Greek restaurant Yiasou Yeeros opens in Plainview

Gyros spin at Yiasou Yeeros, a new authentic Greek eatery... — Gyros spin at Yiasou Yeeros, a new authentic Greek eatery in Plainview. Credit: Newsday / Erica Marcus

By Erica Marcuserica.marcus@newsday.comDecember 21, 2016

Tucked away in the Morton Village shopping center on Old Country Road in Plainview is a modest eatery serving some very authentic Greek cooking.

Yiasou Yeeros is banking on its “yeero” — the Greek pronunciation of what Americans call gyro, a column of meat that’s roasted while it spins on a vertical spit. While most Greek gyro spots on LI use columns of ground meat, Yiasou is one of a new breed of restaurants whose gyro is made of seasoned and stacked strips of meat, as it is in Greece.

But here’s an innovation: Instead of a long, straight blade to slice off the topmost, burnished layer (exposing more meat to the heating element), the gyro guy at Yiasou uses a gizmo that reminded me of an electric clipper.

Gyro comes in either beef-and-lamb combo or chicken, and there are also skewers (souvlaki) of chicken, pork or shrimp. All meats can be had as a sandwich ($7.95 to $8.95) or platter ($12.95 to $13.95).

Yiasou (which is an all-purpose greeting/farewell akin to ciao, shalom or aloha) also makes authentic salads ($8.95 to $9.95) such as “village,” which contains tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, capers, olives and feta but no lettuce; and “prasini” with romaine, dill, scallions and feta. On the less-traditional end of the salad spectrum: red and golden beets are roasted and dressed with balsamic, oil, toasted walnuts and feta.

Also on the menu: starters such as saganaki (fried graviera cheese with lemon, $8.95), loukaniko sausage ($7.95), grilled octopus ($12.95), mains such as moussaka ($10.95) and spanakopita ($8.95), and hand-cut fries, zucchini chips, baklava and the frothy Greek coffee drink called frappé.

Yiasou does a brisk takeout business, and also has a few tables for dining in.