52nd Annual Armenian Food Festival

Holly Gordon — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:02:45 +0000

Richmond food festivals have let me down this year. I wrote in June about the ever-popular Greek Festival being over-hyped and overcrowded. I was excited about last month’s Filipino Festival but I think some of my fond memory of that one was biased because the first time I went, it was with the half-Filipino guy I was newly dating at the time. Turns out, this year the food was cold and overpriced, and there wasn’t much else to do, though the attendees seemed to be enjoying themselves.

So I’m putting all my hopes on the Armenian Food Festival next week. The first year I went, I remember thinking it was the nicer, lesser-known cousin of the Greek Festival: similar food, similar dancing, nearby location, not as crowded. Running September 16 through 19, the festival also happens to be during the exact days I’m going out of town, so y’all get out there and enjoy it for me, okay?

The food is familiar with different names. There’s Spinach Boreg (philo with spinach and cheese filing), Derev (stuffed grape leaves); and the Armenian specialty: the Hye Burger (ground sirloin & lamb with Armenian spices). Desserts are also recognizable: Bourma (rolled philo filled with walnuts) and Paklava (layered philo with walnuts and syrup).

For me, the draw is all of the interesting Armenian beverages: Surj (coffee), Kotayk, Kilikia, and Kilikia Dark (beer), and four types of wine, including pomegranate.

The festival is hosted by the St. James Armenian Church at Pepper and Patterson in the near West End. Like the Richmond food festivals before them, they too have the targeted web domain: armenianfoodfestival.org. This is the 52nd annual, so they must be doing something right.

Armenian Food Festival
834 Pepper Avenue
September 16 through 18: 11am to 9pm
September 19: 12pm to 7pm

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