Midtown Lunch

It looks like that arrow needs to be reversed

Lunch’er Jeremy checks in with some interesting news.  Less than six months after changing owners, Baraca (on 38th btw. 5+6th) has reverted back to Olympic Pita. Not a huge deal considering I always thought the take out lunch food tasted the same (even under the new owners), but Jeremy goes on to drop this bombshell:  “They also told me starting next week they will be will having lunch specials (if I heard her correctly, $9.95 for schwarma pita and a soup.)”  Now that’s a deal!  We’ll keep an eye on this one as it develops.

Related:
Thank You Baraca For Not Changing Too Much About Olympic Pita
Olympic Pita Wins Me Over With Laffa & French Fries

It’s never a shock when a bad restaurant resorts to something crazy to help boost business.  You’ll see name changes, expensive redecorating, crazy specials, and yes, even sushi being added to a Kosher falafel and kebab place.  But Olympic Pita (on 38th btw. 5+6th) was not a bad restaurant!  Home to my favorite falafel in Midtown (you may say the secret ingredient is their fresh baked laffa bread) Olympic Pita shouldn’t have to resort to this nonsense.  And yet there it was, last week their new sign, with their new name (Baraca), promoting their new menu item (sushi?!?)  Oh, and of course there was the gussied up interior.  Why Olympic Pita?  Why?

The name change is not just for show, according to an employee Baraca is no longer owned by the same people who own the original Olympic Pita in Brooklyn (not good.)  Thankfully, the take out area in the front looked like it hadn’t changed- so yesterday I stopped by to survey the situation.

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I think I speak for everyone when I say Noooooooooooooooooo! The rumor is true, Olympic Pita (on 38th btw 5+6th) has become Baraca. I’m not going to panic just yet… from the look of the inside I’m guessing the lunchtime food will be exactly the same. But it’s just sad that my favorite place for falafel in Midtown thinks they have to resort to this ridiculousness to survive in the current economic climate.

I guess we’ll find out for sure about the food when they reopen on Monday (after Shavuot.)

Saw a terrible rumor on Twitter yesterday (at least I hope it’s a rumor!) “Olympic Pita (on 38th btw. 5+6th) in midtown has been taken over by a guy from Buddha Bar and is now Baraca, serving sushi for dinner.” Oh lord, please tell me this isn’t true.  I tried calling both the Midtown and Brooklyn locations of Olympic Pita yesterday afternoon and neither answered their phone.  Not a good sign. (Checked the calendar… it’s not April Fools Day.  Maybe it’s Sukhot or something?!? According to commenter “Susan” it is the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, so that would explain why they aren’t answering the phone.  But it still doesn’t explain away the twitter message above.)  Can anybody substantiate or refute this information? Please post it in the comments or email me.

When Olympic Pita first came to Midtown in February of last year, I was pretty excited.  The Brooklyn location was pretty well known, and has a lot of fans (plus has been mentioned by at least 4 Profiled Midtown Lunch’ers)- but I couldn’t help but be put off by a few things.  First, the back is a sit down restaurant with most items on the menu costing over $10 (a Midtown Lunch no-no).  They had a take out counter in the front, where you could watch them bake beautiful looking fresh laffa bread, but all of those sandwiches (with the exception of the falafel) were over $10.  You could buy a cheaper sandwich on pita, but why would you want to eat something stuffed in pre-packaged pita, while there’s amazing looking laffa staring you in the face.

At the time, Kosher Deluxe’s shawarma on pita was (barely) under $10, so I was of the opinion that I didn’t need Olympic Pita.  Plus if they were going to charge that much for a sandwich, there were cheaper places to get good falafel and shawarma sandwiches, like Pick a Pita on 38th btw. 7+8th (and they’ll even put fries in your sandwich!)  Since then, Kosher Deluxe has raised their prices (a shawarma on laffa sandwich is now over $10) and so I finally caved in and tried the Olympic Pita falafel on laffa ($6.50), the only item on the menu worthy of a Midtown Lunch distinction… and all I can say is- wow.  What the hell took me so long! ?!  Read more »