The photographs of Omar Aldmour’s homeland, Jordan, that line the walls of The Pita Shop are a nod to the restaurant’s culinary inspiration, he said.
Aldmour and his wife, Susan Mutschlechner Aldmour, serve homemade falafel, pitas, gyros, hummus and other Mediterranean, Greek and Middle Eastern foods for lunch and dinner.
Aldmour and Mutschlechner Aldmour previously worked at downtown San Marcos’ Cedars Mediterranean Restaurant. Aldmour worked in the kitchen, where he learned to cook, and Mutschlechner Aldmour helped manage it.
Cedars was closed and torn down in March 2014 to make way for a seven-story multifamily development, in the same deal that ended Triple Crown’s reign over the downtown music scene.
“We worked odd jobs for a little bit [after Cedars closed], but we didn’t like those,” Mutschlechner Aldmour said.
During that time, they lived near the strip mall in which The Pita Shop is located at, and would often drive by the mall and see the vacancy signs. They talked about starting another restaurant there themselves.
“It would be just us—we could be our own bosses,” Mutschlechner Aldmour said. “It was just an idea. We weren’t really serious about it at first.”
But after Mutschlechner Aldmour’s parents encouraged them, they decided to take a chance on a new restaurant.
“We realized that the food industry was where we were most happy at,” Mutschlechner Aldmour said.
A year and a half after Cedars closed, they were back in the San Marcos food business, where they were welcomed with open arms, Aldmour said.
“We enjoy doing this, and we’re good at it,” he said. “We have too many friends that we would run into all over town that said they missed the food.”
The Pita Shop opened in September, and in the 10 months since, Aldmour said it has grown to serve about 100 customers a day, on average.
The couple said they like their location on Old RR 12 more than being downtown, where Cedars was, and said it attracts a more diverse crowd.
“It’s less crowded here, but we like it a lot more,” Aldmour said. “There’s less traffic than downtown, and we get a lot of business from the [Gray Horse] bar and [River Card Social Club] at night. We get both locals and students, so we like it a lot better.”
The Pita Shop still serves plenty of college students, Mutschlechner Aldmour said, but the majority of customers are locals who work near the restaurant and come by during their lunch break.
The most popular item on the menu is the chicken pita ($6.50), which consists of marinated chicken breast with onions, mozzarella cheese and garlic sauce. The gyro ($6.50) is also a customer favorite, and it comes with beef, lamb, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and tzatziki sauce. Both come with chips or the restaurant’s specialty french fries, which are well known for the homemade seasoning Aldmour puts on top, he said.
Some residents are not familiar with the food The Pita Shop serves, Mutschlechner Aldmour said.
“Some people are scared to try a gyro, because they don’t know what it is,” she said. “But if you just try it once, you’ll probably like it.”
The Pita Shop also serves Moroccan tea, Turkish coffee, soups and desserts.
“We make all our food with love. We would love for people to try it. We put in a lot of effort here,” Aldmour said. “We’re thankful for people who support our local business.”
