G-PZYQGERCM4

After 21 years, Pita Jungle’s original location on Apache moving to downtown Tempe

The new Tempe location, on the northeast corner of Mill and University, formerly was home to Firehouse, which closed last summer.

Pita Jungle more or less has outgrown its current Tempe location on Apache, halfway between McClintock and Rural. The new space is larger.

The move is planned for late June.

Pita Jungle offers Mediterranean-inspired menu of “healthy burgers,” wood-fired pizzas, salads, and Mediterranean entrees. And, of course, its namesake pitas.

Bassel Osmani, Fouad Khodr, and Nelly Kohsok met while they were graduate students at ASU, and opened the original location in 1994, a time when there were few vegetarian or healthy options in the area.

In the two decades since, the restaurant, whose headquarters now are based in Scottsdale, has grown to 17 locations in Arizona and a couple in California.