Pita House: Middle Eastern Food & Grocery

While most of Greenville is still sleeping, the Namouz family is up early. Doing what? Baking 1000 pieces of fresh pita bread (daily!) and freshly preparing all of the delicacies we have come to expect and even crave.
“We make everything, everyday,” Hani Namouz explains. Perhaps this is why it's common to find lines out the door for their freshly-made food.

Exclusive Photography: FishEye Studios, Greenville, SC

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For the last 30 years, the Pita House has been a staple in Greenville community.

But how did it all start?

This Christian-Palestinian family are Israeli citizens who were originally from Shefa –Amr, an Arab village in the Northern District of Israel. Think 12 miles from larger cities Haifa, Akko, and Nazareth.

In the 1980’s, Zuhair Namouz came to Greenville because he had a friend attending Greenville Tech. Being immigrants; they wanted to live near someone they already knew. After working on an assembly line, Zuhair needed back surgery and a new line of work. He knew there was nothing like the Pita House in Greenville. Along with brothers Nazih and Ziad Namouz, they opened with “…Mom’s recipes and made adjustments to suit the nature of the country and the customer,” explains Zuhair.

Fresh Baked Pita? Yes.
Pita Bread is one piece of dough that goes through an 850°F oven for only 10-15 seconds. The secret to baking the bread is the high heat. The dough has yeast, which is a bacteria. The moment it goes into the oven, the yeast grows and seconds later, the heat kills the bacteria turning it into a gas, which pushes itself out, creating the PUFF in the pita bread.

A few favorites are the vegetarian plate,
falafel and hummus plate and the
Middle Eastern Plate, which comes with either chicken, beef or gyro meat.
After 5pm, you can enjoy their grilled kabobs served on rice with a side.

All come with pita bread and with bottles of tahini and homemade hot sauce, which is absolutely addicting. If you can't get enough, you can buy it in their grocery.

OTG Tip:
Make sure you order the lemonade on crushed ice. Real lemons and real sugar. A real treat.

If there's squash or grape leaves available, grab a side order!
They're not available everyday...

Lots of love and hard work goes into their delicious stuffed grape leaves, as proudly displayed by Nazih Namouz.

YEP, you can take home Pita House's ridiculously good hummos - don't forget to grab a pack of pita!

Learning curve...

Falafel is served as a pita sandwich in Israel, but here folks want it on a plate.
“In the beginning it was hard for us to understand that someone needed falafel on a plate, but we see the demand and people asking, so we adjusted and put it on a plate.”

In the front case, there's plenty of delicious Lebanese pastries to please anyone's sweet tooth.

Need a hookah? How about some zaatar? A visit to the Pita House wouldn't be complete without a stroll through their grocery. There's plenty of speciality products that you can only find here.

“When you're serving the same food everyday, you got to have it consistent.”
Thanks Pita House Family. Greenville wouldn't be the same without you.

Open Monday-Saturday
Grocery & Deli 8am-9pm
Restaurant 11am-9pm
Dinner specialties 5pm-9pm
Cash Only

495 S. Pleasantburg Dr., Greenville, SC 29607
864-271-9895
http://www.pitahousesc.com/

picksJackie BrookerJune 13, 2019