Pokr Tagh Pizza: Where a small neighborhood serves big flavor in Meghri

There is nothing quite like a home-cooked meal, especially in Armenia, where our medzmamas sit unrivaled in their skills and hospitality. 

Those familiar with the food service industry outside Yerevan, however, know that a good, accessible restaurant can sometimes be hard to find. Depending on a restaurant’s location—which affects access to certain goods and delivery consistency—service can be slow, sometimes nothing is in stock and food delivery can take hours. Beyond khorovadz and maybe a few reliable local specialty dishes (such as gorgod in Ghapan), consistent quality is often lacking. In Meghri, I can go shopping, come home, cook and eat in less time than it takes for food to be delivered. 

My friend Harout recently moved back to Meghri from Yerevan, where he had been working as a manager and dough master at an Italian pizzeria. He was sharing his concerns about the absence of diverse, quality foods in Meghri when my friend Raffi, a strident supporter of the Tebi Meghri movement, called. I joked that we should open our own pizzeria in Meghri, and without hesitation, Raffi said, “We’re doing this!”

Our first challenge was to find a suitable location. We stumbled across an old garage in Meghri’s historic Pokr Tagh (Small Neighborhood) district. After weeks of physical labor, too many trips to Yerevan for building supplies and restaurant equipment, and discovering that there is a whole other language barrier for construction terms (what do they call conduit in Armenia? Աստուած գիտէ՜), our humble garage was ready to become a real restaurant. 

But what to call it? We did not want an Italian name, like so many pizzerias in Armenia and around the world. No Mario’s (or Luigi’s, for that matter)—it just did not fit the vibe of Pokr Tagh or Meghri. 

Moreover, we wanted the community here to feel like they are a part of this project, to know that this restaurant is as much theirs as it is ours. That is when it hit us, what better way to show our gratitude and respect to this place than to name our pizzeria after the community it serves? 

With that, Pokr Tagh Pizza was born. 

There was one more thing we needed to do—an important cultural adjustment that I hope catches on, brought to you by Pokr Tagh Pizza: the correct transliteration. It is not Bizza (Պիցցա), it is Pizza (Փիցցա), to be read and pronounced correctly by Eastern and Western Armenians alike.

With our name and kitchen ready, we began the process of perfecting our pizzas. The goal was to use as many local ingredients as possible without compromising on texture or taste. Our research led us to discover that Armenia produces some amazing mozzarella cheese, that Meghri grows some of the tastiest pistachios on earth and that mixing local and Italian pizza-grade flour in precise proportion produces the best crust known to man. 

Emerging from the lab, we had discovered our menu: 13 pizzas, available in 35-centimeter (14-inch) thin or thick crust, with a short list of additional toppings and nothing else. Using the best ingredients available in Haiastan, along with key imports from Italy, we set ourselves up to compete with Yerevan’s finest—400 kilometers and three mountain passes away. 

As a diasporan in Armenia, my thoughts are simple. Yerevan is not the only destination. It is a gateway to 503 cities and towns across 11 provinces, each with its own unique culture and history. We have decided that Meghri is our home away from home. It is where we are investing our time and money, playing our small role to move its thousand-year story forward. 

Ignore the dangerous geopolitical situation we are in for a moment, because if we do not invest and we do not stay one with this small parcel of land, it will never be ours—no matter what politicians do or say.

So, come to Pokr Tagh and grab a pizza. Take it up a mountain, have it on the road, enjoy it while overlooking the Araks river—here, there, anywhere! 

If you are willing to take the two flights it takes to get to Yerevan and then trek down to Meghri, you will find us with crispy, delicious, easy-to-eat pizza, ready in less than 15 minutes. Because even if our pizza does not make all your hopes and dreams come true, the fruit, views and rich history Meghri has to offer absolutely will.

I want to say a special thank you to my friends Raffi, Harout and my wife Arpi, for joining me on the most elaborate and expensive AYF senior Olympics ad-book ad ever. Keep an eye out for a clip-out coupon for a free pizza, no purchase necessary.

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