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  • beautyneverlost:
    Not there get a bag of food and throw it in a dumpster down the street. Or give it to charity. Or something. Shrug. It'll be easier when i'm

  • georgeginis:
    @kimecatron yeah i love subway!!!! and real pizza or home made pasta! or greek food! gg

  • trixafaerie:
    I'm randomly craving Greek food like no tomorrow. Hm. When I get home best option will be pumpkin pie (if there's any) or SunChips lol. :-/

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    @ChristinaDrane no gyros? or you went to Famous for those?


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In Dining
American Euros carve out niche for late-night gyros
The cleverly-named American Euros cart hit the streets of Milwaukee about a month ago and can be found at the intersection of Water Street and Juneau Avenue.
By Julie Lawrence RSS Feed Twitter Feed
OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer

E-mail author | Author bio
More articles by Julie Lawrence

Published July 29, 2009 at 11:33 a.m.
Tags: american euros, gyros, greek food, street food, street vendors, late-night food

They're known as the "hot dog hotties," but they're not selling hot dogs. Though, it's easy to see why people -- notably those, shall we say, especially happy people leaving the bars in the wee hours of the morning -- might get confused.

Like the late-night Downtown hot dog vendors, Mark Miller and Chad Mydlowski sell hot food to the hungry masses from a small cart. Only, rather than wieners, they're pushing gyros.

The cleverly-named American Euros cart hit the streets of Milwaukee about a month ago and can be found at the intersection of Water Street and Juneau Avenue Thursday through Saturday from 10 p.m. until 3 a.m.

It's a corner that has recently become something of a hotbed for quick and easy bar time eating options, as the city's street food sector rapidly expands. But Mydlowski says he's yet to experience any negativity from competing vendors.

"It's like putting a Taco Bell next to a McDonald's. They have totally different varieties of food. Are they going to be mad at each other? No. We've had a couple complaints that we're intruding on someone's "area," but we just offered them a free gyro and it's been OK."

One thing's for sure; you certainly won't have any problem deciphering which cart is theirs. They'll be the ones in crisp, clean white dress shirts, skinny black ties and retro Run-DMC baseball caps.

There's also the ghettoblaster, playing old-school hip-hop and R&B classics.

"There's just so much energy around the cart," says Miller. "People hang out there; it's fun."

When it comes down to the food, American Euros keeps it fairly simple. Customers choose from chicken or lamb -- or a combo of both -- marinated in a homemade broth and carved fresh daily at their service kitchen in West Milwaukee. The gyros are reasonably priced at $4 and come "wrapped up like a Sno-cone" in a 6-inch pita bread.

There are many ways to prepare a gyro, and Miller took inspiration from his travels when creating his sandwich. In addition to the standard tomato and onion, he opted for extras like Asian-style hot sauce, as he'd fallen in love with in New York City, and lettuce, which he found to be popular in Germany.

And how could he forget practices from his own Greek heritage?

"Everywhere in Greece they make fresh cut fries and put three or four on their gyro and wrap it up. It's really good, so we're doing that."

On a local level, they've heeded to the call for cheese and now offer a sprinkling of feta for an extra $1.

As lovers of food coming from culinary-focused families, both Miller and Mydlowski grew up in Milwaukee with a shared dream of opening a restaurant together. After extensive world traveling, they decided quality curbside cuisine was the right way to go. Miller says he just knew it was the right time.

"We went to New York and everyone was selling gyros and we thought, "This is perfect. Milwaukee needs this.'"

Miller says they want to expand to more carts in various locations and, eventually, open a permanent restaurant. But for nor now, you'll find them outside Duke's on Water on the weekends, and in front of the Downtown U.S. Bank building on Tuesdays for lunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

5 comments about this article.
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Posted by captain on Aug. 3, 2009 at 1:04 p.m. (report)

Had one Friday night. Awesome! Makes me want to get drunk just to get another one. I had a lamb gyro with everything including lettuce, fries, hot sauce. I don't think I want a gyro any other way.

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Posted by Riverwest18 on July 30, 2009 at 9:39 a.m. (report)

The Chicken is Delic and Im looking forward to the addition to feta this weekend, Great job Mark and Chad

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Posted by justapalooka on July 29, 2009 at 12:23 p.m. (report)

Fox News just ran a story about how gyro steam is helping to heal the hole in the ozone layer. Kudos!

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Posted by gocains on July 29, 2009 at 12:18 p.m. (report)

the fries on the gyro are a fantastic addition

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Posted by Broner on July 29, 2009 at 12:12 p.m. (report)

There's no mention of how eco-friendly the cart is. I will not eat there until I know that it's eco-friendly.

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