FRESNO — Both of these recipes from Fresno’s Mary Elia are featured in Breaking Bread with William Saroyan (by Janice Stevens and Pat Hunter, published in 2016 by Heliograph Publishing), and in A Hundred Years and Still Cooking. The authors of Breaking Bread with William Saroyan capture the essence of Saroyan’s deep love for his Armenian culture through excerpts of his written word and selected Armenian recipes, including classic recipes from celebrated Armenian-American restaurateur, chef, author, and philanthropist George Mardikian’s Dinner at Omar Khayyam’s.
“My mother, Mary Mabel Tootikian, was born in Fresno in 1918,” says Dennis Elia, a longtime Fresno business consultant. “The family tree on her maternal side begins with her grandmother, Sarah Kesamaniakian, who married Mary’s grandfather, Garabed Deverian, who gave birth to Mabel Deverian, my mother’s mother. John Tootikian was introduced to the young and vibrant Mabel Deverian, who had just celebrated her 19th birthday. They were married in 1917. The Deverians can lay claim to being one of the early Armenian clans to locate in Pasadena. Unfortunately, a worldwide Spanish Flu epidemic befell Mary’s young mother at the age of 21, and she passed away.”
When Mary’s father remarried, Mary was forced to adjust to a series of three stepmothers who were neither nurturing nor attentive to her. Having survived the three stepmothers, Mary blossomed into an attractive and intelligent young lady. She graduated from Fresno High School in 1936, and at the age of 19, was introduced to a fellow Fresnan, Joe Elia, who was born in 1907. A star high school athlete, Joe received a football scholarship to attend UCLA. Encouraged by his Fresno pals attending San Jose State College, he decided to transfer there, and became a starting football quarterback, says Dennis.
“My father Joe was a Fresno legend in city league softball in the 1930s, and was hired to pitch in the state championships by an out-of-town team for $200 per game. His blistering wind-mill delivery was well-known,” he adds. “My mother married my father on Christmas Day in 1936, at the Elia family home on Van Ness Avenue near Mono Street in downtown Fresno (built in 1915, the Elia home is listed on the Fresno Local Register of Historic Resources.) “After the ceremony, the couple headed to their intended honeymoon destination of Mexico City. Unknown to them, the driving distance of 1,000 miles was beyond the realm of reality for the newlyweds. They settled for Ensenada, Mexico, some 70 miles south of the border.”
Mary and Joe established their home in Fresno, and raised two sons, Dennis and Allen. Joe started off in the painting contractor business with his immigrant father Samuel, and the partnership thrived. Later, Joe’s extraordinary skills in wood graining, and gold and silver leafing, landed him in Architectural Digest. “His skills were in demand throughout California, and he ventured as far as Hawaii to create his work,” says Dennis.
“As a bride, my mother found herself without a mother in her formative years, and received no culinary guidance from a series of uncaring stepmothers. Nonetheless, she learned to cook and make authentic recipes from many cultures, including Armenian and Italian,” says Dennis. During their marriage, his father’s insistence on traditional home-cooked meals resulted in his mother specializing in Armenian dishes, breads, and desserts.
