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ARMENIA'S LAVASH CAN ONLY BE FOUND IN SHEEPSHEAD BAY AT BROOKLYN BREAD HOUSE
BY Mike Mclaughlin
New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2010/08/10/2010-08-10_a_loaf_of_nations_pride_armenias_lavash_can_only_be_found_in_sheepshead_bay.html
Aug 10 2010
Their bread is the toast of Sheepshead Bay.
An Armenian family's new bakery has become an overnight success after
word got out that they were the only ones in New York baking lavash,
a traditional bread from their homeland.
The Badalyan family opened Brooklyn Bread House on Jerome Ave.,
which sells Russian, Georgian and Armenian-style pastries and
breads. Their shelves are also lined with imported candies, cheeses,
pickled vegetables, nuts and dried fruits.
But it's the lavash - a long, thin, chewy flatbread - that's the
big seller.
"Nobody makes it fresh here," said Samson Badalyan, 28, who tends the
bread in a customized oven that bakes it in seconds. "Everything is
from L.A. [which has a large Armenian population] and is frozen."
The Badalyans, who moved to Sheepshead Bay from Armenia in 2001, had
been planning to open the business for months, but only decided to
include lavash after friends and neighbors clamored for an alternative
to the store-bought brands.
"When we got together at parties, everyone would complain about the
lavash," said Mariam Margaryan, Badalyan's sister-in-law. "So we
started trying out the oven and giving away the lavash. Then people
started calling to order it."
Lavash is customarily eaten by tearing off pieces and rolling them up.
Chunks are also sunk into a hearty beef soup traditionally eaten in
the morning.
To prepare lavash, bakers stretch out the dough and slide it into a
narrow, handmade oven where it cooks for just 20 seconds.
"It's the best bread you can ever try," said Geenrietta Arakelova,
40, a doctor who said the bakery's bread was as good as what she ate
in her native Armenia. "This reminds me of that flavor."
Merchants from other Armenian shops that stock lavash shipped from
Los Angeles also praised the newcomers from Brooklyn.
"It's a very good bakery and [lavash] is very tough to make," said
David, the manager of Sevan Armenian Bakery in Bayside, Queens,
who declined to give his last name.
There are only 12,445 people of Armenian descent in New York, according
to a 2008 estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau, but their cuisine is
popular with immigrants from throughout Russia.
Margaryan said Armenians became good cooks because it was only recently
that fast-food restaurants opened in her native country.
"Before that, everyone was eating at home, so that's how we became
famous as cooks," she said.
From: A. Papazian
BY Mike Mclaughlin
New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2010/08/10/2010-08-10_a_loaf_of_nations_pride_armenias_lavash_can_only_be_found_in_sheepshead_bay.html
Aug 10 2010
Their bread is the toast of Sheepshead Bay.
An Armenian family's new bakery has become an overnight success after
word got out that they were the only ones in New York baking lavash,
a traditional bread from their homeland.
The Badalyan family opened Brooklyn Bread House on Jerome Ave.,
which sells Russian, Georgian and Armenian-style pastries and
breads. Their shelves are also lined with imported candies, cheeses,
pickled vegetables, nuts and dried fruits.
But it's the lavash - a long, thin, chewy flatbread - that's the
big seller.
"Nobody makes it fresh here," said Samson Badalyan, 28, who tends the
bread in a customized oven that bakes it in seconds. "Everything is
from L.A. [which has a large Armenian population] and is frozen."
The Badalyans, who moved to Sheepshead Bay from Armenia in 2001, had
been planning to open the business for months, but only decided to
include lavash after friends and neighbors clamored for an alternative
to the store-bought brands.
"When we got together at parties, everyone would complain about the
lavash," said Mariam Margaryan, Badalyan's sister-in-law. "So we
started trying out the oven and giving away the lavash. Then people
started calling to order it."
Lavash is customarily eaten by tearing off pieces and rolling them up.
Chunks are also sunk into a hearty beef soup traditionally eaten in
the morning.
To prepare lavash, bakers stretch out the dough and slide it into a
narrow, handmade oven where it cooks for just 20 seconds.
"It's the best bread you can ever try," said Geenrietta Arakelova,
40, a doctor who said the bakery's bread was as good as what she ate
in her native Armenia. "This reminds me of that flavor."
Merchants from other Armenian shops that stock lavash shipped from
Los Angeles also praised the newcomers from Brooklyn.
"It's a very good bakery and [lavash] is very tough to make," said
David, the manager of Sevan Armenian Bakery in Bayside, Queens,
who declined to give his last name.
There are only 12,445 people of Armenian descent in New York, according
to a 2008 estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau, but their cuisine is
popular with immigrants from throughout Russia.
Margaryan said Armenians became good cooks because it was only recently
that fast-food restaurants opened in her native country.
"Before that, everyone was eating at home, so that's how we became
famous as cooks," she said.
From: A. Papazian