MASSENA - After being closed for the past several months, Athens Gyro has reopened at St. Lawrence Centre.

The restaurant, which specializes in gyros, is now being managed by Aaron L. Donaldson and Tony S. Van Guilder.

“A gyro is like a cross between a wrap and a chalupa, but it’s made with pork or chicken,” Mr. Donaldson said.

The gyros also include tzatziki sauce, a topping described by Mr. Donaldson as a sour cream-based sauce with garlic, cucumbers and onions.

“I don’t like sour cream, but I love this sauce,” Mr. Van Guilder said.

Mr. Donaldson and Mr. Van Guilder said they were excited to be a part of something new and something different.

“There’s no Greek food up here,” Mr. Van Guilder said.

As for what makes them different, Mr. Donaldson said everything they offer is fresh.

“We offer fresh, high quality food. We slice all of our vegetables daily, and we use boneless, skinless chicken breast that’s marinated overnight,” Mr. Donaldson said.

Mr. Van Guilder added, “When you order fries, they’re cooked right in front of you.”

Mr. Donaldson said that’s the way the new Athens Gyro is doing business, “Everything you order is cooked right in front of you, fresh and made to order.”

In addition to offering gyros, the restaurant is also offering cheese steaks and chicken cheese steaks, menu offerings that used to be offered at Famous Philly, a restaurant in the mall’s food court that closed the same time Athens Gyro did. Famous Philly remains closed.

When the restaurant first reopened, Mr. Donaldson said business was slow, but as word is spreading that they’re reopened business has been picking up.

“It started slow, but business is picking up. Right now we’re getting our name out there, and we’re looking forward to making good things happen,” he said.

Athens Gyro is open for business during mall hours of 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer