Shwarma

For today, another dining out recommendation. This one is very literally a hole in the wall. Lunch is all that's served and the place ain't pretty.

It's called Pick-A-Pita and its on West 38th Street near 8th Avenue. You have to walk slowly down the north side of the street since there's only a banner draped across some scaffolding to mark the entrance. Even when you turn into what looks like the service entrance of a building you're still not sure you've done the right thing. It's there, though. Walk past the service elevators and open the glass door and you're in an oasis of middle eastern snack food.

Like many places that I tend to frequent, this place used to be totally kosher. They used to say glatt kosher on their sign but now the glatt is covered by a piece of duct tape. That keeps most of the real religious folk out. It doesn',t however, deter the Israelis, Arabic speakers of every flavor, and those who know what a good falafel, shwarma, shnitzel, and middle eastern salad is supposed to taste like. The schwarma is my favorite. The meat is tender and the salads plentiful. The pita is fresh and as good as I remember from the the open air markets in Tel Aviv and Haifa.

The only bad thing you can say about this place is the price. At $7.50 for a shwarma it's a bit steep. This was alwasy the cheap meal in Israel and here it's one of my more expensive take out lunches.

This place is the cure for those days when I am feeling blue.