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Seaside Is Ready For A Pita Break

The fryer hasn’t shown up yet, she is out of yogurt from a rush of smoothie customers and the till is out of quarters, but reggae music and beef sizzling on the grill can still be heard at 11th and Holladay in Seaside at 4pm. This is where first time business owner Julie Bauer has set up Seaside’s newest eatery – Pita Break.

Most people couldn’t picture a drive up gyro stand, but this is exactly what Bauer envisioned over a year ago.

It started when Bauer picked up an old worn out coffee stand last summer for next to nothing. It sat outside her house in Lewis and Clark for months just waiting to be restored. When the December wind storm hit the stand was spared from the crushing blow of a 80 foot spruce tree by a matter a feet. This was about the time when Bauer started turning a dream into reality. After securing a small business loan she began to restore the coffee stand and collect equipment for a “Mediterranean Drive-thru”.

With coffee stands taking up many of the high traffic corners around the county, finding a open slot of concrete was going to be a challenge. After spotting an area South of Guy’s Seaside Muffler Shop, Bauer talked the owner, Guy Williams, into a lease. After getting the OK from the City, plumbing and electrical was installed and after a few short months everything was falling into place.

The motto of Pita Break is “Healthy food on the go” and Bauer makes much of her menu from scratch, this means hours of prep time everyday.

“I try to make my dishes as healthy as possible, most places use a lot of oil,” says Bauer. “Normally this would be oil, this is tasty but much healthier,” says Bauer as she pours a lemon and herb sauce on a pile of crackling beef.

Bauer’s culinary skills are basically self-taught. After graduating from Seaside in 1999, she went to Bend for 2 years and attended Central Oregon Community College. From here she transferred to the University of Oregon where she graduated with a Economics degree. After returning to the North Coast in 2005 she started working in local restaurants. She liked cooking so much that even after spending 8 hours in a kitchen, she came home a experimented with dishes into the night.

“I really have no culinary schooling, but it’s something I really enjoy,” says Bauer.

Even though espresso, smoothies and hot tea are on the menu, Bauer doesn’t expect a large amount of sales from these items. “I will have to be here every morning at 8 anyway for prep work, so I might as well try to sell something,” says Bauer. “Here is what I really want to sell,” exclaims Bauer as she hands 2 Beef Gyros to awaiting customers.

Her business plan called for selling at least 20 lunch items 7 days a week to make ends meet. At 4pm on opening day she had sold about 50 and gone through nearly 2 gallons of smoothie yogurt. When asked what the big seller has been so far, Bauer quickly said “Lamb, everyone wants lamb Gyros today.”

As of now Bauer plans on being open from 8am to 6pm everyday for the next 2 weeks. “I know I’m going to get burnt out, but hopefully at the end of 2 weeks I can set a permanent schedule,” says Bauer. Like her operating hours, the menu will most likely be changing as well. “If something isn’t selling it may be replaced,” says Bauer.

“I know my prices are too low, even customers are telling me that, but I need to get the word out to the locals that this is the place to get a good deal,” says Bauer. She estimated that half of her customers were locals and the other half tourists on her first day.

Along with gyros and falafels, there is also Mediterranean salads and pastas, panini and even a breakfast pita. As soon as the fryer arrives the Pita Break will also have deep fried artichoke hearts and fresh cut fried potatoes.

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