{"id":11920,"date":"2018-02-23T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T14:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=11920"},"modified":"2018-02-15T16:04:53","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T21:04:53","slug":"perfect-pita-vegan-menu-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2018\/02\/23\/perfect-pita-vegan-menu-options\/","title":{"rendered":"Perfect Pita\u00ae Vegan Menu Options"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"logo-ThePerfectPita\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS
\nWith over 15 locations in Virginia, Washington, DC, and Maryland, Perfect Pita is a family-owned business founded in 1994. Today Perfect Pita also operates Perfect Daughter\u00ae, a catering service run by the founder’s daughter. Viewers may learn more about the family business through the video on the site’s About Us page: http:\/\/theperfectpita.com\/about\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Perfect Pita restaurants and catering company offer a Mediterranean-American cuisine. For locations, visit: http:\/\/theperfectpita.com\/locations\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Perfect Pita’s menu http:\/\/theperfectpita.com\/menu\/<\/a> has a special vegan section including:
\n\u2022white bean salad
\n\u2022shepherd salad
\n\u2022tabouli
\n\u2022stuffed grape leaves
\n\u2022falafel
\n\u2022navy bean soup
\n\u2022hummus<\/p>\n

Between August and November 2017 The VRG spoke and communicated by email with Rosario Castro and Fatih Altun at Perfect Pita about their menu. Here are excerpts from the exchange. <\/p>\n

VRG: Does your pita bread contain milk or dairy ingredients such as whey?
\nPerfect Pita: Our pitas don’t contain any milk nor whey. <\/p>\n

VRG: Is the Hummus Sandwich all-vegetable?
\nPerfect Pita: Our Hummus Sandwich is vegan.<\/p>\n

VRG: Is the tzatziki sauce made with yogurt?
\nPerfect Pita: Our tzatziki sauce is made with sour cream, not yogurt.<\/p>\n

VRG: Is the Falafel Pita all-vegetable without the tzatziki sauce?
\nPerfect Pita: Yes, it is vegan without the tzatziki.<\/p>\n

VRG: Do you make the hummus in your restaurants starting with dry beans?
\nPerfect Pita: We do make our hummus starting with dry beans.<\/p>\n

VRG: Are all hummus varieties all-vegetable? Do any varieties contain cheese?
\nPerfect Pita: All our hummus (all flavors) is vegan (no meat, no dairy).<\/p>\n

VRG: Is the falafel all-vegetable?
\nPerfect Pita: Our falafel is vegetarian and it can also be vegan since our tzatziki sauce comes on the side and you don’t have to necessarily get it. Tzatziki can also be substituted by our vegan hummus.<\/p>\n

VRG: Has the falafel been fried in fresh oil? Which kind?
\nPerfect Pita: We use canola oil.<\/p>\n

VRG: Is anything else prepared in the oil used to cook the falafel? If so, what?
\nPerfect Pita: No, just falafel.<\/p>\n

VRG: Is the tabouli all-vegetable?
\nPerfect Pita: Tabouli is vegan.<\/p>\n

VRG: Is the white bean salad all-vegetable?
\nPerfect Pita: The white bean salad is vegan.<\/p>\n

VRG: Is the navy bean soup all-vegetable?
\nPerfect Pita: The navy bean soup is vegan.<\/p>\n

VRG: What are the grape leaves stuffed with?
\nPerfect Pita: Our grape leaves are stuffed with rice.<\/p>\n

VRG: Has the rice in the grape leaves been seasoned with animal flavors or cooked in animal broth?
\nPerfect Pita: No. The rice in the grape leaves are not flavored with any kind of animal flavor nor animal broth. <\/p>\n

VRG: Do you have any salad dressing which is all-vegetable and made without honey?
\nPerfect Pita: Our homemade red wine vinaigrette doesn’t contain any honey or animal product.<\/p>\n

VRG: Has the red wine in the red wine vinaigrette been clarified with an animal ingredient such as albumen or gelatin?
\nPerfect Pita: We don’t clarify it with gelatin.<\/p>\n

VRG: Does the red wine vinaigrette contain sugar?
\nPerfect Pita: No sugar is added.<\/p>\n

