Table Of Content
Supplement from a grab-and-go refrigerated case by the entrance, which showcases salads and dips like kidney beans, yogurt cucumber, and several eggplant preparations. Hovik Martirosyan and wife Alvard turned their tiny side street restaurant into a beloved Armenian kebab destination with help from social media savvy son Armen. Mini Kabob has built a national reputation in publications like The New York Times, which included them in “America’s Favorite Restaurants” in 2021.
Sam’s Kebab
Fresh and juicy cuts of salmon marinated in traditional Afghan spices. He continued selling coffee and donuts where permitted, but he soon found that business was not as good without his established customers. Driving a yellow cab – fortunately, Sami had already obtained his hack license – became a more reliable way to support his family and save for the future. Many of his siblings, too, have emigrated to the States, but not all. Sami still has family ties to Afghanistan, and he’s returned to visit them, now with a wife and four children of his own. But today, he says, there’s “lots of fighting in Afghanistan…people have far fewer chances.” He doesn’t plan to return again during the current, Taliban, rule.
Lamb Kabab
Proshyan is a street in Yerevan with a historic reputation for barbecued meat. This nighttime stand in North Hollywood occupies a doublewide red pop-up tent on the sidewalk in front of El Super market and hangs a small Armenian flag by their spit. Proshyan serves some of LA’s best pork shawarma and grills kebabs over glowing mesquite charcoal embers. They mold beef and chicken lule (made with ground thigh) around stainless steel and also cook marinated pork shoulder chunks that are notably juicy for such lean meat. Other options include iki bir (marinated pork belly), iki bir skewered with skin-on potatoes, and chicken breast.
Armenian Lunch Truck
Thanks to Sami’s, Astoria can claim some of NYC’s best Afghan food. Their lamb and beef kofta kebabs are worth traveling for, the borani banjan comes covered in yogurt that melts into a bed of fluffy seasoned rice, and the vinegary leek aushak is a must-order. Come for a family or group dinner, order a variety of kebabs, and pretend that you don’t fully intend to bogart multiple orders of Afghan bread. Considering LA has such large populations from countries with kebab-rich traditions like Armenia and Iran, it’s natural that skewered meats are a strength across LA County. Prominent pockets in Glendale, North Hollywood, Sunland and the western San Fernando Valley are particularly strong.
Customers' Favorites
Skewers come in lavash wraps or on plates with parsley, chopped white onions, sliced tomato, and enough lavash to form a pillow. This Iranian market has expanded in size and scope since Mory Pourvasei opened the business in 1987. Stepson Salimit Soheil became the managing partner 10 years ago and greatly expanded prepared food offerings, including charcoal-grilled kebabs on weekends in the back parking lot. He marinates skewers in a proprietary marinade that includes olive oil, fresh and powdered garlic, onions, bell peppers, and saffron. These flavors and the charcoal smoke infuse wonderful flavor in koobideh (ground beef or chicken), salmon, chicken thighs, and Cornish game hen. Offal lovers will appreciate more intense lamb hearts and livers.
Loukoumi is a Greek restaurant of more recent vintage, located in an obscure neighborhood and hence a little more relaxing overall. A fried thin pocket of dough filled with potatoes, sweet onions, cilantro, leek and various spices. This tiny spot in Astoria’s Little Egypt has been turning out Cairo- and Alexandria-style dishes since 1989. Chef Ali El Sayed whips up stews and grills meats, including offal like sweetbreads and lamb brain.
Recent Kitchen Nightmares Updates
Photos: Breaking Ramadan Fast at Sami's Kabab House in NYC - Curbed
Photos: Breaking Ramadan Fast at Sami's Kabab House in NYC.
