Have you heard about Evil Knievel's distant cousin, Awful Falafel? No, well, you probably wish you hadn't heard that terrible joke, either. But you won't find awful jokes or awful falafel either one at Famous Pita Middle Eastern Cuisine.Sort of like Middle Eastern fast food, Famous Pita features an all-you-can-eat buffet with your choice of a meat entrŽe or vegetarian falafel and as-many-trips-as-you-care-to-make to the extensive, all-vegetarian buffet. Of course Donna and I chose the falafel and buffet and at $5.99 we felt it was quite a bargain, all the more so because the falafel was really very good! Delicious balls of garbanzo beans, parsley and seasoning, deep-fried in small batches, Famous Pita's falafel were fresh and tasty, crisp and light, one of the best parts of the meal.
Served with fresh, warm pita bread, we soon surrounded the falafel on our paper plate (well, we reminded ourselves, it is "fast food") with a nice assortment of cold vegetables and salads from the buffet. Besides the ubiquitous but quite refreshing homus and tabouli (the way I like it- loaded with parsley), the buffet featured a variety of tasty seasoned, grilled vegetables: cauliflower, zucchini, eggplant, etc. Yes! I love good, fresh vegetables lightly grilled but still a little crispy. These were very flavorful but (intentional or not?) quite cold. Never the less, I enjoyed them and was happy to be able to choose from such a variety of fresh veggies. I lightly dressed the vegetables with a little homus and they were wonderful.
The buffet continued with vegetable soup. Though not identified as such, it tasted a little of red lentils or yellow split peas or some other such legume as well as carrots, celery, onion, garlic and other veggies. The texture was smooth and creamy, the flavor somewhat bland for my taste but still quite good.
A couple of nice salads (lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, nice vinaigrette- as far as I could tell the only difference between them was that one had bits of pita bread broken up in it), some very nice dolmas, "Middle Eastern" pickles, pickled turnips (like beets, I prefer fresh, raw or steamed turnips to pickled), and pepperoncinis made up the rest of the salad bar. Over all a pretty nice array of satisfying vegetarian fare, more choices than most fast food restaurants offer (to my limited knowledge of such places).
Famous Pita also offers a falafel sandwich for $3.49 and a variety of vegetarian side dishes, including homus, tabouli, babaganuge, spinach pie, Greek salad and French fries. You can get a soup and salad combination for $3.99.
Unable to pass up baklava (or as they spell it here, baclawa), Donna and I shared a piece as well as a nice squiggly cookie, whose name I never quite got, that tasted a lot like shortbread. They were both quite good, simple and sweet.
The atmosphere is clean and simple if not rich in ambiance, but there are a few tables outside under the awning on the side (I'd skip the table in the sun, next to traffic of Campbell, though.)
Famous Pita offers lots of vegetarian choices, not quite decadent, but flavorful and satisfying, especially for those on a budget. I don't usually find much I can recommend at fast-food restaurants, but I would certainly add Famous Pita's falafel and salad bar to my short list (which also includes Sanchez' Bean Burrito and Hot and Spicy's Veggie Burro) of "recommended choices." I guess I'd rather have at least a choice of fresh, flavorful grains, beans and vegetables than ex-rainforests, clowns, catchy theme songs, and "kid's meals." Next time, perhaps, I'll tell you about another of Evil's cousins, the "white sheep" of the family, known as Holy Frijole. (O-o-h-h-h!) Until then, may you always be blessed with good food, good health, good friendsÉand love! Enjoy!
Sodas, Arizona teas, Snapple, bottled water, tea and coffee are also available. Famous Pita is located at 2790 E. Campbell Ave. and is open daily from 11:00 to 9:00. Their phone number is 795-6303.
Robert Oser is a local chef, teacher and author of "Flavors of the Southwest" and an upcoming vegetarian chili cookbook. He currently works at the Food Conspiracy Co-op.