The Pita Pit in Pacific Beach, San Diego, California

Pita and gyros are the rage these days in foodies-friendly Southern California. The Pita Pit, a franchise make-your-own-mix meat, veggies, and cheese in a soft Middle-eastern pocket bread place offers a strikingly healthier fast lunch and dinner to go than the usual burger and fries or pizza.

This Pacific Beach Pita Pit is conveniently located on Mission Ave at Garnet, just a stone throw away from the famous Crystal Pier and surfing mecca Pacific Beach... and so, no easy free parking, especially during rush hours. Being flanked by Fat Burger and Liberty Pizza doesn't seem to hurt their business much. The place was pretty busy when I waltz in looking to fuel up for a pedestrian cruise along the boardwalk.

The place is quite nice and airy with a brightly colored rectangular dining area. Lots of to-go/fax menu laying around. The shop is operated like a Subway, with you ordering at the counter and watch as your pita gets made by the server: first you are offered the choice of either white or whole wheat pita, then the sort of meat (I went for the gyro - long slices of seasoned roasted beef and lamb). The server puts the meat on the hot stove behind her to heat while she puts in the rest of the ingredients (you get to pick what vegetables, cheese, and sauce you want on your pita, or you can take an easy way out and order one of the named combinations like The Local, Dagwood, or Philly steak).

I ended up with a big white pita stuffed with gyro, lettuce, romaine, tomatoes, feta cheese, and ranch dressing (was very tempted to go for the tzatiki sauce, but I was trying to sort of staying on my diet). The meat was admittedly on the dry side, but the feta and ranch dressing supplemented that very nicely. The veggies were beautifully fresh, though, and the bread soft and chewy. The portion was large enough to last me two separate meals... which, at $6.29, is quite a good deal! Service was very friendly and fast (I had my food ready to go in 8 minutes even though there were a couple of surfers ahead of me in line).

The Pita Pit really caters to the night owls of Pacific Beach. This shop is opens from 10:30AM - 12AM from Sun-Wed, and stay open until 2PM on other days of the week. They also deliver (with $2 fee added to minimum $10 order). It is probably a good thing that there isn't a shop near my place or I'd go bust eating out various combinations of pita and meat all the time. To be sure, they also offer 'veggie pitas' with falafel, hummus, or babaganoush (eggplant spread) in the place of meat. Whoever came up with the concept for this place is quite keen on not leaving any dietary demography out!

The Pita Pit: 4516 Mission Blvd, Ste. C (at Garnet Ave), San Diego, CA 92109. Tel (858) 483-7482, Fax (858) 483-7488. Opens: Sun-Wed 10:30AM - 12AM, Thu: 10:30AM - 2AM, Fri-Sat: 10:30AM - 3AM. Delivery available.
Website: pitapitusa.com