Bella Pita remains a rare constant in Westwood Village, serving fresh, customizable Mediterranean food seasoned with family tradition.
Founded in 2007, the restaurant has survived waves of changes, from shifting student habits to the rising cost of rent and the shadow of COVID-19, said Medy Sanadidi, a retired UCLA adjunct professor and founder of Bella Pita. As a former UCLA Ph.D. student and adjunct professor in the computer science department, Sanadidi said he began his business to provide something good to the UCLA community.
“The original idea that we had was to keep everything fresh, keep it customizable and keep it healthful,” Sanadidi said. “Westwood was an obvious choice because of UCLA and the large number of young people who want to eat healthy food.”
Bella Pita began as a father-son project, Sanadidi said. He wanted to build something meaningful with his son, who already had experience in restaurants, he added. Around 2003, they began to plan a concept focused on Mediterranean food – a cuisine they knew intimately from their upbringings in Egypt, Sanadidi said.
Food, Sanadidi said, was something special in his family of self-proclaimed foodies where his father cooked regularly, something uncommon in Egyptian households. He grew up with falafel shops offering freshness on every corner, which contributed to his care for flavor and health, he added. That environment, he said, shaped what he wanted to do at Bella Pita.
After securing the Gayley Avenue location in 2006, the family opened Bella Pita the following March, with an emphasis on being budget-friendly and high-quality, Sanadidi said. Pita is baked only after the customer orders, and proteins and vegetarian options, such as falafel, beans and cheese, are primarily prepared in-house, he added. Instead of the guided Subway-style assembly line, he said, customers customize their orders themselves at a self-serve salad bar.
“The falafel is a family recipe,” Sanadidi said. “The falafel is an item that is very connected to my upbringing. … If you scan the Yelp reviews, it has been written as the best in the world.”
The spices on the chicken, lamb and ground beef incorporate flavors from the broader Mediterranean region with influences from Turkey, Greece, Morocco and Lebanon, he said. The chicken Wowshi, a pita sandwich baked fresh to order and then customized, he added, is the restaurant’s bestseller. The process, he said, is so distinctive that Bella Pita received a business method patent for it.
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Juan Diaz began working at Bella Pita 14 years ago. Westwood Village has changed significantly post-pandemic, he said. He left during the COVID-19 downturn and returned last year, he added. But the constant, Diaz said, is the quality of the food. Bread is never bought but rather baked in-house, he said.
“Our customers, the ones that are regular, … it’s like a friend walking in,” Diaz said. “You already know what they like. … You see faces that you see most of the time. … It’s like a family.”
Many customers continue to return long after they are students, he said. Some come back to visit over the holidays, during vacations or whenever they are in town, he added. Some customers, who come from different places across the world, have never tried Mediterranean food before, Diaz said. He added that these people have commented on how unique the food is after trying Bella Pita for the first time.
For alumnus Melissa Mesina, arriving in Westwood was her exposure to different cuisines as an individual who grew up in a food desert, she said. When she was a first-year student, she discovered Bella Pita as she was walking down the street, she added. It was one of the few options that was really healthy, she said.
“(As a student), you want to stretch your dollar as much as you can,” Mesina said. “The options outside of UCLA can be a little bit pricey, especially if you’re not working. So this is one of the spots that I think is affordable and tasty.”
Exposure to different cultures makes for a better world, Mesina said, and Bella Pita offers a little peek into Mediterranean life. Although she graduated in 2015, she said she still returns to Bella Pita when she passes through campus and continues to recommend the chicken Wowshi. While her other old favorite restaurants have left, she said, Bella Pita remains a place for nostalgia and fast, healthy food.
Sanadidi said he feels Westwood has a lot of cultures represented in the various cuisines in the neighborhood. At UCLA, he added, students are exposed to a big part of the globe through food and interacting with those offering it. He is happy to be someone to share new cuisines through Bella Pita, Sanadidi said. He added that Westwood is a window to the world.
“People … come to LA, and then they have to visit Bella Pita,” Sanadidi said. “That appreciation and their memory about UCLA and Westwood is associated with Bella Pita. We feel we have done well. It’s very gratifying.”
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