"gyros" news and stories

• It's winter. Eat some stew.
• A look at five different Boston area bakeries.
• The Plonk of the Month? New wave Spanish reds.
• We've been talking a lot about hot chocolate/cocoa this week, now the Globe taste tests a bunch.
• Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali are raving about a new book about Marco Pierre White.
• Speaking of books, how many cookbooks do you own?
• This week's recipes: Double-Vanilla Sour Cream Pound Cake; Maani Gyros; and Italian-American Meatballs.

It's hard to say whether we can call a gyro a sandwich because it's made of bread wrapped around the fillings, but who's making the rules here anyway? This is a gyro we shared as part of a late afternoon lunch at Le Petit Greek on Larchmont in Los Angeles. Now technically, "gyro" refers to the vertical, slow-spinning spit on which meat like chicken, lamb or pork, is placed. "Gyro" is Greek for "turn," thus the name. However, when we say "gyro" in the food world, we're talking about the sandwich made with slices carved off the meat on the turning rotisserie, fresh tomatoes, sliced red onions, French fries, and tzatziki. I have no idea how French fries play into this Greek equation, but I'm certainly not complaining.

This one from Le Petit Greek