Moushi Beach

🇨🇾 CYPRUS / QUICK FIX: One of the city's most unique pop-ups is this Pasadena-based operation offering spinning Greek Cypriot meats and a variety of other food from the Mediterranean island.

🇨🇾 CYPRUS
🅿️ Ample street parking
💲 Venmo (Pre-Orders) Only
🥤 No Alcohol

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a pop-up location, address is given directly to customers when orders are placed. You can also find them at other events, posted on their social media.

📸 All photos by Jared Cohee
for Eat the World Los Angeles

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On a recent Saturday in Pasadena, with a limited window of just one hour, the delights of Cyprus made themselves known to Southern California. The food of this half-Greek, half-Turkish island nation situated at the far eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea may have been beyond the horizon of most people eating out in Greater Los Angeles, so this opportunity was a special one.

The San Gabriel Valley was well into the 30’s and the day had no breeze to speak of, but the crisp white flag of Cyprus was the first thing you noticed when approaching the house. On the front porch someone would look up your pre-paid order and inside the house it would all be packaged up. The short pickup window was likely so that the food would all be as fresh as possible, as it is not the type that can be prepared and cooked so quickly.

Souvla spinning and cooking in the backyard.

Many seemed to take their spoils to go, but if you were coming from afar or just wanted to eat immediately, they have a table and tent set up in the back. This is a particular type of torture though, as you are right next to some spinning meats that are dripping their fats as they cook over hot charcoal. If you arrive with hunger, expect this to reach some ridiculous levels as you watch it slowly turn.

That spinning meat, or souvla, is the star of the show here and worth getting to know a little better. While most eaters will have familiarity with Greek souvlaki, souvla is visually quite different. Instead of small pieces of meat on one serving skewers, these hunks are large and require much more time cooking. The spinning is automated and makes sure the meat is cooked evenly. Once done, it is cut into smaller pieces and served as part of plates with bulger wheat and salad or inside of freshly prepared pitas.

The most bang for your buck if you are looking to try as much as possible is certainly the mixed plate ($20, below), which includes both pork and chicken souvla, two pieces of koupepia, krambi salata, pourgouri, tzatziki, and a homemade pita. It probably feeds two unless you come with the largest of appetites, especially when paired with a portion of marinated olives ($4, above right) which come from Nafplion, Greece and are served with squares of feta.

Souvla is special occasion food, prepared and eaten when families or friends get together to celebrate events and holidays. Since it takes a while to cook, you are more likely to find Greek-style souvlaki, gyros, and pastries as street food when you travel rather than this, making the availability of it in a Pasadena backyard that much more special.

Pourgouri (above, bottom left) might be the most surprising item for anyone that is new to Cypriot food, a pilaf made from bulgar wheat and short vermicelli noodles. Its zest and mint are delicious alone but maybe even more so when combined with tzatziki or the krambi salata, a crisp cabbage salad that contains onions, capers, sesame seeds and is also spiked with lemon.

If you are looking for something handheld, Moushi Beach offers its meats packed into those handmade pitas with fresh vegetables and tzatziki. The pork pita wrap ($13, below) is hard to photograph but easy to consume, especially when the lemon wedge it comes with is drizzled everywhere. The pita is thin enough to not fill you up too much but is a bit fragile. It is unlikely you will mind licking anything that finds its way to your fingers along the way.

Every pop-up always seems to have at least one dessert on offer, and recent events have all featured galaktoboureko ($5, above), a filo dough pastry. The contents are custard, so eat this soon enough that the flakiness is not compromised. The flavors of cinnamon and orange pervade each sweet bite.

Depending on when you visit, you may also find koulouri, similar visually to Turkish simit and described by the chef as Cypriot village bread rings. The ring of thin bread is covered in toasted sesame seeds and best eaten quickly out of the oven like in Cyprus. No matter what new and different options get added, return visits will be necessary to try new things and get mesmerized again by that spinning souvla.

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