 Rhona is looking up to make sure we have arrived at Cafe Pita, our little Bosnian restaurant on Westheimer. I actually had to look up Bosnia on the map to remind myself where it is! I've never been anywhere close to Bosnia. ( although I could have taken a swim across the Adriatic Sea from Italy) I had no idea what kind of food this would be, but it was Rhona's idea and how could I say no!  Once inside this cozy, family owned spot, we were seated by a lively table of young gentlemen speaking, what we guessed was Bosnian. Rhona posed with her menu so I could sneak a photo of our fellow diners. A mighty 4 bonus points for hearing the Bosnian language as we feasted!  Cafe Pita, does not get extra points for decor. I sort of wanted to iron out this warped print next to our table, but then I had memories of a childhood attempt to iron the vinyl TWISTER game, so it would lay flat. (not a good idea for the game or the iron) Anyway, in this photo Rhona presents a basket of lepinga bread! This is like an extra fluffy, puffy pita bread. They serve many sandwiches on this. It was delicious all by itself!  For our lunch we decided to split a sample platter of cevapi, stuffed pljeskavice, beef and chicken kebabs, basmati rice, ajvar, fresh onions and kajmak...now to remember what all that was? Bosnian food is a mixture of Western and Eastern influences. The Kebabs were familiar, but the cevapi (sausage) is what Bosnia is known for. Looks like breakfast sausage, but is hand ground daily with lots of garlic and spice and even soda water! Rhona was kind of enough to send me home with the leftovers and I made 2 more meals using the meat! 4 points for our Bosnian food!  No time to chat with our chef here, but he was working fast and furious! He looked up and gave me a generous smile, but my camera was too slow. 1 bonus point for a smiling chef!  We noticed our lively dining neighbors had moved outside to enjoy a little smoke and some kind of boxed chocolates. Rhona and I decided to find out if these fellows were indeed from Bosnia. Since they said they were, we wanted the inside scoop. Was this the best Bosnian food in Houston? They thought this was a pretty silly question, because Cafe Pita is the ONLY BOSNIAN restaurant in Houston...maybe Texas . " So how does this honestly compare to food back home?" I asked, since we were outside...away from chef and servers. What a relief that Rhona and I had raved about the food, because it turns out one of the gentleman, Omer Okanivic (white short sleeves) is the owner! They got quite a laugh out of revealing this, then gathered for a nice pose, letting me have the chair since I was the "Queen". 5 Bonus points for being called Queen! (I must have reminded them of their mother back home!) TOTAL OF 14 POINTS FOR CAFE PITA....but one more thing BELOW!  If we had done our homework and watched Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, we would have seen clips of Guy Fieri chatting with Omer the Owner! Guy gives a much more thourough peek at Cafe Pita! See clip below! http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=diners%2c+drive+ins+and+dives+cafe+pita&mid=91A761CED6A9C2220B9E91A761CED6A9C2220B9E&view=detail&FORM=VIRE1
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The Dining Blog
This is a blog about Dining Adventures. Sometimes, I talk about food. Below, you can read how this started. On July 4th 2011, I set a goal to try 50 culturally diverse restaurants in one year! (I knew that was possible, living in the Houston area) I spent the year pulling in friends and family to join me, on some unusual dining adventures. I met some curious people, tried some scary foods and explored places and cultures I never would have otherwise. Even though I met my goal, I learned too much to end my adventures in dining. I have continued blogging about memorable dining adventures of all kinds, near and far... and all the discoveries and funny things I've learned along the way! Locations and types of dining adventures, are listed further down. Archives
July 2020
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