George Mardikian’s Famous Chicken Tchakhokbelli

Mardikian was among America’s first celebrity chefs and was as close to an Emeril Lagasse figure as San Francisco had at the time  in terms of fame, relentless optimism, and generosity. Fine-dining guides and San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen celebrated him, NBC gave him his own radio show in the 1940s, and he wrote an autobiography and cookbook. Mardikian’s menu included popular American fare like baked ham, breaded veal cutlets, and roast turkey for the uninitiated. His khorovadz, as he referred to it in Armenian, “is to Armenians what corned beef and cabbage is to the Irish.”

“For over 50 years, George Mardikian stood at the helm of Omar Khayyam’s, his world famous restaurant in downtown San Francisco. Customers from all echelons came to 200 Powell Street not just to indulge in once-exotic dishes like shish kebab and dolma, but to mingle with the energetic and passionate Mardikian himself, who LIFE Magazine once referred to as ‘the most favorable man in America,’” says Liana Aghajanian.*

Sophene Books, an independent publisher celebrating the rich literary legacy of Armenia and beyond, has now made the treasures of old Armenian literature available to a modern audience. Including famed San Francisco restaurateur, chef, author and philanthropist George Mardikian’s cookbook, Dinner at Omar Khayyam’s, first published in 1944.

This is a new edition of the 1944 classic by George Mardikian, America’s first celebrity chef. Foreword by William Saroyan. Order at: https://sophenebooks.com/blogs/dig-deeper/tagged/dinner-at-omar-khayyams

Mardikian was influential in introducing a range of “exotic dishes” from Anatolia, Armenia and the Middle East to the American diet in masses. In his cookbook for all Americans, America’s first celebrity chef reveals the culinary secrets that made his San Francisco establishment so famous. The recipes are for Armenian food, prepared in the Armenian fashion, but seasoned to the American palate. The dishes were “exotic and different, but thrifty, healthful, and easy, even for amateur chefs to prepare. His food was sophisticated enough for parties, but economical and well balanced enough to serve the whole family.”

“He was the chef who brought shish kebab, kufte, dolma and ajem pilaff to America escaped from a Turkish prison first. Somehow, Mardikian channeled the pain and hunger from his survival of the Armenian Genocide: he went from a dishwasher to a world-famous San Francisco restaurant owner who won the Presidential Medal of Freedom and dedicated his life to feeding and helping people. He pioneered the introduction of Middle Eastern food to the public as early as the 1930s, and American diners got a taste of ‘exotic’ and ‘foreign’ Near East delicacies, including seasoned lentil soup, baked eggplant, lavash, paklava, and rose-petal jam.”