Spice Brothers

Shawarma east pita: In a city where shawarma often serves as a late-night snack to curb tomorrow’s hangover, Spice Brothers takes the popular Middle Eastern street food very seriously. Every element of the sandwich — the spit it’s roasted on, the single origin of the spices that perfume the meat, the spelling of tahina — has been fussed over. But it’s not so precious that it doesn’t fit in perfectly on the eternally scruffy strip that is St. Marks. NIKITA RICHARDSON

At Spice Brothers, the beef-and-lamb shawarma (“Shawarma East” on the menu) is seasoned with a Turkish-style spice blend heavy on warm spices like cumin, cinnamon, and a bright flash of rose petals before it’s dressed with herbed labneh sauce. The other option, chicken, is the Shawarma West, spiced with pimentón and turmeric and packing the heat of harissa. The sandwiches are $15 (chicken) and $17 (beef-lamb), made with Sercarz’s spices and Pat LaFrieda meat. Each comes with tahini, a salty rendition of the mango-pickle amba, cilantro, and an unconventional crown of arugula. (It’s peppery and fresh; it works.) The pita, from New Jersey’s Angel Bakeries, is fluffy and holds its own against all the sauce and meat juice.