As much as I love shoving my face with a messy, sloppy double
chili cheeseburger – side bar: mmmmmmmmmm -- I need to eat other foods. Switching
up meals is important to keeping food interesting and my most recent cuisine kick
is Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food. Now, I alternate shoving my face with
shawarma, falafel, pita and hummus. It’s been about a year exploring this cuisine
and I can’t get enough. I GO HARD on pita a few times a month at various
locations in the Chicago suburbs.
When the craving hits, Pitaville in Naperville on Ogden Ave
and North Aurora Road is really good and has an interesting backstory. The
owner, Sam, saved the place from going under by switching up the recipes,
marketing and the way the restaurant was set up. He didn’t have much restaurant
or cooking experience so it was an inspiring story to hear from such a young
guy.
On to the food! I usually get the dinner meat combo. It’s guaranteed
to fill you up with “A combination of beef kafta kebab, chicken kafta kebab, chicken shawarma and falafel. Served with Basmati Rice, Fatoush Salad, Hummus and
Pita Bread” The spices typically used are cardamom, oregano, nutmeg, caraway,
paprika, and cumin. All the flavors culminate in a mouthful of meaty bliss. My
technique is to take the pita and smother the hummus on the insides, put rice
at the bottom, top with any combo of meat or fattoush salad and top it off with
tahini and skhug spicy chili sauce.
Oh man, it’s so good. For most people it’s enough pita
goodness for two meals. I usually eat 75%, and save the rest for a snack. Pitaville
also has lunch specials that are a smokin’ deal for $7.99. Between 11-3pm on
weekdays, they offer a meal similar to the dinner meat combo but with fewer
kinds of meat. The dinner meat combo will run a bit over $10.
Another similar style restaurant is Naf Naf Grill in the Fox
Valley Shopping Center area. While it’s around the same pricing as Pitaville,
Naf Naf’s kicker is the pita itself that they cook fresh. You know how kittens
and baby bunnies are really soft and fluffy? It’s like eating baby animals
minus the furry animal part. The pita is the most fluffy, softest and delicious
pita in the area.
Finally, the last place I frequent is Pita House in Lombard.
This is where I was introduced to the cuisine. Pita House’s awesome lunch
special has a little less food than Pitaville but is just as good as their
dinner meat combo. And - drum roll, please - it’s $5.95 compared to Pitaville’s
$7.99 combo. You can’t go wrong.
The most epic meal from these places would be the pita from
Naf Naf, the meat from Pitaville and the rice from Pita house. Put it all
together and go crazy. Who’s in for a pita crawl?
LINKS 4 YOUR PLEASURE!
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