Armenian Food Festival in SF Sept. 19, 20, 21, 2008

[Nancy Berry]

Has anyone been to the Armenian Bazaar and Food Festival on Brotherhood Way in San Francisco? This year is the 51st year of the festival, so I imagine that someone here has been there. They advertise a kebab buffet dinner, pastries, hot and cold sandwiches, vegetarian items, take-out food, "only the freshest ingredients used."

http://stgregorysf.org/51ST%20BAZAAR.pdf

[Robert Lauriston]

I went a few years ago, some of the best kibbeh I've ever had. One report on last year's:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/441592

There's another one in Oakland the first weekend in October:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/555192

[Mark P]

I went for the last two years.

In 2006, I went at 6:00pm on a day the festival was supposed to close at 8:00pm and they were pretty much out of food. While I managed to scavenger some grub, there's nothing I'd specifically endorse. [1]

In 2007, I went at lunch time and had much better luck. Here's what I wrote in my blog at the time [2]:

---
The festival is aptly named. It sells a large variety of Armenian food, especially pastries. And, in fact, there isn't much at the festival besides the food. There were about a half dozen booths not selling festival-affiliated food. Even some of these booths sold food, such as strange cheeses, many varieties of grapes, and various dried fruits and nuts. Sure, there was a stage for dancing and the schedule listed many bands who'd play in the evening, but, while I was there, the music was simply a DJ's selections and the stage was unoccupied. Not too exciting. There was also a kids' zone, which included an inflatable slide, an inflatable castle, and assorted carnival games. Nevertheless, it was clear all these things were secondary: the purpose of the festival was the food.

I ate

* Kufta, an Armenian meatball. This was the main reason I went to this festival. I have fond memories of the amazing kufta I had at an Armenian festival two years ago. It's a moist meatball in a thin, meaty (meat and bulgur) shell. And it was nearly as good as I remembered! I think the meat inside was freshly ground by the festival and tossed with spices, onions, and parsley.
* Iman-bayildi, eggplant stuffed with red and green bell peppers, onions, a few herbs (parsley?), and spices. Decent.
* Salad with "Armenian dressing", a sweet, Italian-dressing-style vinaigrette. Decent.
* Sha-abiat, a triangular dessert of filo dough filled with custard. Fairly good, though too sweet (from honey) for my taste. Due to the sweetness, it would've gone great with tea. Even the slightly cheesy custard didn't help cut down on the sweetness much. Sprinkled with ground pistachios.

...

I also picked up some food for later in the weekend:

* sou-boerge, filo filled with cheese and parsley. Quite good. I appreciate the lightness and mildness of cheese; most cheese-filled items are overwhelming.
* Another kufta. I was surprised and delighted to learn it reheated to be as good as when it was fresh.
* Armenian apple delight. Okay. An Armenian version of an apple strudel, only with relatively little apple and lots of filo dough. Topped with powdered sugar. Nothing much substantial inside.
* Bourma, a rolled version of baklava. Decent. When I saw these next to the baklava, I wondered why the bourma, at half the size of baklava, cost the same amount. Now I know. These rolled desserts are so dense with crushed walnuts, they probably have the same quantity of ingredients as baklava, simply compressed into a much smaller space.
---

--mark

[1] Details about my 2006 mis-adventure: http://mpearson.blogspot.com/2006/09/armenian-food-festival-2006.html

[2] 2007 trip: http://mpearson.blogspot.com/2007/10/...

[rworange]

link

[rln]

I was lucky -- I went this weekend and I was going to skip the kufta (meatball) because I feared having too much. A woman working there double checked with me and urged me to try it offering me a to - go box so I got one. It was so tasty! The filling was terrific! I would go back just for that too.

[Mark P]

It is good! I went on Sunday for lunch at 1pm, mainly for the kufta, but they were already sold out for the day. :( (They don't serve dinner on Sunday, so I guess they made too few.)

[J. Finley]

We've gone the past three years on the Saturday afternoons of the festival. The foods offered are freshly made and a good variety is offered. Their Kufta is my favorite and is the reason why I go. We drop a bundle to eat there and still always get some takeout home, too. Looking forward to going again this year.