Boston's Pita Thyme Lebanese Café Coming To North Andover

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — While the coronavirus has mostly meant closures and other sad news for restaurants, there are exceptions: North Andover will soon be home to the second location of Boston's Pita Thyme, a fast-casual Lebanese restaurant.

The restaurant, which the owner Elias Khoury referred to as a "Lebanese Chipotle," plans to open in North Andover in late November or early December.

Pita Thyme will be located at 550 Turnpike Street, the former home of Howling Wolf Taqueria. Pita Thyme serves pita sandwiches, salads and plates with proteins including chicken kebab and shawarma, beef kebab and shawarma, kefta and falafel.

The pandemic has not been easy for Pita Thyme — quite the opposite, Khoury said.

"We have a place in the Financial District in Boston," he said. "The city is dying right now. there's no people in the offices and nobody is coming. Our landlord's not giving us a break."

The restaurant is losing money in Boston and is Khoury's family's only source of income, he said.

So the North Andover location is a bid for another source of revenue, in a town they know well.

"Our kids went to St. Michael's School. North Andover's been like a second home for us. With that location, right in front of the college, this way we won't have that problem we have in Boston."

Pita Thyme will offer both pickup and delivery.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.

This article originally appeared on the North Andover Patch