Taste of Armenia

Chicagoland's church festivals offer incredible homestyle food

Billows of smoke, wafting an intoxicating aroma of charcoal grilled-meat into the humid air, drew us toward the narrow street that houses St. James Armenian Apostolic Church (816 Clark St) in downtown Evanston. It was a blistering, late-summer day but we were not about to pass-up the rare opportunity to eat homestyle Armenian food as part of the congregation’s 36th annual “Taste of Armenia” street fair.

Chicagoland boasts a small but mighty Armenian population, totaling an estimated 5,000 people and largely centered in the Northern suburbs. Short of being invited into an Armenian home, your best bet for sampling home cooked Armenian food is attending a festival at one of seven area churches. According to my physical therapist Marissa, who married into a local Armenian family and has become a connoisseur of Armenian cuisine, St. James’ parishioners prepare the tastiest luleh kebabs and pastries she has yet to sample — outside of her mother-in-law’s home, of course. 

Following Marissa’s advice, we arrived early in order to experience the full menu of sweet and savory baked goods. A line of Armenian aunties donning headscarves and teen girls in hairnets proudly presided over thirty linear feet of tables laid end to end with flaky phyllo delicacies — sugar syrup-sweetened pakhlava, shredded khadaif stuffed with nuts or custard — interspersed with date cookies, braided choereg breads and American-style cookies.

We went straight for the boereg: crisp, buttery phyllo leaves with various fillings. The first version, with a mixture of tangy feta and chewy brick cheese, was delicious. The spinach boereg, with its vibrant mixture of cheese, sauteed onions and dill, put every spanakopita I’ve ever sampled to shame.

The luleh kebab, made from a mixture of seasoned minced beef and onion, pressed onto a skewer and set over charcoal, completely rocked my world. It was succulent, smoky and suffused with spices whose sophisticated flavor recalled Armenia’s storied position along the Silk Road. The kebab’s meaty juices mingled with the oil and butter pooling from the pilaf below, whose familiar combination of rice and vermicelli noodles steeped in chicken broth made me rue the inferior boxed Rice-A-Roni I was served throughout childhood.

We alternated forkfuls of luleh and pilaf with bites of lahmejun, a prized flatbread topped with minced meat, intensely flavored with chiles, tomato, onion, garlic, red bell pepper and a smattering of herbs. While flour tortillas have become a popular shortcut, these lahmejun were hand-stretched and baked in a hot oven to achieve their characteristic crackly crust.

We had a difficult time deciding among the five vegetarian side dishes, so we ordered them all. Pale, creamy hummos and flame-kissed baba ghanous were familiar renditions of these classic Middle East dips. The tabouleh, which was mostly parsley, mint and tomato flecked with a small portion of bulgur and showered with lemon juice, was revelatory in its herbaceousness and the only variant of this refreshing salad I want to eat moving forward.

The excess bulgur omitted from the tabouleh apparently found its way into the vospov kufte: red lentil, bulgur and onion torpedos topped with a vivacious chopped vegetable salad.

The yalanchi, also known as sarma, stole the show. I often pass on stuffed grape leaves because the rice is overcooked and under seasoned and the excessive use of lemon makes my mouth pucker. In this case, the rice was tender with the slightest bit of chew, expertly seasoned with allspice and dill and studded with plump currants. These three bite-wonders, with just the faintest hint of lemon, had a bewitching mixture of sweetness and spice that completely won me over.

This street fair was a labor of love. Upper Left: the woman who served us luleh kebab and lahmejun hamming it up for the camera. 

It was not only the food but also the festive and familial atmosphere that made Taste of Armenia such an exceptional event. Everyone welcomed us warmly and we witnessed a series of tender exchanges, from men kissing one another on the cheeks to tables-full of multi-generational attendees laughing uproariously. We left before the dancing got underway, but we’ll be back next year to join this exuberant community in a celebration of their remarkable food and culture.

All photos by Jared Wheeler

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BB and I had the opportunity to speak with a journalist from the Evanston RoundTable about our experience at the festival. Check out the article!

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