Ten years and a lot of restaurant shifts later, he and his wife Asma opened the first Pita Inn on Dempster Street in Skokie as a two-person operation. Four decades on, there are five Pita Inns across the suburbs, a family bakery and butcher shop down the street, and a house hummus sold at Costco. The Skokie original, which moved just down the block into a new building in 2015, is still the family's busiest location. The appeal hasn't changed: fast, cheap, halal Middle Eastern food made from scratch. The pita is baked daily at the family bakery.
Beef and chicken shawarma turn slowly on the rotisserie, and kabobs (shish, kefta, lamb and chicken tender) come off the grill with rice, salad and both hot and tahini sauces. The falafel is the fan favorite, and the original hummus is the thing people buy by the tub. The Business Lunch Special puts nearly the whole menu on one plate, and the $199 Family Tray feeds about a dozen people. ABC 7's Hungry Hound and Food Network's Sandwich King have both come through. It's open every day of the year, Thanksgiving included until 3pm, from 11am to 10pm (11pm Fridays and Saturdays), with pickup through the app and delivery on DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats.
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