Chickpea House is bringing its famed falafel, pita, hummus and other homemade Palestinian delights to an additional, to-go-only location now open at 3200 N. Pace Blvd.
The second location comes almost a year after its flagship restaurant debuted at 4522 Saufley Field Road and received rave reviews for its low prices and homemade ingredients.
The new Pace Boulevard shop carries over the same menu from the original restaurant—including its best-selling stuffed chickpea sandwich—but unlike the original sit-down location, the new shop is to-go-only, either at the drive-through or the walk-up window.
The Chickpea House team has been working hard at renovating the space, which long served as a Checkers, into a chic, fast-casual restaurant.
The menu focuses on serving fresh food fast and just a handful of curated items, according to Chickpea House’s social media and marketing manager, Lilly Wallace. The menu is vegetarian-based, with vegan options.
“They grow chickpeas there (in Palestine); it’s very high in protein, and as I said, meat’s super expensive, so people purposefully cook without meat to save money,” Wallace said. “We wanted to follow the same tradition as we’re trying to make the food very inexpensive and accessible to all.”
The “big three” dishes that they specialize in are falafel, pita and hummus, according to Wallace. When it comes to store-bought and homemade, you can taste the difference.
“It’s very creamy and very fluffy,” Wallace said of Chickpea House’s hummus. “A lot of the store-bought hummus is very dense and very heavy, I would say. I feel like ours is very fluffy, it’s very light.”
Their most popular option, the Chickpea Sandwich, starts with a 6-inch pita, which is then stuffed with hot falafel, hummus, cucumbers, tomatoes, pickles, hot sauce, tahini sauce and fries for only $5.
Their new loaded fry option is picking up steam. It offers layers of falafel, cucumber, tomatoes, hummus, hot sauce, tahini sauce and pickles for $8.
Opening more locations was always part of the plan, and aligns with the company’s mission of bringing healthy, accessible food to the area.
The menu largely remains the same, with some new additions including combo options with their homemade sodas and mint lemonades, as well as a new loaded fry option.
So far, the support from Pensacola has been pouring in.
“Everyone’s supportive and I could not be more grateful,” Wallace said. “I’m so glad that we live in a community that is just very uplifting. Very grateful for it.”
The restaurant is card-only, and cash is not accepted. Chickpea House is now available through delivery services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats.
Chickpea House’s Pace Boulevard location is now open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. Follow Chickpea House on social media for real-time updates and information.
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This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Chickpea House opens second location with fresh food, low prices
Reporting by Brittany Misencik, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Brittany Misencik, Pensacola News Journal | USA TODAY Network
