Pita My Shawarma

Jason Taylor has a history of taking matters into his own hands.

As a first-generation Lebanese, Taylor found authentic shawarma options in and around Pittsburgh to be lacking. At the same time Taylor, who earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of Pittsburgh, was growing unhappy with the corporate work world.

Instead of settling, he decided to do something about both issues in one fell swoop.

They served as the motivation for Pita My Shawarma. Armed with a handful of his grandmother’s recipes and a history of stacking shawarma on a mini rotisserie as a teenager, Taylor began the search for the perfect mobile kitchen.

He found an empty USPS mail truck and set about stripping it to the bones before rebuilding it – by hand – in his driveway. The Pita My Shawarma food truck hit the ground in 2018, serving his authentic dishes at events, breweries, coffee shops, and any other location he could find around the Pittsburgh area, all while building rapport and relationships with customers who soon became regulars.

With the food truck as the foundation, Pita My Shawarma then expanded to a fast-casual, brick and mortar restaurant in Lawrenceville.

Now, a Cranberry Township location at 20018 Route 19 is the next step in Taylor’s journey to bringing tasty, accessible Lebanese street food to the masses.

The simple yet diverse menu offers shawarma, falafel, salads, hand-cut fries, hummus, baba ghanoush, and sweet treats like baklava. And whether at the food truck or one of the permanent locations, Taylor promises a meal worth getting your hands dirty for.

See a full menu at pitamyshawarma.com.