With its gleaming walls of windows, the Pita Inn in Wheeling is shining proof that a fast and inexpensive lunch or dinner can go beyond what some suburban diners think of as “fast food.”
Even a few of the more “educated” students from nearby Wheeling High School are finding this out, says Pita Inn’s owner and chef, Falah Tabahi.
“Our food really is for the educated consumer,” he says. “Someone who is health-conscious and ready to try something new. Once they try Middle Eastern food, they’re hooked forever.”
A Palestinian from Jordan, Tabahi emigrated to the United States in 1972 and opened the first Pita Inn in Skokie 10 years later.
“My menu is what you find at street stands and small restaurants all over the Middle East,” he says.
The Skokie restaurant’s success sparked the opening of Wheeling’s Pita Inn in February, 1992. The Wheeling place is spotless and bright (with its walls of windows) and the staff is unusually friendly.
People who like Middle Eastern food will find all the favorites here, including shish kebab, falafel and hummus. The Middle Eastern gyros called shawarma is available (with rice pilaf and pita bread, $4.25), as are portions of the well-known flaky dessert called baklawa (85 cents). Tabahi also makes a marinated chicken not on his regular menu.
A healthful lunch salad called tabbouleh seems too delicious to be good for you. It’s made out of softened cracked wheat, diced tomatoes, parsley, onions, olive oil and lemon juice. Large and small portions run $1.25 and $2.25.
Tabahi takes special pride in his ingredients, some of which are imported from Turkey and the Middle East. The Chicago bakery that makes his pita bread charges 25 cents more than usual per package, he says, shrugging his shoulders. “Canned ingredients, and foods with preservatives are also not allowed.”
Some items like falafel are deep-fried, and the cooks (all trained by Tabahi) use only vegetable oil, he says.
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Pita Inn, at 122 S. Elmhurst Rd. in Wheeling, is open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The restaurant is open Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Call 708-808-7733.
