros that often veer away from traditional Greek.

Besides your "classic" gyro, there are steak and chicken gyros, including "San Francisco" style with Dijonnaise sauce, tomatoes, onions and field greens; and Buffalo chicken style with wing sauce, shredded carrots, lettuce and blue cheese.

There's a veggie gyro, too, which immediately got me thinking of my mom, a veggie lover, with its mix of hummus, bell peppers, tomatoes, red onions, feta cheese, cucumbers and Greek dressing.

As part of a combo-meal special, I had the classic gyro. OK, maybe I should have ventured off the beaten path, but I didn't, and I'm not sorry, either.

Many thin slices of gyro meat were piled in a warm grilled pita and topped with fresh and tangy tzatziki sauce, red onions and halved grape tomatoes. The tiny tomatoes gave the sandwich a tangy sweetness that I liked.

With my gyro I had a huge portion of fresh, mellow pasta salad, cool al dente noodles tossed with tangy oil-and-vinegar dressing and a ton of red onions, cucumbers, all sorts of bell peppers and chunks of feta cheese.

I liked it, and my kids liked snitching bites, as well.