How a $38 Armenian brisket sandwich ignited debate over culture and cost
In late June, the viral basturma brisket sandwich from Glendale restaurant Yerord Mas found itself at the center of hundreds of comments dissecting cost, tradition and respect after a content creator deemed the sandwich “not worth” its $38 price tag.
But it was the influencer’s additional jab of “F— the traditional style” that especially upset Yerord Mas chef-owner Arthur Grigoryan. He called creator Richie Gaines’ words “offensive” and announced that Yerord Mas would no longer serve the sandwich that L.A. Times restaurant critic Bill Addison, in his review of the restaurant, said was “phenomenal, a statement piece of excess and engineering … easily enough to feed two people.”
Days later, after receiving numerous calls, texts and online messages asking him to continue serving the basturma sandwich, including from legendary kebab and rotisserie shop Zankou Chicken, Grigoryan decided to keep the sandwich on the menu after all.
Instagram, TikTok and Reddit boards are filled with roughly 1,000 comments regarding the Yerord Mas “ragequit” debate, some discrediting the restaurant and others the influencer.
Gaines said his TikTok post about the sandwich, which has racked up more than 125,500 views, was never intended as a critique of Armenian culture. But Grigoryan said Gaines had echoed a long-standing debate surrounding the cost and “worth” of food that’s traditionally deemed “cheap.”
Admittedly unfamiliar with Armenian food or basturma, Gaines compared the brisket sandwich to a pastrami-and-pickle sandwich at a Jewish deli. Langer’s charges $24 for a plain hot-pastrami sandwich, while New York’s Katz’s Delicatessen charges $28.95. Compared with those prices, Gaines deemed the Yerord Mas sandwich “not worth it.”
“I don’t like comparisons like that because whether people realize it or not,” Grigoryan said in an interview, “you’re essentially saying, ‘Oh, this culture is better than this culture.'”
The sandwich first gained popularity through a pop-up he launched in 2018 with with his wife, co-owner and manager Takouhi Petrosyan. In January, they opened Yerord Mas as a bricks-and-mortar restaurant in a strip mall, offering the sandwich alongside traditional Armenian dishes influenced by the chef’s family roots and travels through Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and other parts of the Levant.
“It’s crazy, ever since we opened, there’s at least four or five subreddit debates about this sandwich,” Grigoryan said. “It looks like a war. Half the people are defending us, and then the other half are just like, ‘Oh, they’re hiding behind the curtain of culture to justify the price.'”
He began posting critiques of viral L.A. dishes after a work injury and never expected them to take off.
“I would go to a lot of these places and some of them would be awesome,” he said. “I want them all to be awesome … but there’s so many places I’ve been to where I’m like, ‘Why did I come here?’ and I’m actually upset.”
Gaines said in an interview that his sentence about “traditional style” has been misunderstood, and he rejects the claims of cultural insensitivity that have been leveled against him.
“I’m kind of making a comment, saying, ‘If [with] traditional-style food, or street-style food, you’re charging more for it but giving less, then you know, f— that,'” he said. “And that would apply to any type of food.”
Many commenters said they appreciate that Gaines “tells it like it is.”
“The honesty is so refreshing,” one viewer wrote. Others called the price “wild,” “insane” and “highway robbery.” But Gaines said he also received hateful direct messages, including antisemitic ones.
Sandwich defenders also chimed in.
One reminded angry viewers that smoked brisket would cost a comparable amount in a barbecue restaurant, in theory without the backlash.
“This is just the standard that I want for my restaurant, and for Armenian food or Middle Eastern food in general, because it deserves to be,” Grigoryan said. “It’s just as technical as any other cuisine in the world, but it’s seen as cheap food on the go. But that doesn’t mean that somebody shouldn’t be allowed to take it up a notch and use an ingredient that they believe will make that dish better.”
Each sandwich at Yerord Mas includes at least half a pound of Australian Wagyu, which costs about $11.50 per pound and is cured and smoked on site. Smaller briskets take three to four days to brine, while larger cuts can take one week. His pickles take three to five days to prepare.
And in place of the sliced Swiss cheese he used to use, there’s a more labor-intensive Mornay sauce thick with Gruyère and premium dairy from California’s Straus Family Creamery. The bread is made from Central Milling organic flour and baked fresh in an outdoor oven. Every component, Grigoryan said, takes time, and the final price reflects all of this.
“We do all these sacrifices for our job and … it gets reduced to a price tag,” he said. “Even though [customers who] matter way more than these influencers have only good things to say about us, that very small percentage seems to be so loud that it easily gets in your head.”
Grigoryan cites the famous Big Mec — celebrity chef Ludo Lefebvre’s decadent, French-inspired burger at Petit Trois — which costs $38. Grigoryan said he sees its ingredients and quality as comparable to those used in his brisket basturma. He said the pita sandwich remains the restaurant’s top-selling item.
“The internet loves to give negative attention,” he said. “It makes it seem like the online world is more blown out of proportion than what real life is.”
