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Ted Allen, one-time Queer Eye food guy and occasional judge on Iron Chef, is at the next table. The fact that he ventured out to this unassuming spot means it must be something special, right? Maybe, unless you’re on an Iron Chef quest for inventiveness. Black Iris’s menu runs to standard kebabs, gyros, falafel, and hummus, with a few welcome twists: spinach pie cooked like a calzone, a bright chickpea salad flecked with spinach, and the array of crispy flatbread pitzas. There are equal numbers of alluring vegetarian and meat dishes, like leek, scallion, and fenugreek pitza and leg of lamb with lemon-mint mayonnaise. Properly spicy merguez, though a little dry, is just right inside a soft, hot pita; the chicken ouzi is a fragrant puck of flaky dough filled with rice, raisins, almonds, vegetables, and meat (ask for extra yogurt sauce). Inside, Black Iris has typical Middle Eastern-restaurant style (beaded curtains, ululating music). But if the weather permits, grab one of the many seats outside. That’s what Ted Allen did. And you know, he’s an expert. — Melena Ryzik

Chicken ouzi, $12; spinach and chickpea salad, $4; babaghanouj, $4