Carousel Restaurant
Carousel Restaurant first opened 1984 and has been in East Hollywood for 35 years serving Lebanese Armenian Food and other Mediterranean food. It was opened by Greg and Rose Tcholakian, survivors of the Armenian genocide, who moved to the U.S. from Lebanon. They first started selling food out of their house, things like sausages and basterma, then opened a small café, and then Carousel restaurant. When they lived in Lebanon and other middle eastern countries, they learned about the culture and food and brought back many of those recipes.
Community
Carousel Restaurant’s goal is to create food that tastes and feels homemade for any middle eastern customer. They’ve created a truly family run restaurant, hiring different family members and helping support their families. The Manager Hovig Dierbarossian is their nephew and the Assistant Manager, Sam Kalayjian their grandson as some examples. Some favorite dishes requested by their customers, about half Armenian, and about half people of different backgrounds, Jewish, Russian, Arabic, Turkish, and other people from the U.S. are mantee, Armenian meat pies, kebabs, and cheese turnovers. This location on Hollywood Blvd is their first and they have since expanded to 2 other locations. They hope to open other Carousel Restaurants throughout the city.
- Food
- Heritage
- Folk Arts
- Dance
- Music
Media
In the past, there were more Armenian people in the neighborhood. Little by little, they moved far. The spot is changing. The neighborhood is changing, but we stay here, and we have good business till now - Hovig Dierbarossian, Manager
