Last week I reviewed Shawarma King on Columbia Road NW. Long story short, I said I'd eaten better shawarma: The chicken was too dry, and I wanted someone to choose my toppings for me. (See full Shawarma King complaint here.)

I didn't expect any noise–it was just a blurb, after all–but an error was edited into the review that made it seem as if I had actually eaten at Shawarma Spot on 18th St. NW. As a result, D.C. shawarma nuts have been calling Tim Carman every hour of the day and night for almost a week now, wanting to know which of the two restaurants I visited.

Butros Qumseya, the owner of Shawarma King, also noticed the error, assumed–as did so many others–that I had actually written about Shawarma Spot, and left a voicemail asking for a correction. While I chatted with Carman about the best way to tell Qumseya that yes, actually, I was talking about your restaurant, Qumseya hiked down Columbia to Washington City Paper's office on Champlain Street and demanded a meeting.

After I explained that I had indeed eaten at and written about his restaurant, Qumseya made his case for why I was wrong.

Point 1: Show up at the right time. I visited Shawarma King right around 5 p.m. on a Friday. According to Qumseya, that's not the best time to go. When is? Around noon, or right before 6 p.m. Qumseya doesn't like to waste meat—he throws away unsold shawarma at closing time rather than using it the next day, an allegation he makes about "other" shawarma places—so his spits aren't overloaded. But Qumseya also starts with less beef and chicken on the skewer to begin with, which means there's less juice and fat to keep the meat lubricated in between the lunch rush and just after 5 p.m., when Qumseya claims he reloads the spits for the supper crowd. "We keep the meat heated all day," he adds. "Sometimes it gets dry."

Point 2: White meat is dry. Deal with it. Qumseya says that he uses only white meat, because that's what people want, but white meat is naturally dry, especially after it's rotating in front of a flame all day. Occasionally, he'll request that his supplier add dark meat to the chicken shawarma, which helps keep it moist. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't.

Qumseya is convinced that my review is going to hurt his business, if it didn't already this past weekend. I'm not one for cursing restaurants, so I've agreed to swing by Shawarma King next Wednesday, sometime between 11 a.m. and noon, so that Qumseya can show me how he prepares his chicken and so that I can sample something a little fresher than what I had two weeks ago. He promises I'll walk away with a different opinion.

Adams Morgan has suddenly become Shawarma Central. Walid Abuelhawa's Old City Café & Bakery has been a reliable source for the Middle Eastern sandwich for more than two years, but now the former Amsterdam Falafelshop chef has some competition from two new shops: The Shawarma King at 1654 Columbia Rd. NW (202-463-8330) and the Shawarma Spot in the former M'Dawg Haute Dog spot at 2418 18th St. NW. (202-332-3797).

I haven't paid homage to the King yet, but I stopped by the Shawarma Spot for lunch today and was immediately impressed that the new owner had totally transformed the old M'Dawg space. You'd be hard-pressed to find any remnants of that short-lived dog shop. I was also impressed that just about everything is made in-house at the Spot: the carrot juice (I opted for the unsweetened version with its decidedly vegetal flavor, softened somewhat by the carrots' natural sweetness), the baklava (beautifully flaky, crunchy pastry with a dense, satisfyingly sweet filling), the kibbeh (didn't try it), and even the soft, white-flour pitas.

Bread, as we all know, can make or break a sandwich, and this warm, puffy pita is a magnificent partner to the rest of the ingredients in the Shawarma Spot's signature sammie. The bread's fresh-baked softness provides a nice contrast to the slightly chewy strips of marinated beef. Almost as important, the rounded, shell-like pitas are perfect containers for all the condiments that you can have added to your sandwich. I had the dude spoon a number of my favorite toppings into the pita, including caramelized onions, pickled beets, and hot pepper sauce. I couldn't seem to wolf down that sandwich fast enough. The chewy meat almost disappeared underneath that avalanche of flavors, and I mean that in a good way.

Now: Onto the Shawarma King!