The best Armenian restaurant in L.A. is this tiny family-run kebab joint in Glendale | Off Menu

how does this how does this place work on a day to day basis start to finish yeah I'll start it and I give you $8 you have two questions answer okay from what I've learned like they're my culinary training from what I've been taught through like my mentors everything was done through paper part sheets everything has spreadsheets we have to go this out the window what many clubs [Music] it's a small place but it's a great place Los Angeles has one of the largest Armenian populations in the entire country and much of that is centered around Glendale a small city in LA County just north of the city proper one of the best restaurants in Glendale is called mini kebab a tiny family-owned three table Armenian place just off of Central Avenue it's run by the marque through Xion family over Kim and his wife Albert in their son Armen Glendale parents have a restaurant coming up in Glendale my action my friends were a mixture of like not just our minions but African American friends at Korean French Filipino I witnessed a lot of different foods growing up but growing up in this food six years old I was wrapped in mini kebabs we'd have like 30 plates of the same containers to-go containers just stoned on the tables and we're just like pumping out skewers of chicken I remember sprinkling the sumac on and wrapping it up serving its customers saving enough tip money to go buy myself a fake gold watch from the 99 cents they're here I watched I watched Glendale transition you know this past 12 years you know we almost lost mini Cobra I wonder if you know that 2007-2008 during the recession many can what we lost all of our customers at all our meaning to Glendale Community Center gentrify I'm like okay I need to educate myself a little bit more in terms so I started working at Tatsu ramen and I got into like management and so we understood like a little bit more how to kind of scale things right and 2014-2015 one day I just had enough I was like why am I making somebody else money so I came back here I mean it's really like a special thing to watch you know your parents and you you know working this service yeah as a team because you've all got your different personality yeah armen just wants more business you should fit in and you petition yes no I don't know what that means you know and obviously you're you know an American kid from like the old country ya know you know your mom was like working head-down working are their dad's kind of doing whatever you know and yeah my mom they're like almost 70 dad's almost 70 mom's getting 64 years old I don't expect them to change you know I mean you know Minnie kabob is something special but I think this is maybe this and maybe one day be another spot but this is probably gonna be it for many in terms of his growth okay but uh and why is that for me it's a double-edged sword because if I'm if anybody's gonna do it it's gonna be me we might expand we might try to take the place next door but for me it's uh I'm restricted as an individual here so when you say if anyone's gonna do it it's gonna be me is it cuz is it coz your parents wouldn't they don't feel the need or they don't feel the desire or they and energy or what is it so my dad pays all the bills on time he does what he wants he's his own business owner you know for him that's the American dream it's coming to a country of who knows what and just being able to make a living take care of his children and his family and then said he's a very moderate man like he doesn't go out to seek the riches and for him people have different opinions on what is the American dream and what is success for him he's already hit it you guys customers that come enjoy his food you know his wife is next to him every day I work with him every day his kids and Florrie has two kids you know what else can a man of his desire want it's this is it usually but he he wants to expand a little bit but you never went for well he could have little three table restaurant it's brought upon a lot of a lot of people throughout the twenty five twenty thirty two years been here but the time he's been here he's seen a lot of faces come and go and people still come back from 20 years ago you know it's it's nice he's comfortable and so that's it but for me you know it's kind of I'm almost I need to kind of like break out yeah so that's why I started Mid East [Music] you know you hear a lot about fusion food and fusion cuisine and I think it's I think sometimes it's a word that can get thrown around a little bit yeah but but but here like it's literally one of this I mean I think it's cool you know to see mini kebab where you kind of cut your teeth and then you've you've stepped out and you create your own thing and it's and it's it's a it's a beautiful thing so it's absolutely as much as I'm allowed to say I'm proud of you I'm proud of and I think I think it's I think I think it's really it's very cool takes a village yeah it was something that needed to be sure well it's a lot of mental [Music] make the onions huge this is a big honkin burrito [Music] why are there a lot of Armenians in Glendale oh it's begin accidently they're comfortable in it before modern minute they came to Hollywood I hear that like that I understand some Iranian army no they came the city they come stay here they come stay and after the verse you villain girl they were still famous and something you know this restaurant it's blue people go there they say let's go Glenda let's go Glenda let me come to me you know so I still has more advances to it small place I can't sit with many people you know this is Armin I don't know why you're doing this but surely you know okay one of a kind [Music] okay we're just gonna say it so apparently a man is cleaning teeth in the room behind this so so that's okay that's what the noise is so so how did you learn how to cook in my home I every everyday food then made it with my husband and he loved it what do you remember when you were a child you're from and are you from which partner like [Music] do you ever miss our meaning why [Music] how did you meet sigh she was a PE teacher okay they made a develop this house and my dad traditionally being like army men like whipping that into the house the kids tentative sixties that was like common a time for it and so my dad legitimate like what we tells me he liked the way my mom worked her work ethic was amazing her personnel it was great the best mouth thank you thank you very much I am I'm eating it very much thank you I know you're very busy thank you yeah just talk about your parents for a second and like talk about their relationship and your relationship with them and they what they mean to this place and what they mean to you so damn okay I'll be I'm gonna be very blunt about everything coming up she was baking when I was three years old six years old seven years old my mom started working my dad me and my brother we basically raised ourselves not seeing like the child-rearing stuff but child reading a lot of it was you know we are at home all day from school they pick us up drop us off we're working on our you know our Simon's whatever it is homework and then they come home around 8:30 9:00 hang out for about half an hour so we had this like timeframe of not being able to kind of have that adult figure there but I think my brother and I we never were to type to kind of like stem and go get into bad things we were smarter than that like he they taught us at a young age to kind of be aware be conscious and so yeah growing up with them they were always working and it's not that they don't want to be with us but that's what they knew and so kind of them they kind of I feel like limited themselves as well but also kind of showed us like we have to take care of you you're our children we're gonna love you even if we had a bad day they never let us you know we were numerous growing up which slightly destitute in the country and so they did everything in their power to feed us and then they didn't care about themselves it's not that many kids just they made sure my arm and Andy were fed and then they took care of themselves they made sure him and I were always number one and so and so uh growing up now you guys got to relax I want you guys to kind of like yeah a little bit it's interesting yeah full of like you're turning out is yeah take care of that a little bit yeah yeah and and I mean it sounds like they obviously mean a lot to you yeah and you really appreciate what they did and the sacrifices that they made you're a kid yeah come on opinion back now [Music] I really hope you enjoyed that episode of a pocket minion if you'd like to watch more please click here and subscribe and please put in the comments if you thought my outfit was cute and if not what you'd like to see me wear in future episodes keep it clean please

Channel: Los Angeles Times Food

Views: 103,161

Keywords: L.A. Times Food, LA Times Food, LA Times, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times Food, Food, armenian food, armenia, glendale, kebab, kabob, highland park, mini kabob, mideast tacos, armen martirosyan, lula, tacos, burritos, sumac, lucas peterson, lucas kwan peterson, dining on a dime, grilling, grilled meat

Id: YO1Ht-wDhs0

Length: 12min 48sec (768 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 19 2019