Posted: Tue, 11 May 2021 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Plates come with grilled vegetables, potent torshi (pickled vegetables), and either lavash or sangak, a pull-apart whole-wheat flatbread. Vernatoun is a restaurant and banquet hall that’s excelled at cooking Armenian comfort food in the back corner of a Glendale strip mall since 2021. Lump mesquite charcoal bags are piled up behind a kitchen window, giving customers a small taste of their process. Luscious lule (ground meat) skewers center on either beef chuck roll or chicken thigh, which get seasoned with onions and spices and beautifully express charcoal smoke. Pork baby back pork ribs sport nice sears that don’t actually lock in juices, as the myth states, but clearly still help boost eating enjoyment.
Afghan Delights, Delicate and Rugged, at Sami's Kabab House in Queens (Published 2017) - The New York Times
Afghan Delights, Delicate and Rugged, at Sami's Kabab House in Queens (Published .
Posted: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Included In
The business only had an overall three star review, but there were plenty of five star reviews sprinkled in there (along with one star reviews, of course). Now that we’ve recapped the Sam’s Mediterranean Kabob Room Kitchen Nightmares episode, let’s talk about what happened to the restaurant after Gordon Ramsay and his crew left Monrovia, CA. Gordon also completely revamped the menu with new contemporary Mediterranean dishes and recipes. Additionally, both the falafel and hummus lack flavor due to not being seasoned.
Menu
Many of the best-known dishes of Afghanistan, Sami observes, resemble those of neighboring countries along the Silk Routes that long ago connected China and the Mediterranean. The sight of our mantu, for example, called to mind steamed dumplings that we’ve enjoyed at many Central Asian restaurants, but Sami’s are particularly lush. For the sake of the deliverymen, taxi drivers and other workers who helped keep the city running, the restaurant also kept its bathroom open to the public – not a common practice in New York during those early months of the pandemic. As Sami would know from his years as a street vendor and taxi driver, it’s vital for people on the go to have somewhere to go. Sami is always “working, working, working,” he tells us, but during our visit he also had a smile and a greeting for everyone who stepped into his kabab house. Between spoonfuls of pudding, we asked about the roots of his hospitality.
Sami, 55, grew up in Kabul, Afghanistan, as the youngest of 11 siblings, to a Tajik father and Uzbek mother. Of necessity, he learned to help with the cooking for his older siblings – Sami’s father passed at a relatively young age, and his mother worked to support the family. As it so often does, many of those recipes and foods also came with stories, memories, and reliving those with each telling just made the cooking all the more special.
The Kirakosyan family has parked their vivid truck in front of NoHo’s Royal Fresh Super Market since 2019. Armenian Lunch Truck serves excellent shawarma, and the action extends to the sidewalk, where cooks tend to an adjacent charcoal grill. Beef lule (ground meat), marinated pork ribs, and iki bir (cubed belly meat) are all notably luscious and smoky. Plates come with rice, Armenian salad, tzatziki (yogurt folded with minced cucumber), spicy tomato sauce, and grilled tomato and jalapeño.
Ordered the kabob combos (chicken and beef) with hummus, couscous, and pita bread. I’m happy to say I ate it all this time around, but it really is an acquired taste for me. The pita bread was great and so was the rice with a bit of salt and pepper I added.
The family displays savvy with open-flame cooking on a workhorse gas grill behind their small counter. Highlights include juicy beef and chicken lule skewers and chicken thigh served atop fluffy rice with creamy red pepper dusted hummus, blistered tomato and jalapeño, onion, and parsley. Complimentary sides include silky eggplant caviar crafted with smoky roasted eggplant and bell peppers. Before the pandemic, Art’s Bakery was best known for ponchiks, fluffy Armenian donuts with fillings like fruit and custard.
The Vegetable Combo has dreadful canned eggplant and both the falafel and hummus are bland with no seasoning. They all have their own dreams and aspirations but they are unable to pursue them as they are stuck at the restaurant supporting their father. Gordon is shocked to discover that all the children all work at the restaurant. Gordon is met by Sam's children, they all have plenty to say about the problems at the restaurant. They argue in front of the customers and resent being forced to work in the restaurant. Sam was forced to sack his staff to reduce costs and is now $70,000 in debt.
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