Chicago Vibe Alive

German Chancelor Angela Merkel carving Doner Kebab

I’ll say this right up front, THIS IS NOT A POST ABOUT GYROS! This is a post about the Gyro’s older brother who ran away from home because he wouldn’t conform and now is blowing up the spot doing his own thing. That’s right! those of you who have stumbled on this post after feverishly trying to find a Döner Kebab in Chicago after returning from eating them in Germany know exactly what I’m talking about. I’m here to say that I feel your pain and this post shall serve as an open request for any Turks in Chicago to help us all out and open up a Kebab shack, served German Style. These kebabs are like burritos to Chicagoans, the most perfect, delicious, satisfying thing you could get your hands on at 2AM after a night of drinking.

There are many different versions to the Döner Kebab around the world and this one is very specific as it is the product of Turkish imigrants who migrated to Germany in the late 60′s to help with a labor shortage and thus modified the kebab to suit German tastes. What really makes this sandwich different than any old gyro or kebab is that they also stuff cabbage, lettuce, onions, tomatoes along with SEVERAL different choices of sauce. Not just your run of the mill tzatziki sauce or if you are lucky a tahini sauce… no these Turks said why stop there when you could also offer a choice of sauces—hot sauce (scharfe Soße), herb sauce (Kräutersoße), curry sauce (Currysoße), cocktail sauce (Cocktailsoße) garlic sauce (Knoblauchsoße), or yogurt (Joghurtsoße). The kebab is also not served in pita bread but rather a Turkish flatbread. Now I realize I am being very snobbish about a very specific regional treat but those who have experienced the German Döner Kebab mouth’s are probably watering and are nudging the person next to them saying “see! this is what I was talking about!”

I was traveling by myself for the first time in Berlin, 2003, when i had my first Döner. It was the first leg of a world trip where a friend of mine and I would pull off a double helix of rendezvous around the globe. This happened to be one of the times where we were seperated.  I was staying in East Berlin and was anxious to check out the nightlife so I ventured off to a club boasting a drum and bass night. After taking a series of trains I finally came out of the subway tunnel to very dark streets, few street lamps and graffitti on the side of a building in about 3 foot letters stating “Fuck George Bush!” The US had invaded Iraq about 8 months prior and this was a pretty common attitude that I experienced throughout my travels at this time. People were not happy with the US and American’s image abroad was far from favorable. I’ve never heard more Canadian backpackers so adamantly proclame that they were specifically NOT American.

So i lit a cigerette and hustled to the club as it was late November and pretty cold. I arrived about 9PM which was way to early. There was some kind of meeting that was just wrapping up at the venue so I headed to the bar for a drink. I was trying to hang back and blend in but I could tell it was obvious I was an outsider and underdressed for this thing, I kept asking the bartender if the DJ night was still on and he assured me it was. So I continued to drink myself through my discomfort compelled mostly by curiosity for what the night had in store. Finally at about 10:30 the meeting ended and the staff transitioned the room, the DJ’s threw on the first records and we were off. Took me a while but I finally found some friends to latch on to and we continued to drink and socialize into the evening. Evenutally I needed to leave since I had about a 2 hour head start from the rest of the patrons andso I ventured out into Berlin with my map. Now, this was the beginning of my trip so I was a bit naive and  became much more savvy at this later but navigating huge foreign cities drunk, by yourself, in the middle of the night with only a shitty map from the hostel without a compass is not the smartest move.  After walking about 20 minutes I began to grow concerned, reached for the map and realized I had dropped it somewhere.  SHIT!   It was so desolate, no cars, no streetlights, nothing.  The only answer would be to retrace my steps to find my map.  The streets were poorly lit and deserted and I started my walk back to where I started. I began to recognize a church where I had checked my map earlier and as I approached the church, sure enough, there was my map laying on ground.

So now drunk, tired, lost, cold, confused, alone when a glimmer of light caught my eye. I looked up and saw about 3 people standing under a street lamp about 100 yards ahead of me. I began to walk toward the light hoping that these people would help me and not mug me. As I got closer I realized that the light had actually been on top of what appeared to be a Gyro shack in the middle of no where on the street. I stumbled closer, looked at the menu, grabbed a fistful of cash and held up 1 finger and the rest is history…

I had several more Döner Kebabs before I left Germany and was dissapointed to learn that the way it is served was truly a unique regional version and I’ll have to travel back to Germany to replicate the experience. So if anyone hears of a place opening up in Chicago serving Döner Kebabs, German style, let me know!

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