53rd Annual Armenian Food Festival

ՊԱՐԵՆԱՅԻՆ @ St. Gregory the Illuminator
Armenian Apostolic Church



Sorry, this entry is not about breakfast, but it is about some mighty tasty food.

I am sure not many 'mericans could even pinpoint the democratic Republic of Armenia on a map. So as an aid, here is a link (I had a general idea myself, but Wikipedia is much more helpful):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Armenia_%28orthographic_projection%29.svg

As a teenager I used to work for a catering agency on the weekends in the Summer and we would sometimes cater dinners at the Armenian-American Vets. Funny, I didn't even know we had ever gone to war against Armenia. Wonder who won that one?

Armenia may be a small nation, but I am sure everyone knows or has heard of at least one famous Armenian person. Usually a good indicator that someone is of Armenian descent is if their name ends in either "-ian" or "-yan" (however, I am pretty sure that Martin Yan does not qualify).

+ William Saroyan ~ Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and author

+ Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. ~ Creator of Alvin and the Chipmunks; singer-songwriter of the "Witch Doctor" song ("Oo ee oo ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang", which in Armenian means: "This is a very silly song, but it was a #1 hit in 1958 and made me lots of money."); as well as the writer (co-written with his cousin William Saroyan) of the 1951 Rosemary Clooney hit "Come on-a My House"

+ Adrienne Barbeau ~ (her mother was Armenian) Actress of "Maude" and "Swamp Thing" fame (and well-known, large breastesses)

+ Atom Egoyan ~ (Armenian-Canadian) Filmmaker

+ Tim Kurkjian ~ Sportswriter and ESPN Analyst

+ John Koljian ~ a member of the undefeated 1955-1956 University of San Francisco Dons Men's Basketball Team, which happened to also include some other pretty decent players: K.C. Jones and some tall, skinny kid named William Felton "Bill" Russell; John was not only drafted by the Celtics along with those "other" two players, but he was also drafted by the Boston Red Sox (Danny Ainge eat your heart out); if not for a knee injury, John may very well have been known as the Bo Jackson of his day. (Howdy, Nick!)



They had many good vegetarian dishes from which to choose. I went there hungry on purpose, but there were just too many choices, so I limited myself to four items (I had to save room for dessert after all):

+ Ich ~ a cracked wheat dish; similar to tabouleh

+ Dolmas ~ stuffed grape leaves - filled with rice, onions, and spices; however, these had something extra in them that I could not pinpoint ~ crunchy, crispy onions?

+ Sou-Boereg ~ layered phyllo pastry with cheese and parsley; similar to the Greek dish tiropita (τυρóπιτα)

+ Stuffed bell pepper ~ stuffed with rice, vegetables, and lentils (I like the addition of lentils; with the rice, this makes a complete meal for a vegetarian)

The biggest surprise of the day was an imported Armenian beer: Kilikia. It was very good; I am going to be sure to locate it at a local Armenian-Russian market in my neighborhood. (Thank God the Armenians are mostly Christians and not alcohol abstainers like the Muslims.)



And then there were Desserts!!! And not a bad one on the menu. Again, I had to limit myself to four only:

+ Armenian Apple Delight ~ think Apfelstrudel in a roll

+ Gata ~ Flaky, buttery, delicious dessert (that was their actual description; I have never tried this one before, but it looked really good and I am looking forward to trying it)

+ Pirog ~ Apricot jam cake (I have had this before and it is excellent)

+++ Khadaif ~ (known as Kataifi in Greek) Shredded phyllo dough filled with walnuts and drenched in a honey or sugar syrup. This stuff is the Marilyn Monroe of desserts! I used to buy this by the pound when I lived in Greece and then eat the whole thing in one sitting. Sure, it made me sick… but what a way to go. (Would you rather be run over by a Porsche or a Hundai?)

I took all of these home with me to enjoy later on tonight and tomorrow; however, I did get an extra piece of the Khadaif to eat there with a nice cup of Armenian coffee (like Arabic/Turkish/Greek coffee, this is served in a demitasse, lightly sweetened, and with the grounds in the bottom of the cup).

















PLUS, while I was there, I picked up a free admission to A Taste of Greece (a $5.00 value), on September 24-26. I know exactly where I will be going in two weeks (and you can all plan on being bored with my details of it, too).

My only major complaint was that there was just wayyyy too much good food and I could only eat so much. If I had to review food for a living I would be HUGE… at least 170-175 pounds!

Come hungry, leave stuffed!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Armenian Food ~ 7.1; Kilikia Beer ~ 6.9; Armenian Desserts ~ 7.5; Khadaif ~ 8.5