Look at the picture to the left, ignore the title of this post and tell me what you see. If you are like me, you probably think that is a burrito. It has the signature Chipotle foil, a nice fold and the grill marks that usually come with a tortilla. But this is no burrito, this is a chicken schwarma wrap from Pita Kitchen in Sherman Oaks, a hole in the wall to be remembered.

At $7.50 the wrap is a bit on the pricey side, but it is definitely an appropriate price for the size. The wrap came packed with chicken, tahini and hummus, and if Pita Kitchen had had their way with their regular ingredients, it also would have included lettuce and a salad. I’m not sure what the difference between lettuce and a salad is, but as they were both certainly vegetables, I wanted none of it.

As for the taste, I was definitely happy with the chicken. It had been nicely seasoned and cooked. The tahini sauce was also pretty good, but definitely took a back seat to the hummus. And while the texture of the hummus was good, it lacked the oomph of flavor that makes me love great hummus. This could have been a lack of garlic, lemon or both, but it was definitely noticeable and a little sad due to the awesomely creamy texture.

If you’re wondering why I keep rambling about the texture, it’s because I ordered a side of the hummus, which ran at a steep $5 bucks. And while the portion was once again huge, I wouldn’t have minded a smaller and more manageable portion. It came with three pieces of pita, which was a fair amount, but still nowhere near enough to take on the copious amounts of hummus.

While I was glad to have stumbled upon a nice little hole in the wall like Pita Kitchen, I could definitely see some areas for improvement. Maybe I’m just spoiled or crazy.

While LA has its fair share of Middle-Eastern restaurants, Kabab Grill in Palms boasts something I haven’t seen elsewhere: its own pita oven. Growing up with the Middle-Eastern restaurants of southeastern Michigan, I just kind of assumed every place had their own oven, but in LA I learned this was not the case. Yet, a pita oven alone does not make a place great, so I was eager to see how this Syrian-flavored place would taste and hoped it didn’t taste like the blood and tears of civil war (too soon?).

The first thing I tried was their Zaatar Cheese Safeeha. This Syrian specialty was a special baked pita-like bread cooked with thyme, oregano, sesame seeds and olive oil with cheese melted over it. It was definitely a good choice. It came out of the oven kind of crisp and the cheese had a bit of a chewy mozzarella texture to it, but a stronger taste that went well with the other seasonings. It also went well with the hummus, garlic sauce and chili dips that came with the rest of my meal.

And as for that rest of my meal, I ordered the Chicken Shawarma Plate. This came with shaved off chicken from a spool in the back, plus two sides. Like any good unvegan, I chose hummus for both sides. It also came with the aforementioned garlic sauce and one piece of pita. The result was fantastic. The only vegetable to be found was a giant lettuce leaf that I can only assume was place in the styrofoam box to prevent the chicken from melting the styrofoam. The hummus was pretty damn good and the garlic sauce was nearly as good as Zankou’s. The chicken was good and tender and really my only complaint about any of the meal was the pita.

No, not like that. The pita itself was delicious, but there just wasn’t enough of it. Only one paltry piece for all that chicken and hummus? When I finished the pita, I was left with a lot of loose hummus and chicken that had to be dealt with with a fork.

So, if you go to Kabab Grill and order one of their plates, be sure to ask for extra pita. You’ll be glad you did, and you’ll also be glad you tried out Kabab Grill. Just don’t go if you are in a rush. It has the look and feel of a fast restaurant, but they put a lot of care into preparing everything and that can mean a bit of a wait.

While in Michigan, one restaurant I had to visit was Olga’s Kitchen in West Bloomfield. The local chain has been around forever and has never attempted to veer away from the core factor that makes the restaurant a success. This core factor is Olga Bread and it is no ordinary bread. The closest thing it can be compared to is Greek pita, but to simply call it Greek pita would be an injustice. It is buttery and crispy and multiple levels of delicious. Olga’s uses it to make their sandwiches and as a side for their salads, but by far the best use of Olga Bread is in Olga’s Snackers.

This incredible appetizer/side is made from sliced up wedges of Olga Bread, toasted to a crisp and seasoned. They come with a Swiss almond cheese dip if you get the original or a marinara dip if you order them pizza style. You can’t lose with either choice, but I prefer the original style. I’m convinced that if Olga’s Snackers were served at any sort of peace negotiation, all issues would be quickly resolved. Trying to disarm Iran? Give them Olga’s Snackers and uranium enrichment will be halted at once.

While the snackers are the best reason to visit Olga’s, they also serve some great

sandwiches made with that amazing Olga Bread. Not really any of them are unvegan from the start, but they can be customized to fit unvegan needs. My favorite is the Three Cheese, featuring Cheddar, Swiss and Monterey Jack cheese. It also comes with onions, tomatoes and Olga Sauce. I ask for it without the offensive onions and tomatoes, but keep the sauce, which is like a Greek-style yogurt sauce without the cucumber flavoring that all-too-often makes its way into that sort of sauce.

The result is like a grilled cheese taken to the next level of awesome. The cheeses are melty and delicious, while the sauce keeps the sandwich from being too cheesy (if such a thing exists). The only concern here is the possibility that some of the melted cheese escapes out of the back end of the sandwich. It’s always good to keep some extra snackers on hand to scoop up the remnants in case this occurs.

Olga’s Kitchen is really a great and unique place. Were they just to offer Olga’s Snackers, it would be enough, but they didn’t just settle for that and created a restaurant full of joyous Olga Bread. It is definitely a place worth returning to again and again.

Edit: This location is gone, but Daphne’s as a whole is not.

Since the entire concept of Greek fast food is a bit confusing, I decided to check out Daphne’s Greek Cafe in Culver City and see what it was all about.

A quick perusal of the menu revealed the Pitaburger. This burger is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, because instead of a bun, they use authentic Greek pita. The differences between this burger and other burgers does not end there, however. Rather than typical burger toppings, this one comes with Greek offerings like feta cheese and for an additional bit of pocket change, you can get gyros added to the burger to make it as meaty as possible. This burger was not without fault in its intended version, though, as it also came with burger killers like lettuce and tomato.

For mine, I ordered without the veggies, asked for gyros, and then asked for what was called fire feta cheese. It sounded like it would give my burger a good spicy kick. I also got fries on the side.

When the burger came, the gyros in place of veggies made it look good and meaty. I took a bite, expecting a spicy kick, which I never got. It seemed as though they had given me plain feta instead of the fiery sort. The consistency of the burger also left a bit to be desired, with an almost rubbery texture. This was slightly masked by the gyros, which turned out to be the best part of the burger. I suppose I should have expected this, since they were the most Greek part of this Greek fast food burger.

I’m glad I tried it, but next time I get Greek fast food, I’ll make sure to get something more Greek than a burger.