Falafel King's pitas aren't car food

REVIEW: It can be tough to get cheaply full in Anchorage without stooping to Subway, or without hitting up the sublime Taco King for the fifth time in a week. Falafel King solves that problem.

It's a nice surprise to find Israeli food on Gambell Street, but you have to be careful. Falafel King doesn't serve tidy little pitas that you can eat while parallel-parking downtown.

When owner Avi Avraham hands you a heavy sack, the paper is already soaked from the shawarma juice, so your best bet is to post up at one of the glass tables with a pile of napkins.

There might be a European soccer game playing on the tiny TV, the announcers speaking in Hebrew. It's nice to have something colorful to watch when you're digging in to a near-perfect ball of meat and vegetables.

The pitas are big, about the size of a hard-cover book, and filled almost to bursting. My favorite is the shawarma ($9.99), in which beef and chicken are mixed with a pile of onions, red peppers, and hummus. Another surprise: pickles, which sounds strange but will actually end up as your favorite part. Depending on your appetite, this solid ball of meat and vegetables will let you push dinner back a few hours, and might even let you put it off altogether.

There’s also falafel, of course, ($7.99), and chicken ($9.99) that’s almost as good as the shawarma. Oddly, there’s also schnitzel, a breaded chicken breast ($9.99).

If you like a spicy meal, ask for the hot sauce to be scooped in with the meat as it cooks. You have to push for the burn, but let them know you can handle it and you'll get a real fire going.

Ask Avraham why he made the move from Haifa to Gambell Street, and he'll say "I want to meet you guys!"

So head over and meet him, but don't try to eat in your car.