Los Angeles: Spireworks
11/27/16 Westwood
It seems as though the Doner Kebab is making a small boom around town. Spireworks made their presence known by kicking off their opening day with free Kebab Sandwiches. Of course that was going to be an impossible feat with an endless line so I waited for them to work out the kinks in their first 2 months. I was really hoping for this to be my westside fixture for Doner Kebabs so I don’t have to drive to Spitz.
The Chipotle Formula:
Beef on Fresh Bread
I got it with the Zatar Labneh, Rayu, and all the veggies to give it a run with their baseline option. The bread was nice and crusty, but that’s not necessarily what I’m looking for with a Kebab sandwich. I wanted lightly crusty, fluffy, and forgiving. The meat was well cooked and all the toppings were prepared great but there are far too many options to get this right. This is typically the flaw with the Chipotle model: too many permutations with more ways to fuck it up than get it right. Also, if you wanted to go down the Asian route, you can top it with furikake, panko, hoisin, and some other garbage. Of course.
Conclusion The quick hit of this is a fail. I was looking for Spitz, I got a boujee Quizno’s with Kebabs. Every component was executed properly, but what were the missing links? It’s not a conventional Doner Kebab, it’s not an elevated one, and quite frankly, it’s not a good one. Nothing worked together, I was squeezing sandwich guts out on every bite, and my tongue was an amateur battleground of clashing flavors. I guess my expectations were skewed by hope. I’ll still be making the drive across town to Spitz to feed my Doner Kebab cravings.