Several stacks of pies sit inside the store of Jerusalem Pita & More, 1456 E. Michigan Ave., in Lansing. They are among 40 other deli products that the Middle Eastern shop offers from the oven.
For the past six years, Reem Hanna and her husband Mike Zeineh have been baking bread with pride and tough love.
“No one can beat bread made fresh everyday over here,” Hanna said. “We put hard work in it.”
Inside the kitchen of Jerusalem Pita & More, 1456 E. Michigan Ave., in Lansing, Hanna was putting finishing touches to her pita bread.
From pita and hummus to tabouli salad, the Middle Eastern bakery offers 40 fresh home-style dishes in any given week.
“Everything we made here, whatever we cook here (is) made with love and homemade stuff,” she said.
“Even if (the customers) want to order a sandwich, it’s made fresh. I don’t have falafel sandwiches even if they want (them). They prefer to wait five to 10 minutes to get their sandwiches.”
And her customers didn’t seem have any problems with the little wait before the meal.
On a sunny Friday afternoon, the dozen seats in the small shop owned by Hanna and Zeineh were filled with customers. A few more waited in line.
To Hanna, freshness of her food is the ingeniously successful formula that applies to her store very well.
Piece by piece, the couple also have begun selling other grocery products in the shop whenever the neighborhood needs them.
But food and deli products are still her favorite items in her heart.
“I really want more people to try our breads. … It’s everyday fresh (baked), and people love the idea,” she said.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
