LEWISTON – Extreme Pita Restaurants Inc., a Canada-based chain that targets the health-conscious customer, will open its first New England restaurant Monday, on Lisbon Street.

The eatery, at 810-816 Lisbon St. adjacent to the Lewiston Mall, is being developed by Windham-based Food Service Network.

The Extreme Pita franchise was started by brothers Alex and Mark Rechichi of Toronto in 1997. Currently the chain has more than 130 locations, the majority of them in Canada, with a handful of U.S. locations in Texas, Arizona, California and Wisconsin.

The developer of the Lewiston site, Paul Vail, said the Extreme Pita will feature pitas customized with market-fresh vegetables, quality cheeses and unprocessed meats to suit the tastes of health-conscious customers.

Pita bread, a flat bread with a high nutritional content low in fat and sugar, originated in Egypt more than 2000 years ago,