Crystal's International Cuisine

Guest blogger Justin Smith, has an awesome write-up on a Gyro place out in Oregon. I can't wait to visit it this summer:


1425 Northwest Monroe Avenue
Corvallis, OR 97330-5884
(541) 752-6403
Corvallis, Oregon has pretty mediocre food on the whole. This is ironic because the region is an absolute mecca for organic vegetables, free-range whatevers, wine, seafood, and an array of other fresh ingredients. This makes for a cook's paradise and an eaters nightmare. Being a grad student with a plethora of free time, I'm definitely an eater. As eaters often do, I've eaten at about every food establishment in this town. Some satisfactory, some downright tearful, then along came Crystal's International Cuisine.


Cyrstal's International Cuisine is a very special place. Formerly, Crystal's Lebanese Cuisine (they have hotdogs and tuna on the menu now so that may have prompted the name change), their menu has everything you can dream up of the shawarma, gyro, falafel variety and some you might not. I've yet to venture into the seafood teritory of the menu but it's just a matter of time. Pictured below is their exquisite lamb gyro. It's about the lenght of a football and weights just as much. An incredible blend of seasoned lamb, saffron rice, and fresh lettuce is accented with an expertly prepared tzatziki sauce. They also dash some sort of special salt/ seasoning on top. It kind of looks like dirt and it is probably 99% MSG but I'm willing to accept that (I ate a whole lot of Doritos as a kid and if that didn't kill me this isn't going to ).

Aside from the food, Crystal's is a very unique place. They've got an array of hookas for sale, a museum of traditional Lebanese musical instruments on the wall, and below the baklava case there's an assortment of very small swords that appear to be for sale. In a pinch this may function as a culural exploration if ever the extreme homogeneity of the Oregon population ever gets you down.


The bottom line is that if you ever find yourself in Corvallis take adavantage of nearly two years of sorting through mediocre restaurants and go straight to Crystal's. Even if you don't like it you're still going to be fed for a whole day for about $6 (does not apply to accomplished "eaters"). It's on Monroe Avenue right across from the OSU campus and literally 5 feet away from Pita Pit.