Review: Pita Place, Tanana Valley Farmer’s Market

Pita Place, Tanana Valley Farmer’s Market Vendor, 2600 College Road

Sometimes living in Fairbanks is hard. Like those moments when you want good Chinese food and there’s none within four hundred miles. Other times it’s a joy. Like when you discover excellent Middle Eastern food in the middle of Alaska. When the Farmer’s Market opened this spring with Pita Place, a new vendor selling falafel, pita, labane, and hummus, life in Fairbanks got so much better that the price of homes should have risen two percent.

If you’re in Fairbanks and you haven’t gone yet, drop by the Tanana Valley Farmer’s Market (Wednesdays 11-4 and Saturdays 9-4), get in line, and get ordering. You might be intimidated by the line, but the food is worth the wait. You may never have tried Middle Eastern food. It’s authentic and a great introduction.

You can pre-plan you visit by taking a look at their menu online. A huge falafel pita with your choice of tomato, parsley, lettuce, cabbage, and tahini is $7.00. Hummus and labane plates come with pita and you can add falafel for a few dollars more. If you’re looking for something to take home to share they have hummus, labane, and fresh bagged pitas to go. Everything is delicious.

Apparently, if you love Pita Place like we do, you can pre-order online as well. I haven’t tried it yet, but I might. So far they’ve had everything available when we dropped in at the market. We’ve always been on the early end though. I imagine late in they day the carry-out hummus and labane might be all gone.

Now, go out and get a falafel. If you’re out of town, come to Fairbanks and get a falafel. If I can’t convince you, please take Cedar’s smile as a ringing endorsement:

A note on the photos: I planned to take a picture of my delicious looking falafel for this post, but I ate half of it before realizing I had forgotten. In addition, We opened the hummus and got olive oil on the label before we snapped a picture. That’s how good it is.