Gyros are the hot dogs of Middle Eastern-influenced casual cuisine. The meat is usually made of beef and lamb that is ground up into cone shaped loaf that is broiled on a spit and carved off into a piece of pita bread.

Gyros are a personal favorite so I recently set out to get a taste of the local gyro scene by checking out the gyros at one legendary local Mediterranean restaurant and a chain that has Michigan roots. I did it all in one day by visiting the new Pita House location downtown and Olga’s Kitchen in East Grand Rapids.

If you’ve lived in West Michigan for any amount of time and someone asks if you’d like to go to Sami’s, you know they are talking about making a stop at The Pita House for a gyro.

I’ve found in my gastronomic travels that you either love gyros or you hate them. To me, there’s nothing better than a hot, greasy gyro sandwich — the juice from the meat mixed with the tart yogurt and cucumber-based tzatziki sauce and a mountain of toppings like lettuce, tomatoes, hot peppers and the unusual bright pink pickled turnips. And Sami does a gyro better than anyone else in town.

The new Pita House location downtown fills the former site of Johnny’s Lunch, a chain that served fast food standbys like hot dogs and hamburgers. Johnny’s Lunch didn’t last long. So I was pleased to find the high profile space across from Rosa Parks Circle and the Grand Rapids Art Museum filled with a local restaurant like the Pita House that has cared about the food it serves and the community since 1999.

I recently visited the Pita House with a few former colleagues and good friends from my days as a reporter at the Grand Rapids Press: business reporters Chris Knape and Julia Bauer and general assignment reporter Nardy Bickel. We frequently grab lunch together and all share a love of good food.

I went with my old standby: a Sami’s gyro ($6.99, or $1.99 more as a combo with a drink and fries), which is gyro meat served on a pita bread with your choice of toppings. If you want to try a traditional gyro, go with the tzatziki sauce, lettuce, tomato, onion, feta cheese, parsley and seasonings. I decided on the tzatziki, lettuce, onion, jalapeno peppers, pickled turnips, black olives, feta cheese and pickles. Be forewarned: The pita’s are messy, though the Pita House does a great job of keeping the mess to a minimum by double-wrapping it and keeping it all together with a cool little plastic sword. My pita was delicious with meat hot off the spit and a side of thick-cut French fries. The pita, meat and toppings go perfectly together. The meat has a hint of a crunch from the broiler and the toppings add crunch as well. The tzatziki sauce is creamy and delicious. Chris went with a Sami’s gyro as well and found it equally delicious.

Julia decided on a black & white gyro ($6.99) a variation on the above since it is made with half gyro meat and half chicken. Both sandwiches are similar in build.

While the gyro meat is king at the Pita House, there are many vegetarian choices (that also happen to be healthy as well). Vegetarians have options like: the falafel sandwich ($6.49) — a batter of chick peas, onions, parsley and spices made into patties and fried; babaghanooj sandwich ($5.99) — grilled, pureed eggplant, blended with tahini, lemon juice and garlic; and hummous sandwich — fresh chick peas blended with lemon juice, garlic and tahini.

Don’t fill up on your sandwich. The Pita House’s lentil soup ($1.99) is excellent as is its fried kibbe ($1.99 each) side, which is made of cracked wheat mixed with ground beef and stuffed with more ground beef, pine nuts, onions, spices and deep fried.

The kids’ menu is limited, but most children who take a bite of the gyro meat will fall in love with it. The kid’s menu includes chicken tenders, hamburger, gyro burger, Bosco sticks and fried macaroni and cheese wedges. Each are $4.99. Finish your meal with a slice of baklava for $1.

In the interest of quality journalism, my gyro eating continued on into dinner at Olga’s Kitchen with my friend and Grand Rapids Grub partner Bryan Esler. I was less than enthused about hitting Olga’s. I hadn’t been to an Olga’s since the first local one was established in Woodland Mall, I think in the early 1980s.

Bryan is an Olga’s fan, in part because he spent some of his formative years in Birmingham, Mich. where Olga’s was founded in 1970 by Olga Loizon. I wrongly assumed it was a national chain. Though it has 30 locations, most are in Michigan and surrounding states. The first thing I discovered is that Olga’s pitas go well beyond the standard gyro, though the restaurant still serves that as well. Those who don’t want gyro meat can try the Asian Chicken Olga ($7.59), the Fried Chicken Olga ($7.59) or the Ham & Cheese Olga ($6.99), to name just a few.

Based on Bryan’s suggestion, we started with Olga’s Snackers, a basket of warm, freshly cooked wedges of seasoned Olga bread (more about that later), served with Swiss almond cheese or zesty parmesan marinara. We went with the Swiss almond cheese. The Olga’s Snackers were good, but I thought they were over seasoned.

Just so I could compare apples to apples, or gyros to gyros in this case, I went with the original Olga’s ($6.99, though I didn’t chose the option to “make it larger” for $7.49 or “too big to close” for $7.99). The meat was good, but the choice of toppings just doesn’t stand up to the Sami’s. The original Olga comes topped with onions, tomatoes and its version of tzatziki called Olgasauce. While the pita filling was OK, the pita bread it comes on is great. It is a secret recipe that is made fresh to order.

Bryan decided on the Super Cheese Burger Olga ($7.99), which is a hamburger topped with melted cheddar, Swiss and Monterey jack cheeses, lettuce, tomatoes, onion and mayo. The burger is served on an Olga pita. Putting anything but gyro meat on a pita is blasphemous to me, but he loved it, not surprising since he confessed that he eats at Olga’s at least twice a month.

I’ve certainly had my fill of gyros for a while. What I found is that if you want a gyro sandwich for what’s on the inside, the Pita House is the clear favorite. If you want a sandwich based on an outstanding pita bread, Olga’s is a satisfactory alternative.

The Pita House (Rating: ★★★ 1/2)
Where: 134 Monroe Center, Grand Rapids (and three other West Michigan locations)
Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday
Ambiance: Casual fast food style
How much will it cost you: Most pita sandwiches are about $7
Credit cards: All major
Alcohol: No
Smoke-free: Yes
Reservations: No
Contact: (231) 745-6015
Online: www.thepitahouse.net

Olga’s Kitchen (Rating: ★★★)
Where: 2213 Wealthy St. SE, East Grand Rapids (and two other West Michigan locations)
Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday
Ambiance: Casual chain
How much will it cost you: Most sandwiches are about $8.
Credit cards: All major
Alcohol: No
Smoke-free: Yes
Reservations: No
Contact: (616) 456-0600
Online: www.olgas.com