By Andrew Moore

The Bulletin

The Pita Pit, a fast-food chain that specializes in flatbread sandwiches, will open in late June in downtown Bend, according to franchisee Chris Coulter.

The restaurant will be located at 806 N.W. Brooks St., behind Bluefish Bistro in the space formerly occupied by the Blue Windows boutique. It will face the south Mirror Pond parking lot.

Attracting residents and visitors to the street — which is a pedestrian mall at its southern end — is key to a vibrant downtown, said Chuck Arnold, executive director of the Bend Downtowners Association.

“It’s important to get active retail down there and continue to realize the pedestrian possibilities the street was designed to have, as a sort of an outdoor mall, and this will help,” Arnold said.

Coulter, who is opening the restaurant with business partner Casey Howland, said the location is perfectly situated to capture late-night foot traffic from nearby bars and will remain open until 3 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

He also hopes to capitalize on time-pressed lunch customers.

“There’s not a lot of quick food options in downtown Bend,” Coulter said.

A Bend native, the 24-year-old Coulter first encountered The Pita Pit as an undergraduate at the University of San Francisco. The restaurant is popular in college towns and offers inexpensive Lebanese-style pitas, according to its Web site.

Generally, a pita is a round piece of flatbread similar in size to a tortilla that can be cut in half and then opened, forming a pocket which can be stuffed with ingredients. Customers can order pitas off the menu or have the pitas custom-stuffed, with everything from standard Middle Eastern ingredients such as seasoned lamb and falafel to more common meats, cheeses and vegetables.

“You can make it as healthy or unhealthy as you want,” Coulter said.

The restaurant also will offer delivery service, he said.

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho-based Pita Pit has 165 restaurants in the United States. Oregon locations include Eugene, Portland, Salem and Corvallis.

Andrew Moore can be reached at amoore@bend bulletin.com or at 617-7820.