Guy Fieri & Nyesha Arrington Eat Lebanese-Armenian Food | Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives | Food Network

So I'm here on the east side of Hollywood in an area close to Little Armenia, and I'm with the one and only super chef, Naisha Arrington. All right, you know where I'm taking you? I do. I've actually been wanting to get to this restaurant for a long time. The incomparable Jonathan Gold wrote about this place and my restaurant. Fantastic. Well, if you're into falafel, if you're into shawarma, if you're into Armenian Lebanese food, you are going to love Baruch. I need more yogurt sauce. There's nothing flashy about it, but when you come in, the food is just killer. We live down the street. We pay the sunshine tax and the Baruch fee, and it's so worth it. I've had a lot of Lebanese Armenian food. This is easily the best. And it stayed that way even after Haikoui Tatarian took over from the original owners in 2018. And she brought in her mom, Nelly, to run the kitchen. So how long has the restaurant been here? Since 82. The original owners were retiring. She called me and said, would you like to do this thing? I know there's a large Armenian community in Los Angeles. I don't see a lot of Armenian restaurants. True. You're from here. You're from L.A. More towards the valley, I feel like. Yes. No? Glendale, Noho. Absolutely. But here in L.A. proper, there's not a lot. There's not a lot. Okay. And now, were you a chef before this? No, but I love the kitchen. Okay. Well, I love planes, but I'm not a pilot. So, you know, so that kind of works out. She loves to eat. Yes. What are we going to make today? We're going to make manti. What is that? A small dumpling sautéed in yogurt sauce. Okay. I got a manti coming up. I love manti because of the dumplings. It's something different. All right. So what are we starting with? Dough for manti, flour, two eggs, salt, mix it with warm water. It's a good workout. And then we cover it with plastic. For two hours. And while that's resting, we make the filling? Onion. Pureed. Black pepper, paprika, salt. Okay. What do you think it is? Let me see. No, you can't smell. Come on. You can't smell. No. I think I know what it is. Aleppo pepper. Aleppo. Mix it all together. Into the ground beef. Now we're going to roll out the dough for manti. This is how I cut it. I got what you got going here. Just don't lose the ruler. There we go. Okay. Oh, so we're going to make each little square? Yes. Wow. All right. Show me one. All right. We have the meat. That amount of meat is going to fit in that? That kind of dumpling. Wow. That is about the craziest ratio I've seen. How many come with an order? Nine to ten. Why nine to ten? Naisha comes in, there's ten. Guy comes in, it's nine. What are we making now? Tomato, garlic sauce, oil, garlic. We're going to saute it until you start smelling it. Who taught you how to cook these dishes? My grandmother. Every time I mention grandmother, I want to cry. That's the soul and the love. Tomato paste, red pepper paste, dry mint. That sounds like a good combo. Water. Smells incredible. Salt. We're going to cook this three to five minutes. The last part for the dumplings is what? Rice and noodle pilaf. Margarine, noodles. The thin... Vermicelli, yes. So basically angel hair, okay. We're going to brown it. Developing flavor, toasty, nutty. Rice. That we rinsed. We have water. Okay. And then salt. And are we going to cook this covered? 20, 25 minutes. We're going to start with rice pilaf. Take the dumplings to the yogurt. What's in the yogurt sauce? Yogurt, salt, and garlic. That's it. A little bit of water. Okay. You ready? Yep. All right. Wow. No holding back on the yogurt on this one. Not at all. Slinging it. Now we're ready for the sauce. It smells incredible. Top it with almonds. Wow. I love the tang and the brightness that comes from the tomato sauce. Beautiful. I feel the family heritage in this dish. The more she talks, the more dumplings I eat. The dumpling is nice and meaty, but the real body of the dish is the rice pilaf. It's really just an amazing dish. I mean, just flavor all the way through your palate. This is the kind of dish that's worth driving an hour across town to come and get. Manti for table six. The manti is like mouthwatering. I could get lost in that sauce. It's that good like sour and sweet sort of mix. Everything's served family style, so there's huge amounts of food. Just keep bringing it and bringing it until you have to waddle out the door. Today I had the beef shawarma and I am the happiest boy in the world. I killed all of it. What are we going to have, chef? Beef shawarma. Vinegar and white wine. Oil. Old spice. Seven spice. Black pepper. Cardamom. We have salt. Onions. Bay leaves. Lemon juice. Now we're going to put our meat in it. It's tri-tip. How long will we let this marinate? Two days. And then we'll put it on the skewer? Yes. Small pieces first so the bottom will be narrower. Now we're going to top it with the fat. Continually basting itself as it cooks. I got it. And an onion. There we go. All right, now we throw this on the rotisserie. How long will it stay on the rotisserie before we're ready to start slicing? 20 minutes. That fast? Wow. So we're ready to make hummus. Yes. Cooked and cooled garbanzo beans. Tahini. Wow. Salt. Garlic. Or lemon juice? Lemon juice. Olive oil. Mix it with hands. With hands? Yes. Squeeze the beans. Kind of break them down a bit. Sort of a layering and blooming of flavors. So you create this really beautiful experience. It's like she's doing an interpretive dance. When do they go to the food processor? After they rest a couple of hours. And then we add more lemon juice, more salt, more olive oil, and more tahini. Yes. This is onions and sumac. And parsley. And a little tahini. We're going to cut the... Can I do it? Yeah, sure. It's the holiday carving knife that's my favorite part. There we go. Is that enough? Yes. We're going to put some here. And your bread. Start building. Okey dokey. It's really light and fluffy. Yeah. I feel so warm up from the shawarma. The flavor of the lemon is incredible and how it sort of tenderizes the meat. There's so much flavor in the meat. And when you get that hummus with it and the pilaf, that's a meal right there. Beautiful. This is the way I want to eat five nights a week. Delicious. What a fun place. You put so much of your heart in the plate. You could really taste it. Your daughter was very smart in getting the restaurant, but really smart in bringing you in to command the ship.