South End Pita: Magic Carpet to Morocco

South End Pita
473 Albany Street
Boston, MA
Monday - Friday 6 AM - 10 PM, Saturday 10 AM - 10 PM

Every so often your taste buds have a ‘died and gone to heaven’ surprise when you venture into a new restaurant. So it was with my first visit to Pita in the South End, not far from where I’d been exploring the wild world of art down on Harrison Avenue in Boston.

After two hours of gallery hopping, I was fried - and hungry. A sleek little tri-fold brochure I picked up in 450 Harrison Avenue’s giant foyer advertised “Pita - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner” on Albany Street. What the heck.
 
Four blocks and a ten-minute walk later, I found myself entering a tiny jewel box of a restaurant that could double as an inspired installation piece in one of the galleries a few blocks away. The mustard and saffron painted walls, rich burgundy banquettes, warm oak flooring, and an order counter lined with pressed tin panels was a bolder artistic statement than the exhibits in several of the galleries I’d just visited.
 
Traditional and popular Moroccan music softly streamed from somewhere.  The tantalizing aroma of Moroccan spices floated from the serving area in front of me and from a kitchen that I suspected lay behind it.
 
I stared at the Lunch and Dinner Menu neatly printed on a chalkboard mounted behind the counter. The salads with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, feta cheese with special house dressing served with either falafel, or hummus, or grape leaves, or chicken shawarma ($6.95-$7.25) would have to wait.
 
So would the pita roll ups ($5.95-$6.25) with diced tomatoes, cucumbers and home made tahini sauce even though the Falafel roll up (deep fried patties of seasoned garbazo beans mixed with chopped parsley, onion, and garlic and spices) was tempting. So were the chicken or beef shawarma, seasoned meats cooked slowly on a vertical rotisserie then sliced thinly and added into roll ups.
 
I sure wasn’t going to order an American chicken or meatball or tuna sub ($6.95-$7.50) - I could find them anywhere. The combo plates of lamb, chicken, or kofta shish kabobs each served with seasoned rice and Mediterranean salad $6.95-$8.95) - that’s what I had in mind.
 
My combo plate of lamb shish kabob was cooked to order, medallions of lamb, slightly chewy, pinkish in the center, drizzled with a thin ribbon of tahini sauce, arrived plated with rice and salad and fresh, soft pita bread. One bite of the lamb and I was hooked.
 
The lunch crunch long gone now at 3:00 PM, I was the only patron, sitting regally on one of the burgundy banquettes that line the 24 seat petite palace. My lip smacking didn’t go unnoticed.
 
“You shouldn’t leave without tasting our hummus,” says a cheerful woman with a bright warm smile.
 
The colorful piece of crockery in her hand contains creamy, rich hummus topped with a squiggle of tahini sauce and small saffron-colored pool of Moroccan spices. A plate of warm pita bread, made right here, is in her other hand. Pride in culture doesn’t come from a jar but is present in everything that crosses the threshold of the kitchen on the way to your table.

A few “oh my oh my”s later, she drifts over and leaves a small plate of chicken shawarma for me to swoon over.  Moist, aromatic, tender with a hint of marinade, it is exquisite. I’m about to ask if I can live here.
 
Wafaa Ouassaidi, the friendly woman with the big smile, has been helping her brother Rod Ouassaidi run his small eatery since September, 2009. The limited menu is no problem for the clientele.
 
“We have lots of regulars, many of them from the nearby hospitals,” she says. “We don’t have to educate them about how healthy our food is, they already know. We make a special dish every day so our regulars will have variety and will want to keep returning.”

Her brother Rod Ouassaidi and his wife oversaw the renovation from a former sandwich shop to this sunny little gem with splashy colors, pretty sconces, comfy banquettes, and a vibrant mural depicting Ouarzazate, Morocco that stretches over the order counter.

Wafaa brings me a piece of homemade baklava while answering my questions about the business. “We make this with only honey, no other added sweeteners,” she says. Clearly, they don’t go in for shortcuts here. Oh my, oh my.
 
“My brother knew people would like the food but I was surprised at how much they liked it,” Wafaa says. “We have a big following from South Boston, too.”
 
Perched on the perimeter of the South End in the midst of an industrial zone, Pita is worth looking for. Trust me, you’ll feel like you’ve been whisked by magic carpet to Wafaa’s mother’s Moroccan kitchen by the time you leave.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

Comments

[Gerard M. McMahon]

PT,
Looks fantastic, you're making me hungry!!

[Jill]

yum!!!

[Bambi]

yummy... can't wait to go and just invited my daughter to Harrison Ave. and Pita!!!! many thanks for this and all the other writing..

[Bambi]

yummy... can't wait to go and just invited my daughter to Harrison Ave. and Pita!!!! many thanks for this and all the other writing..