to the largest Armenian community in the U.S.

So, it's no surprise you can find some

of the most delicious Armenian food here.

This family-run restaurant

has been making manti together for 16 years.

Baking thousands of

the meat-filled dumplings a day.

And they hope to pass the tradition down

to the next generation.

You can find manta or manti on the menu

at various Middle Eastern restaurants.

Sarkes Egiazaryan: This is the Armenian version.

This is what I've grown up eating.

This is how we've made it my entire life,

but the dish itself it's so ancient.

It's so traditional

that I always say it's a Middle Eastern European dish,

because you'll have

a different version in Greece,

a different version in Lebanon,

a different version in Turkey,

a different version in Armenia,

same dish, different variations.

We used to do together 2,800.

That was just when we started together.

So now I can only, I can't...

Evelina Egiazaryan: Don't count anymore.

(laughing)

Sarkes: At this point it's just above

the 10,000 daily, easily.

Yeah.

We use a ground beef and it's just marinated

with a simple blend of herbs and spices.

In each square you put a little pinch of beef

that gets folded,

as you can see my mother doing here.

She's a pro at everything, at all steps.

So, I do what she doesn't want to do

in that time.

And with today it's putting in the meat

so she can fold.

And other days it'll be folding

so she can put the meat in,

whichever one she prefers.

When we first started

it was her and I side-by-side,

working for like six hours a day, making manta,

and then working another eight hours

running the shop.

And that's where I learned.

I used to be so slow in this

And now I race my mom.

Narrator: Each Manta is tightly packed

into a tray,

frozen to keep fresh

and oven-baked when ordered.

Sarkes: So, now that they come out of the oven,

they'll be topped off in your choice of

tomato, tomato, hot and spicy.

Go ahead and hit it with a little bit of blend

of herbs and spices.

And last but not least,

give it a nice dazzle of the garlic cream

and our signature Manta M.

Bam.

Best part about the food is it's preference.

So you can have them soft,

you can have them crispy.

These ones, the edges are nice and crispy.

It's been drizzled with the sauce.

You got a nice crunch on the edges

but the inside is nice and soft where the beef is.

And then as soon as you bite into that shell,

you get the explosion of beef flavor

Evelina: The mint and sumac

and red pepper gives big flavor on top of it.

It's special.

I don't know.

It's good.

You will try.

And you will see how good it is. (laughing)

Sarkes: So you're not missing out

(Both) Hey!

Sarkes: Peekaboo!

And here's our future generation

that we were speaking of

that we definitely want them to learn

and know what this tradition is.

And here's number two, see?

And this is my sister right here.

Francine: It's really important for me, for the

kids to learn these traditions

growing up in diaspora America, Los Angeles,

they're gonna learn the culture of LA

but I want them to learn traditions and family.

And you know what

their grandmothers and ancestors cooked

Its important to keep our culture-

- Hello

(laughing)

Narrator: Evelina and her husband Grant left Armenia

in the early '90s and started

the family business in downtown LA

only to have their doors

close a few months later.

Then 16 years ago, the family decided to continue

with the monta dream and open a small

200-square-foot shop in Pasadena where Grant

and Sarkes usually work

and later expanded to Glendale.

Sarkes: My great-grandparents were from Erzincan,

Kars, Adana, Sis, and Van.

My grandparents after the events of 1915

migrated outside of Armenia

and they went to Lebanon, France, and Romania.

And then when it all came back together

all those collective styles of cooking

and those flavors

and all those traditions came together.

As our family's recipes.

Evelina: When I was growing up,

I had two grandma,

one grandma was making open ones.

The other one closed ones.

I saw that. Maybe they were in

different regions.

But beside my two grandmas,

I had my maternal grandfather's cousin

from whom I learned how to open the dough

and how to make all the food.

How to make the syrups, how to make the fillings.

And we call her Beebee.

My father made this in Armenia

from a walnut tree.

And my mom is keeping the spice

the mint and sumac and red pepper in there.

This piece we have it.

So we are keeping like a treasure.

These are treasure for me.

Narrator: Evelina's grandchildren are often at the shop

with their family,

learning how to make the dish themselves.

It's like a treasure for them.

It's memory

I know now they change a lot.

They don't pay attention

to the memories, but for me, it's important.

I don't know.

(laughs)