Another day, another lunch craving. Today, we’re headed to Pita Gourmet which is usually somewhere I like to go during warm weather just because of that Mediterranean feeling in the summer but I’ve struck a craving for Dolmas today so off we go.
LOCATION: 41 MAIN ST., CORTLAND, NY, 13045
I’ve eaten here before and I’m kind of surprised I haven’t written a post about it yet so here we are. When I think if Pita Gourmet I have positive thoughts but I think my expected vs. reality ideas of it don’t quite line up. I like walking in there and ordering at the counter from the founders of the restaurant who seem so nice and get right down to business. The place feels authentic and it makes me excited to eat the food so maybe I’m just ordering the wrong thing and that’s why it’s not quite living up to my expectations.
My normal order is the Mazza combo which lets you try three of the five options: tabouleh, hommos, baba gannush, grape leaves or falafel. I love this option because it allows me to try a few different items and graze a little then switch it up so the flavors never get boring. I’m a fan of tapas or appetizer/sample platters for this very reason so ordering something that gives me multiple samples is ideal for me.
So when it comes down to it, I tend to order the mazza combo with hommos, grape leaves (my favorite Mediterranean dish), and falafel. This combo comes with warm pita for dipping which I also love. Warm Pita is just comforting all around. However, though this place delivers with options, I’m usually let down a little with the actual food.
The grape leaves (dolmas) are perfect to me and I love that they’re warm and zesty so there’s no complaint there but I could see them being a little too acidic/sour for some. The hommos is a little bit of a let down and isn’t really anything to write home about. It doesn’t have much interest to it and while it’s not bad, it’s not great either. The falafel really loses me and is so dry and overly salted. It comes on a little bed of tomato and lettuce that’s a little sad to look at and I can’t say that I rush to eat it either. It helps to eat the falafel dipped in some of the hommos to bring down the salt levels and add some moisture but I can’t imagine eating it with the pita because it would be dry dry dry. I could substitute out the falafel and get baba gannush or tebouleh but I can’t imagine getting the baba gannush AND the hommas as they’re too similar in texture. I also will admit that I’m not a huge fan of tebouleh so that’s not a great choice for me either. If it were, I would just order the Fabulous Five which is the combo with all of these options.
At the end of it, I want to love Pita Gourmet and I want to go more often but it’s tended to let me down the few times I’ve gone and my visits are few a far between. Maybe writing this post will be a reminder for me to expand my ordering and try something new next time. I just love the grape leaves so much and this combo always looks so appealing to me just on variety alone. Stay tuned. I promise I’ll order a different dish the next time I go. I’m sure there’s something wonderful here that' I’m just missing.