Cooking for love of it and 'Mama'
Food Network spotlights Armenian
Barbara Yost
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 16, 2002
When Gary Soultanian appears in the next episode of Calling All Cooks on the Food Network, he'll not only be cooking but honoring his grandmother.
Yeterli Soultanian fled Armenia during the Turkish massacres of 1915-18 after seeing her entire family murdered. A kindly train conductor found safe passage for the 8-year-old orphan on a boat bound for Cypress, where she was adopted by refugees.
She eventually found her way to America and married a fellow Armenian, settling first in Chicago and then in California.
Soultanian's appearance on Calling All Cooks, which pays tribute to food and family, is scheduled to air at 12:30 a.m. Monday and repeat at 9 a.m. Jan. 25. Soultanian will reminisce about Yeterli, whom he called "Mama," and about helping her cook an Armenian feast every Sunday.
"I couldn't wait to go to her house," he says. "I was her favorite."
Both of Soultanian's parents were chefs. His grandmother was Irish and cooked classic French cuisine. When Soultanian expressed interest in following in their footsteps, his father offered to send him to the Cordon Bleu in France, but the opportunity somehow fell through.
Soultanian, who now lives in Scottsdale, has a line of acclaimed salsas produced under the Gecko Gary's label (www.geckogarys.com) and available at A.J.'s Purveyor of Fine Foods.
Gecko Gary is happy to be cooking up his specialty, lahmajoon, or Armenian pizza, and talking about Mama. Armenian food, greatly influenced by its Middle Eastern neighbors, is heavy with lamb and ground beef and such pungent spices as fenugreek, whose taste is like nothing else, he says.
His pizza is built on a paper-thin crust and laden with hamburger, tomatoes, green peppers, onions and spices, then rolled up and served with a yogurt and lemon sauce. He shares his recipe on The Republic's Web site, azcentral.com.
Yeterli was an exceptional cook who taught her grandson well.
"It's a blast to cook Armenian," he says.
But he's tweaked her pizza recipe a bit in deference to his adopted Southwestern culture - substituting jalapeņo peppers for some of the green peppers.
Soultanian has no regrets that he missed the chance to become a full-time chef.
"I love being a chef so much I'd rather use that as a pastime," he says. "When I'm stressed out, I cook."
Send items about people in the food business to barbara.yost@arizonarepublic.com or call (602) 444-8597.
Restaurant critic Howard Seftel contributed to this column.
       
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