Pita Hut: Thirty Years of Charcoal on Arthur Godfrey Road

The shawarma cone turns behind the counter, turkey and lamb pressed into layers that have been going since before lunch, and the cook shaves it down with a long blade into a warm pita. Somewhere to the left a skewer of chicken hits the charcoal and the room fills with that particular smell of smoke and cumin. A family of six has taken over one of the long communal tables, working through a spread of hummus, matbucha and Turkish salad carried over from the salad bar. The television near the door is on with the sound down. Outside, 41st Street runs its four lanes west toward the Julia Tuttle Causeway, past the pizza counters and the kosher markets that have grown up around this address. It is one o'clock on a Wednesday in Mid Beach, and this kitchen has been carving shawarma here since 1996.

Read the menu structure first, because it tells you what this kitchen actually is. There is a list of mezze, a list from the grill, a sandwich list that runs from eleven in the morning until five in the afternoon, and a short list of burgers. Nothing else. No pasta, no fusion plate, no chef's tasting. The grill is the whole argument.