I’m gyro crazy, so when I heard that Rockville’s Mastiha Bakery started a food truck in August, I made a beeline one Saturday afternoon to Saints Row Brewing in Gaithersburg, where it was stationed that day, to check it out. Soon enough, I was digging into a warm Mastiha pita stuffed with spit-roasted marinated sliced chicken and pork, tomatoes, pickled red onions, feta cheese, tzatziki and terrific French fries dusted with salt seasoning spiked with garlic, paprika and oregano.
The truck, Mastiha Taverna, is co-owned by Mastiha Bakery owner (and Silver Spring resident) Katerina Georgallas and Rob Theriot, both 41. Theriot co-owns The Girl & The Vine deli and wine bar in Takoma Park and, on a trip to Greece to celebrate his 40th birthday, got the idea to do something Greek as a new project. He contacted Georgallas, from whom he had been buying baklava, pita bread and cookies. “After six months of conversation, the truck is what we came up with,” Theriot says, “with the idea that it would become a casual brick-and-
mortar taverna one day.” Georgallas’ landlord had a food truck he wanted to sell, which they took over, reoutfitted and had painted in various shades of blue reminiscent of Greek island homes.
Theriot, who was the corporate chef of D.C.-based Tryst restaurant for 15 years, handles the cooking and operations. The menu features gyros (chicken, pork or a combo of the two) that are available as pitas ($8 or $10), salads ($10) or platters ($10) that come with rice, salad and a dip. Dips ($7 or $8) include tirokafteri (roasted peppers, Greek cheese and oregano), revythi (hummus) and tzatziki. Mezze, such as spanakopita, prassopita (crispy triangular phyllo-and-leek pies), cheese croquettes and kolokythi (zucchini fritters) round out the menu with two kinds of tomato and cucumber salad ($8 or $10)
The truck is sometimes stationed in front of the bakery from noon to 7 p.m.; otherwise, it parks at various Montgomery County locations, such as the Silver Spring location of the Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church of Washington D.C., Saints Row Brewing and Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard in Dickerson. Consult the schedule posted on the website for hours and locations. Cap a meal at the truck with Georgallas’ terrific pastries ($6 to $8), such as olive oil cake, baklava and kourabiedes, delicate almond cookies coated with confectioners’ sugar.
This story appears in the November/December issue of Bethesda Magazine.
