By COLLEEN CURRAN Richmond Times-Dispatch
Food festivals such as the Armenian Food Festival, Shockoe on the Half Shell and the Central Virginia Food Truck Rodeo will be dishing up everything from oysters to burgers this weekend. Plus Virginia PrideFest, the 43rd Street Festival of Arts and more festivals will be bringing art, music and even Rayvon Owen to town.
It all starts Friday with the Armenian Food Festival, now in its 57th year at St. James Armenian Church, 834 Pepper Ave., in the West End. Roughly 7,000 to 9,000 visitors flock to the festival every year for meat pies, cheese boregs and more Armenian goodies.
“Every year it gets larger and larger,” said Leiza Bouroujian, one of the organizers. “Richmond has become such a festival community. We really take pride in the quality of our food. Everything is homemade. People always say, ‘Your food is the best.’ And they always come back.”
The attention is in the details, like the pork tenderloin in the kebabs, the two kinds of cheese in the cheese boregs and the fresh mint that goes in the bulgur salad.
The women of St. James Armenian Church have been preparing the Armenian pastries since early summer. Walnut kataif, a Middle Eastern pastry filled with walnuts, is an addition to a sweets menu that includes festival staples such as khourabia sugar cookies and paklava.
There also will be Armenian beer and wine, as well as cultural music and dancing throughout the three-day festival.
Weekend festivalsArmenian Food Festival
Friday-Sunday
St. James Armenian Church, 834 Pepper Ave.
Hours: Friday-Saturday 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sunday noon-7 p.m.
Free entry, pay as you go
(804) 282-3818 or armenianfoodfestival.com
Source: richmond.com