Holy Cross Armenian Church food festival and bazaar

"We only get this once a year," said the fellow at the next table, playing the part of a favorite uncle at a family dinner.

He was speaking more in gratitude than in complaint about the Armenian home cooking, prepared and served by a dozen or so ladies who bustled about the church kitchen. Pictured above and, in most cases, below: kufté ($3.75), a "meatball" of onion, parsley, peppers, and lamb in a lamb-and-bulghur shell; the meat-topped Levantine flatbread lahmajoon ($2); eech ($2), a chopped salad featuring bulghur, tomato, and scallion, a cousin to Middle Eastern tabouleh; a boreg ($2) made of flaky filo and filled with warm salty cheese; and keshkeg, also known as herisah, a thick soup often made with whole wheat kernels. This keshkeg featured barley and, I believe, little bits of lamb.

Also shown below: a khavourma dinner ($18), named for those slabs of fork-tender braised beef, with a wedge of bread (dunked in some cookpot or other), baked quince (firmer and less fruity than apple), and noodle-ribboned burghur pilaf (in butter, butter, and more butter). At bottom, three desserts (about $2 each) with similar flavor profiles but different textures: bourma, baklava, and khadayif.

Holy Cross Armenian Church food festival and bazaar
318 27th St. (at Bergenline Ave.), Union City, New Jersey
Late October/early November (the 2012 food festival was held October 27)

Comments

[kavourma_luva]

yes, you should make this bazaar an annual event. it's my favorite day of the year! I think if one ate kavourma more than once a year, he/she would clog up arteries rather quickly! That's why it's such a treat. Glad you enjoyed it.

[Chris Crowley]

Looks great. Thanks for sharing Dave.