VRG: Do the vegetable components of your menu come into contact with dairy products or meat\/fish?
\nPerfect Pita: We do allergen separation and our veggies don’t come into contact with any meat\/fish or dairy.
\nPerfect Pizzas:
\nVRG: Are the crusts all-vegetable?
\nPerfect Pita: Pizza crust is vegetarian.<\/p>\n

VRG: Is there L-cysteine in the crust?
\nPerfect Pita: There is no L-cysteine in our crust.<\/p>\n

VRG: Is there sugar in the crust?
\nPerfect Pita: Yes. We do add sugar to our pizza dough.<\/p>\n

VRG: Are there any animal-derived ingredients in the red sauce?
\nPerfect Pita: No.<\/p>\n

VRG: What is in the “spinach mix” pizza topping?
\nPerfect Pita: The spinach mix is cooked spinach mixed with feta cheese and onions.<\/p>\n

VRG: Does your feta cheese contain animal rennet?
\nPerfect Pita: Our feta cheese contains vegetable-based microbial rennet. <\/p>\n

VRG: Does the feta cheese contain animal lipase?
\nPerfect Pita: It contains animal-based lipase from goat.<\/p>\n

VRG: Are your mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses made with animal-derived enzymes?
\nPerfect Pita: Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses [are made with] cow’s whole milk and animal-derived enzyme. <\/p>\n

Perfect Pita\u00ae Bagel and Pita Bread Are Vegan<\/strong>
\nPerfect Pita’s Bagel
\nL-cysteine
\nRosario Castro of Perfect Pita told us in August 2017 that L-cysteine served as a dough conditioner in their bagel. We wanted to know its source and contacted her supplier, Soft Stuff Distributors\u00ae http:\/\/www.gosoftstuff.com\/<\/a> who in turn asked us to contact the bagel manufacturer, Always Bagels\u00ae. <\/p>\n

Anthony Pariti of Always Bagels wrote to us in September 2017 that \u201cthe cysteine is sourced from vegetable fermentation.\u201d When we asked for more explanation, he in turn directed us to speak with the R&D department of his supplier, Puratos\u00ae, who sells the dough conditioner that he uses to make the bagels. After speaking with Puratos we confirmed that Perfect Pita’s bagels are made with microbially-derived L-cysteine manufactured by Wacker\u00ae.] https:\/\/www.wacker.com\/cms\/en\/products\/product_groups\/cystein.jsp<\/a><\/p>\n

SUGAR
\nAlways Bagels: There is no bone char in the filtration. It comes to us white and again the process they described to me is the white color happens during the filtration of the sugar at their facility.<\/p>\n

The sugar supplier emailed us a letter from Mark Rudolph, the Quality Assurance and Quality Control Manager at Sweeteners Plus\u00ae dated February 2017 regarding \u201cBone char use in the production of refined sugar \/vegan statement\u201d: \u201cAlthough natural charcoal, or bone char, is sometimes employed as a filter media in the production of refined cane sugar, Sweeteners Plus is not currently sourcing bulk Granulated Sugar manufactured using bone char.<\/p>\n

Currently all sugar products, organic and conventional, sold under the Sweeteners Plus label including bulk Liquid Sugars and bulk and packaged Granulated Sugar are manufactured without the use of bone char from sugar beets or sugar cane, neither of which is derived from an animal source.<\/p>\n

Our Lakeville, NY facility is certified Kosher, Halal suitable, and uses no additives that contain animal sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perfect Pita Pita Bread
\nThe VRG learned from Rosario at Perfect Pita that there is no L-cysteine in their pita bread which they make in their restaurants starting from dry flour. She also furnished to us a no-cow bone char vegan declaration from their sugar supplier. There are no dairy ingredients in the pita bread at Perfect Pita.<\/p>\n

For more information on Perfect Pita catering: http:\/\/theperfectpita.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/New-Catering-Menu-May.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

The contents of this posting, our website, and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.<\/p>\n

For more chain restaurant information, see http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/fastfoodinfo.php<\/a><\/p>\n

For information on vegetarian and vegan restaurants, see VRG Online Veggie Restaurant Guide<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS With over 15 locations in Virginia, Washington, DC, and Maryland, Perfect Pita is a family-owned business founded in 1994. Today Perfect Pita also operates Perfect Daughter\u00ae, a catering service run by the founder’s daughter. Viewers may learn more about the family business through the video on the site’s About Us page: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11922,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11920\/revisions\/11922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}