Lovely, tree-lined Higuera Street in San Luis, Obispo, California

Let’s face it. The U.S. and the Middle East have had their disagreements in recent years. So how about smoothing things over a little with a culinary compromise, a delectable detente?

It seems Petra, a friendly, family restaurant in beautiful San Luis Obispo, California has already beaten everyone to the punch, so to speak. Specifically, the Mediterranean-style eatery is combining an American classic, the pizza, with a Middle-Eastern staple, the shawarma.

Take the Gyro Pizza, which features marinated, spit-shaved meat and Petra’s signature garlic sauce. This creamy, mildly spiced sauce appears again in a pie with marinated chicken shawarma and artichoke hearts.

Petra’s produces a succulent shawarma-style pizza

It’s all lovely stuff, loaded onto a thin crust that could be dough or fresh pita; I’ll let the Italian authorities weigh in on this. Petra also caters to solo diners, witness a perfect-sized, eight-inch pizza for $10.

As if Petra is not doing enough for world peace, and happy bellies, a server wanders out into the parking lot and starts passing out free samples of the made-daily pita. Talk about diplomacy.

Petra
1210 Higuera Street, San Luis Obispo, California
Daily 10:30 am-10:30 pm