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Pita Star


Vancouver

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I had the pleasure of visiting Pita Star at 146 East 3rd Ave, across from the Swiss Bakery and experiencing a true Israeli style falafel pita unlike those you find at the numerous places around town.

They bake the pita on-site, so it is incredibly fresh. It doesn't break apart like the stale store-bought ones used at the majority of places in town. It holds together just like it should so you don't end up with a runny drippy mess on your shirt.

The falafel itself was perfectly prepared - not the overly crisp microwave warmed types you find around town. It was clearly prepared fresh, pulled out of the fryer and popped right into the pita with a good israeli style salad, some hot sauce, and some excellent humous. They were very generous with the portion as well. There must have been 5 or 6 falafel in the pita.

I must say this was by far the most satisfying falafel pita I have had in Vancouver. I will definitely be returning to sample the rest of the menu which includes shawarma, chocolate rugelach, etc. This new entrant to the Vancouver market is a wonderful addition for lunch!

Cheers!

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Quality Falafel has been scarce in Vancouver this past decade-well I remember the halcyon days of Dar Lebanon-that bastion of fantastic Falafel. :wub:

It'll be interesting to see if this latest Pita place can stick it out here-Pita Plus crashed and burned under pressure of a central kitchen, too many oddball grains, too much ambition and too little capitol.

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I think they seem to be setup as a wholesale pita bakery that also serves lunch. So if they can build the wholesale business you just never know. It is quite a large location overall. But I imagine the rent is fairly low based upon the location.

Oddly it was packed with business people at lunch. I have no idea where they all came from though. There aren't that many offices nearby that I know of.

Cheers!

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sounds great! gotta try some time...

btw we love the falafel and shawarma at Abdul's BBQ on Kingsway in Burnaby at Crystal Mall. It faces Kingsway, you can see it as you drive by. Run by this Syrian guy, very nice and the food there is a cut above the typical stuff you see around town. He takes a lot of pride in his work and his recipes. Falafel is fried-to-order, shawarma is made from choice cuts of meat, and his hot sauce is a secret recipe.

it would be interesting to compare the 2 places...

album of the moment: Kelley Polar - I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling - 2008
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Do they offer different toppings for the falafel (cauliflower, cabbage, fries, etc.?)

If cauliflower and French fries are Israeli style I'll stick with the Syrian-I can't imagine anything less appetising than cauliflower on fried food, let alone fried potatoes with fried chickpeas. :wacko:

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In Israel they have ... falafel buffets I guess. You get a pita with falafel balls in it, and you load it up with all sorts of salads and cooked vegetables, hummus, tehina, harrisa, schug, etc.

In Winnipeg, the local Israeli falafel place offers the 'Israeli' - with fries in it and the "Canadian" with sweet potato fries in it. Don't knock it 'til you try it.

This picture shows some of the items available at stands

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They didn't seem to be offering any choices at all. (They were quite busy when I was there, and it seemed to just come "as is.") I imagine that if you requested items they would add them if they could though. I definitely want to return and investigate more closely.

Cheers!

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The Good News for Falafel Fans is that there's another place doing great Fafafel.

Spice-across from Young Bros Produce on W. Broadway is a vegetarian place run by a couple young Israelis.

Excellent prices, tasty food and Yes Pam they have all sorts of veggies items on offer but I didn't notice any cauliflower or fries. :wacko:

Well in truth I was so hungry the Falafel and soup were inhaled in record time.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I want bacon too. Fries and bacon!

Bacon could be hard to come by in an Israeli joint...call it a hunch!

Don't be so sure: http://telavivis.ags.myareaguide.com/detai...=232780&SSC=427

I'm pretty sure there's even a kibbutz in Israel where they raise pigs for food, although I don't remember seeing any pork the entire time I was there. This definitely warrants a trip to Vancouver though, I have been absolutely craving shawarma since I got back from Israel and you can't find anything close to authentic in Seattle. Now if they had lemonana there I think I'd pretty much die...

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  • 1 month later...

I finally made it up to Pita Star yesterday - wow! Great shawarma, it was exactly like the stuff I had in Israel. Good condiment bar, lots of different pickles to top your shawarma/falafel with. The pitas were great too, in fact, better than some of the pitas I had in Israel. My only problem was the meat - it wasn't cooked on a spit, and it was a turkey/lamb mixture which I think made it a little dry. The falafel was good too, although I'm not a huge falafel fan. Also picked up some rugelach, which was yummy.

Pam R - no lemonana, although the woman who worked there told me that there were two places (Sabra's and something like Ovitsky's - I can't remember) that sold Pigat juice in Vancouver, and they make lemonana so I'm crossing my fingers. I'll have to check it out next time I'm up there, which hopefully will be soon...

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Pam R - no lemonana, although the woman who worked there told me that there were two places (Sabra's and something like Ovitsky's - I can't remember) that sold Pigat juice in Vancouver, and they make lemonana so I'm crossing my fingers. I'll have to check it out next time I'm up there, which hopefully will be soon...

It's Omnitsky's (started in Winnipeg). I sell Prigat as well, but none of my suppliers are bringing in lemonana. If you see it, find out where they're getting it! :wink:

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In Israel they have ... falafel buffets I guess.  You get a pita with falafel balls in it, and you load it up with all sorts of salads and cooked vegetables, hummus, tehina, harrisa, schug, etc. 

In Winnipeg, the local Israeli falafel place offers the 'Israeli' - with fries in it and the "Canadian" with sweet potato fries in it.  Don't knock it 'til you try it.

This picture shows some of the items available at stands

I can attest to the fries

I had THE best falafel in Jerusalem near the Hebrew University at a tiny place called the 5 Shek (5 shekels for a huge falafel, that's about $1.50 canadian!)

They had so many toppings, including mini french fries, that we had to go back atleast a half a dozen times to try everything, and we were only there for five days!!

yummy yummy!

ps. this was a few years ago, does anybody know if they are still there?

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