Pita Pan Bakery

I stumbled upon Pita Pan on 441 in West Boca Raton. It is a small business that specializes in imported Israeli products, foods and of course pita.
The purpose of my visit was to obtain some delicious fresh pita’s that my son needed for a school organizational meeting. On perusing the available options, I noted that although they did have pitas, the rest of the selections were somewhat bare. If I had visited the business for something other than pitas, I’m not sure I would have found anything.
Since this visit was strictly for pitas, I left a happy customer. The quality of the freshly baked pitas was good. They were soft and quite tasty. As a frequent customer of many different pita businesses, I was thrilled with my selection. I’m not sure I would recommend this business if you were looking for a large variety of Israeli products, but if you are in the market for some freshly baked pitas, it is worth a look.

Along 441 on the west side of Boca Raton lies Pita Pan Bakery, a quaint establishment with a cute name that specializes in imported Israeli products, prepared Israeli foods, and, well, pita.
Given Boca Raton’s large Jewish population, I went in with somewhat high expectations, hoping I’d get myself a decent Israeli lunch, or at least something to snack on. On perusing the available options, my initial impression was that the selection was rather unimpressive. To begin with, they don’t have a take out menu, so I was limited to what they had prepared. No matter, I thought, I could just pick up a bag of pita, a tupper of hummus, and maybe some falafel balls, and take matters into my own hands. They did have a decent selection of freshly baked pita varieties, but there was very little to choose from as far as prepared foods. They had only the most standard Israeli spreads, including hummus, babaganoush, and tabouli, but, that’s pretty much it. No falafel balls in sight.
Still, no matter, I thought. Sometimes you gotta focus on quality rather than quantity, right? I picked up some hummus and, after getting home, attempted to spread it onto my pita. I say attempted because, although I had initially equipped myself with a butter knife, I soon realized that the hummus was essentially in a liquid state. Transporting it from surface A to surface B was no easy task, and it required a spoon. That’s new, I thought, and I’m not one to complain about being different from the norm. But after finally getting the hummus on and trying it, I found it to be the worst in recent memory. There wasn’t a drop of olive oil, nor a hint of seasoning, herbs, or lemon. It had no texture and, worst of all, you could not even taste the chickpeas. It was just a runny mess that, within a minute’s time, had seeped beyond recognition into the bread, my hopes of having a good lunch dashed into an equally unsightly mess. I suppose the pita itself (now sogged up) was decent.
With such a limited selection to begin with, it truly boggled me what the owners are «going for» with their bakery & spreads. Maybe they’ve lost their motivation? Or have no desire to make good food? Whatever the case may be, it is clear that the Jewish population of Boca Raton demands more from an Israeli bakery. Or is it? The kicker is that this place has actually been in busy for quite a while. I suppose they do have a decent selection of imported (packaged) Israeli foods and sweets, which I would guess is what people come for. But personally, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t expect so, so much more.