Pita Palace Serves It Up Fresh

After two meals at Pita Palace, you may decide as my companions and I did, “We need to come back again and again to try everything on the menu.” The food was that good. We also found many unfamiliar dishes to taste on the lengthy menu that featured Middle Eastern and Palestinian cuisine.

The restaurant, located just west of the airport, is a beautiful space and worthy of the “Palace” name. It is large, with both tables and booths to accommodate diners who prefer an intimate setting, as well as long tables to accommodate groups. A high ceiling with elegant lighting is accentuated by white Corinthian columns that give it its palatial ambiance. It was also immaculate, something you notice immediately.

After you peruse the enticing menu, and, as we did, ask a few questions, you order and pay at the counter. Then you take a number to your table and wait for your food to be delivered. Counter service may suggest fast food, but that’s not what they do at Pita Palace. We noticed that our dishes were brought to the table as they were ready which meant everything was freshly prepared. Salads were crisp and cold while the hot dishes needed a minute to cool.

For example, a server brought my Beef Kufta Kabob Plate with the kabobs sizzling from the grill. Everything on this plate was delicious. The seasoned kabobs, three of them, hinted of garlic, cumin, and cinnamon. They were served on a bed of seasoned rice along with hummus, a salad, and warm pita bread. The hummus, topped with a puddle of olive oil and a sprinkle of sumac seasoning, disappeared quickly as I scooped it with the pita. The Arabic salad, chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, was a cool companion to the spicy kabob, as was the rice and the hummus.

For my companion’s Beef Shawarma Plate, the chef piled seasoned meat on top of pita, a mountain of meat that dwarfed the salad and the hummus. The flavor of the shawarma, thinly sliced small pieces of beef that had been marinated and spit-roasted, was spicy and complex. Like the Kufta Kabob, the Shawarma along with the salad, the hummus, and the pita, could easily satisfy two adults with average appetites. My companions and I left with doggie bags. I also left with a Mixed Baklava Box, eight bite-sized pieces of baklava, each a mix of buttery filo, nuts and honey.

The entrée labeled Veggie Mix Appetizer was my dream Middle Eastern meal. It was a plate filled with Hummus, Baba Ghannoug, Tabbouleh, Falafel, pita and an appetizer new to me, Muttabel. It was a beautiful presentation with four Falafel marching up the middle of the plate. The parsley in the Tabbouleh must have been harvested five minutes before it was chopped into a salad and the deep-fried Falafel were spicy, crunchy, and hot. The unfamiliar Muttabel, according to our server, is similar to Baba Ghannoug as both are made with roasted eggplant. Muttabel contains an extra ingredient, tahini, as well as red and green peppers, which add more robust flavor to the dish and like Baba Ghannoug, it is meant to be scooped with pita.

The Arabic Beef Shawarma Sandwich comes two ways, in a pita package, or, in a wrap made with toasted Shrak, a flatbread. My companion chose the wrap which had the unexpected addition of chopped dill pickles, tomato and onions. The chopped pickles gave it a different, perhaps more interesting flavor profile than the traditional shawarma.

If you want an unusual drink to accompany your meal, order the Fruit Cocktail: a smoothie-like concoction minus the usual yoghurt, it was made with blended strawberries, bananas, orange, and mango. It was a healthy addition to a healthy Mediterranean meal.

Each time my companions and I left the restaurant, we felt invigorated from entrees that more than satisfied our hunger and left us looking forward to our next trip to Pita Palace.

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The Rundown

• Location: 789 W. Layton Ave.
• Neighborhood: Mitchell West