Entry No. 46 — the Pittsburgh file — filed under: pita bakery
Pitaland
The Chahine family came from Lebanon and opened a basement bakery in 1969; it became Pitaland in 1990, and Joseph and Jocelyne's four children — Danny, Joe, Donna and Aleen — run it now on the founders' unchanged recipes. The commercial oven behind the shop pushes out as many as 10,000 loaves a day, and there is a window onto it: get there before noon and you can watch rounds of dough inflate and come off the line. The rest of the building is a market of imported olive oil, loose olives, feta, tinned goods and cookbooks, plus deli coolers of hummus, baba ghanouj, spinach pies and kibbe. A cafe counter at the back does breakfast from 9 to 11 — foul, shakleesh with eggs — then gyros, shawarma, falafel and mezza plates until close. It sits on Brookline Boulevard in the South Hills, a neighborhood main street with essentially zero tourist traffic.
→ Three more weird eats & drinks in Pittsburgh — never the same twice
The story
The Chahine family came to Pittsburgh from Lebanon in 1969 and started baking in the basement of a relative's restaurant, under the name Chahine's Bakery. That operation became Pitaland in 1990, on Brookline Boulevard in the South Hills. Joseph and Jocelyne Chahine wrote the recipes, and the shop's whole argument is that nobody has changed them in more than fifty years. Their four children - Danny, Joe, Donna and Aleen - run the place now: bakery, retail market, cafe counter, wholesale accounts and a mail-order arm that ships nationally.
The bakery is the reason the building exists. A commercial oven behind the shop can turn out as much as 10,000 loaves a day, and Pitaland put a window onto it: arrive before noon and you can watch rounds of dough inflate on the line and come off hot. The rest of the floor is a Middle Eastern grocery of the useful rather than decorative kind - pita plain and wheat in several diameters, zaatar bread, pita chips, loose olives, olive oil, feta, zaatar spice, lupini and fava beans, and shelves of imported tins under names like Lebanon Salloum, Lebanon Valley, California Garden, Beirut and Shorook.
At the back is a cafe counter that runs two menus. Breakfast is 9 to 11 and is the more interesting half - foul, shankleesh with eggs, and a Lebanese breakfast table described on the menu as the way we eat at home, all around eight to ten dollars, with kanafeh and Arabic coffee alongside. From 11 to 7 it switches to gyro, chicken and beef shawarma, falafel, kibbee balls, hummus, grilled halloumi, tabbouleh and fattoush, and mana'eesh flatbreads from four dollars. None of it is on a tourist route: Brookline Boulevard is a working neighborhood main street, fifteen to twenty minutes from downtown through the Liberty Tunnel.
What it's like
You walk into a grocery, not a restaurant, and the bread smell settles the question of what to order before you reach the counter. Before noon the bakery window at the side is the draw - dough rounds ballooning in the oven, then flattening as they cool on the racks. Service is counter service throughout: you order at the cafe at the back, pay, and either take a table in the small seating area or have it bagged to go, and nobody comes to check on you. The market aisles are the second half of the visit and the reason to bring a bag - buy warm pita, a wedge of feta and something in a tin you cannot read. It closes at 7 on weekdays and 4 on Sunday, so this is a lunch or early-dinner plan, not a night out.
The move: Turn up around 5:30 on a weekday, order shawarma and a mezza plate at the cafe counter and eat in rather than taking it out. Then spend twenty minutes in the market aisles picking things you can't name off the shelves — olives, a wedge of feta, a bag of pita still warm — and cook with them tomorrow. If you want the oven window too, make it a Saturday morning trip instead and come before noon.
📍 Before you go Open Mon-Sat 8am-7pm and Sun 10am-4pm; phone (412) 531-5040 or (412) 561-9285. The bakery window only pays off before noon — after that the line is done and you're just shopping. Breakfast items run 9-11am, lunch and dinner 11am-7pm, and it closes early enough that a 7pm plan is already too late. Counter service, no table service; phone-ahead and online takeout orders are available. Street parking on Brookline Boulevard, roughly 15-20 minutes from downtown through the Liberty Tunnel.
- 📍 Pittsburgh
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 620 Brookline Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15226
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Beto's Pizza — Beto's is a few minutes away on Banksville Road and is the other South Hills bread argument - cold shredded provolone dumped on hot naked crust - so you can eat two completely opposed dough philosophies in one afternoon.
- GALIMARD Pittsburgh — The Galimard perfume studio on West Liberty Avenue in Dormont is about a mile from the bakery, which makes a strange but coherent sequence: build a scent from 127 notes, then go stand in a room that smells overwhelmingly of one.
- The Crow's Nest — The metaphysical shop on Potomac Avenue in Dormont is roughly a mile from Brookline Boulevard, so the same trip through the tunnel covers lunch, groceries and a jar of bones.
More weird in Pittsburgh
Good to know
When should I go, and what are the hours?
Monday through Saturday 8am to 7pm, Sunday 10am to 4pm. Timing is the whole game: the bakery window only pays off before noon, breakfast at the cafe runs 9 to 11, and the lunch and dinner menu runs 11 to 7. A Saturday morning gets you the oven and breakfast together; a weekday evening gets you shawarma and an empty room.
Do I need a reservation, and can I order ahead?
No reservations - it is counter service, and there is no table service to book. Phone-ahead and online takeout orders are accepted, and there is catering for larger orders. The phone numbers are (412) 531-5040 and (412) 561-9285.
What does it cost?
Cheap for what it is. Mezza and small plates land around five to eight dollars, sandwiches run roughly seven to twelve depending on size and filling, salads about ten, and zaatar mana'eesh starts at four; the lamb burger at fourteen is the top of the menu. Two people can eat properly and still spend more on groceries than on lunch.
How do I get there and where do I park?
620 Brookline Boulevard, in Brookline in the South Hills, roughly fifteen to twenty minutes from downtown through the Liberty Tunnel. Brookline Boulevard is a conventional neighborhood main street with street parking along it; there is no dedicated lot, so give yourself a block or two of walking on a busy Saturday.
Can I take the bread home, or ship it?
Yes to both. Pita comes plain and wheat in several sizes, and the retail side sells the same product the wholesale accounts get. Pitaland also runs an online market that ships nationwide, which covers you for the olives and tinned goods even if the bread does not travel as well as the memory of it.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
last checked: 2026-08-26