Imagine you’ve planned your dream restaurant for a year. You plot and plan, you strategize, you cook, you cook some more, you build, and you cross your fingers.
When the day comes to open your doors, your town, your state, and most of the world, is shut down, owing to a world-wide pandemic that shows no sign of slowing down.
What to do?
For Mike Minassian, who runs family-owned Zephyr Mediterranean Grill & Cafe, along with his wife, Gasig, and in-laws, Silva and Hovig , the decision was almost straightforward.
“At first, we didn’t know what we were going to do, we had worked on this for so long,” he said recently.
By July with the restaurant due to open imminently, many local restaurants were only offering take out and delivery service, though a number of restaurants in parts of Pasadena were reconfiguring to provide actual dining on streets and sidewalks.
“We just said, ‘Let’s go for it, let’s see what happens.’” Minassian said. Having worked in insurance for seven years, Minassian understood risk.
Zephyr opened on July 22, and at first it was just friends and family, but friends and family quickly became more friends and more families, he said.
Along with food delivery apps and take out orders, the restaurant was soon humming with orders. Customers arrived and then returned for Silva’s, Minassian’s mother-in-law’s, authentic Armenian cooking.
“If you came to dinner at her house, this is exactly what you would have,” Minassian explained. “This is real authentic Armenian cooking.”
As luck would have it, we visited for the first time on a day of two restaurant events, Zephyr being the second. As Minassian handed us a menu, I knew I would not be able to consume an entire entree.
Thus I opted for a Lahmajoun, a round, thin piece of dough topped with minced meat (most commonly beef or lamb), minced vegetables and herbs including onions, tomatoes and parsley, and spices such as cayenne pepper, paprika, cumin and cinnamon, then baked. But don’t call it a pizza.
The dish exists in a number of Mediterranean cultures, and though it’s flat and circular, that’s where the comparison would end. The dough is wafer-thin, and there is no cheese to be found anywhere. The flavor is meaty and dense and thick with spice.
As Minassian pointed out more than once, the spices used at Zephyr are the same ones found and used in Armenian homes. There is little or no allowing for tamer American tastes here. Perhaps stronger than what diners may be used to, but if true Armenian cooking is what you’ve come for, then, you know the rest.
Upon our return to the restaurant a few days later, we were early and ready for whatever Mike would bring.
Along with a traditional kebab combo plate—with chicken breast, lule beef and filet mignon and served with Pita bread and rice—we were also introduced to another traditional Armenian dish known as “manti,” common in Middle Eastern homes.
Picture wontons or basic dumplings, wrapped in an egg pasta, but open to the sky. Made of seasoned ground beef or ground lamb wrapped in pasta, they are either served with, or topped with, a garlic yogurt sauce or a simple tomato sauce. Brought family-style in a large pasta bowl, the small bite-sized dumplings are arranged in circular rows emanating from the center. Imagine a tasty sunflower. We took a lot of it home, but it was gone by late afternoon.
The restaurant itself offers a small comfortable outdoor dining area, with a larger banquet area in the rear, which eagerly awaits the end of the shutdown.
Zephyr is clearly the culmination of a family’s unexpected dream, driven by Mike’s enthusiasm. Obviously, if you want to take a risk, ask an insurance guy.
Zephyr Mediterranean Grill & Cafe is at 2419 Colorado Boulevard. Pasadena, CA. (626) 793-7330. www.zephyrpasadena.com
